Evaluating Improvisation As A Technique For Training Pre-service Teachers For Inclusive Classrooms

Improvisation is a construct that uses a set of minimal heuristic guidelines to create a highly flexible scaffold that fosters extemporaneous communication. Scholars from diverse domains: such as psychology, business, negotiation, and education have suggested its use as a method for preparing professionals to manage complexity and think on their feet. A review of the literature revealed that while there is substantial theoretical scholarship on using improvisation in diverse domains, little research has verified these assertions. This dissertation evaluated whether improvisation, a specific type of dramatic technique, was effective for training pre-service teachers in specific characteristics of teacher-child classroom interaction, communication and affective skills development. It measured the strength and direction of any potential changes such training might effect on pre-service teacher’s self-efficacy for teaching and for implementing the communication skills common to improvisation and teaching while interacting with student in an inclusive classroom setting. A review of the literature on teacher self-efficacy and improvisation clarified and defined key terms, and illustrated relevant studies. This study utilized a mixed-method research design based on instructional design and development research. Matched pairs ttests were used to analyze the self-efficacy and training skills survey data and pre-service teacher reflections and interview transcripts were used to triangulate the qualitative data. Results of the t-tests showed a significant difference in participants’ self-efficacy for teaching measured before and after the improvisation training. A significant difference in means was also measured in participants’ aptitude for improvisation strategies and for self-efficacy for their implementation pre-/post- training. Qualitative results from pre-service teacher class iv artifacts and interviews showed participants reported beneficial personal outcomes as well as confirmed using skills from the training while interacting with students. Many of the qualitative themes parallel individual question items on the teacher self-efficacy TSES scale as well as the improvisation self-efficacy scale CSAI. The self-reported changes in affective behavior such as increased self-confidence and ability to foster positive interaction with students are illustrative of changes in teacher agency. Self-reports of being able to better understand student perspectives demonstrate a change in participant ability to empathize with students. Participants who worked with both typically developing students as well as with students with disabilities reported utilizing improvisation strategies such as Yes, and…, mirroring emotions and body language, vocal prosody and establishing a narrative relationship to put the students at ease, establish a positive learning environment, encourage student contributions and foster teachable moments. The improvisation strategies showed specific benefit for participants working with nonverbal students or who had commutation difficulties, by providing the pre-service teachers with strategies for using body language, emotional mirroring, vocal prosody and acceptance to foster interaction and communication with the student. Results from this investigation appear to substantiate the benefit of using improvisation training as part of a pre-service teacher methods course for preparing teachers for inclusive elementary classrooms. Replication of the study is encouraged with teachers of differing populations to confirm and extend results

Differential effects of negative and positive affect on context processing

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on September 15, 2009)Includes bibliographical references.M.A. University of Missouri--Columbia 2007.Dissertations, Academic -- University of Missouri--Columbia -- Psychology.Context processing is thought to be a central component of cognitive control involved in maintaining goals. Context processing impairments have been implicated in psychopathology, with suggestions that the interaction between context processing and the occurrence of emotions might be important for some mental disorders. However, the specific influence, if any, of briefly elicited negative and positive affect on context processing remains unclear. In this research, I used three separate tasks (i.e., the Preparing to Overcome Prepotency (POP) task, Stroop task, and AX-CPT task, respectively) to examine the influence of briefly elicited negative and positive affect on context processing in undergraduate students. In the first study, negative affect facilitated context processing performance; whereas positive affect impaired context processing. However, the influence of affect on context processing in this task may have been confounded by the influence of affect on decision processes. In contrast to the first study, the second and third studies found evidence that briefly elicited negative affect increased errors on context processing tasks. Conversely, positive affect did not have a significant effect on context processing performance. Overall, these results suggest that negative affect may disrupt context processing and the maintenance of task critical goals. An influence of negative affect on context processing could have important implications for some aspects of psychopathology

Understanding the relationship between goal maintenance and disorganized speech

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on October 26, 2012).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Dissertation advisor: Dr. John KernsIncludes bibliographical references.Vita.Ph. D. University of Missouri--Columbia 2012."July 2012"Disorganized speech in people with schizophrenia is associated with cognitive control deficits, but the specific nature of the relationship remains unclear. The current research examined whether one specific aspect of cognitive control, goal maintenance, is associated with disorganized speech and whether experimentally increasing goal maintenance demands would result in an increase in disorganized speech. In the present study, the A-X CPT and Missing Letter task were used to measure goal maintenance in people with schizophrenia (n = 49) and non-psychiatric controls (n = 28). In addition, the autobiographical memory task was used to measure disorganized speech in four conditions: the standard speech condition, the goal maintenance decrease condition (attending to visually-presented goal information during speech), the goal maintenance increase condition (performing the auditory 1-back with distraction during speech), and the control task speech condition (performing the auditory every-X task during speech). In people with schizophrenia, an increase in disorganized speech was associated with impaired goal maintenance performance in both goal maintenance tasks. In addition, both cognitive task manipulations during speech resulted in an increase in disorganized speech when compared to the standard speech and goal maintenance decrease conditions. Overall, these results provide at least partial support for goal maintenance deficits as a cause of disorganized speech in people with schizophrenia.Includes bibliographical reference

"Das Commerz muß nicht alle Ordnung umstossen wollen" : das Verhältnis von Politik und Handel in Lüneburg und Hann. Münden im 18. Jahrhundert

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Antagonistic Autoantibodies to Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 Receptor Associate with Poor Physical Strength

Natural autoantibodies to the IGF1 receptor (IGF1R-aAb) have been described in relation to Graves' ophthalmopathy. Other physiological roles of natural IGF1R-aAb are not known. We hypothesized that IGF1R-aAb may be related to muscle development. Serum samples (n = 408) from young overweight subjects (n = 143) were collected during a lifestyle intervention study. Anthropometric parameters, along with leptin, IGF1 and IGF1R-aAb concentrations, were analyzed, and the subjects were categorized into positive or negative for IGF1R-aAb. Eleven out of 143 subjects (7.7%) were positive for IGF1R-aAb. Identified IGF1R-aAb were molecularly characterized and showed antagonistic activity in vitro impairing IGF1-mediated IGF1R activation. Mean body weight, height or age were similar between IGF1R-aAb-positive and -negative subjects, but IGF1 concentrations differed. Jumping ability, as well as right and left handgrip strengths, were lower in the IGF1R-aAb-positive as compared to the IGF1R-aAb-negative subjects. We conclude that natural IGF1R-aAb are detectable in apparently healthy subjects and are capable of antagonizing IGF1-dependent IGF1R activation. Moreover, the presence of IGF1R-aAb is associated with poor physical strength. Although the causality of this association is unclear, the data imply a potential influence of IGF1R autoimmunity on muscle development

Evolution of the Area-wide Coronary Care Course of the .T..U. Lsa Chapter of the American Heart Association

Occupational and Adult Educatio

Exile Vol. XXXII No. 2

ARTWORK Manhole by Linda Gates (cover) Escape by Linda Gates 3 Spring by Aimee Creelman 11 Children on Bridge by Holland Behrens 19 Homestead Instead by Allison Lange 29 Infrared Exploration by Allison Lange 37 Seasons I by Aimee Creelman 47 FICTION My Mother Wears Yellow on Tuesdays by Joan R. DeWitt 5-10 Tilly by Theresa Copeland 21-28 The Rights of Spring by Leigh Walton 40-46 POETRY Learning to Knock by Amy Becker 1 Syndrome by Jeff Masten 2 Beauty and the Beasts by Leigh Walton 13 The Sound and the Silence by Teresa Woodward 14-18 The Dark by Amy Becker 31 By the Toussaint River by Debra Benko 32-33 Wish Dolls by Carrie Jordan 34-35 Bob\u27s Mind Wanders in Class by Amy Becker 36 The Woman I Call Mother by Karen J. Hall 39 CONTRIBUTOR NOTES 49 Editors share equally all editorial decisions In honor of Mr. Paul Bennett, poet and founder of the writing program at Denison, of which EXILE is an expression

A single-arm, open-label study to assess the immunogenicity, safety, and efficacy of etanercept manufactured using the serum-free, high-capacity manufacturing process administered to patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Objective: To evaluate the immunogenicity, safety, and efficacy of etanercept (ETN) manufactured using the serum-free, high-capacity manufacturing (SFHCM) process in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). ----- Methods: In this global, multicenter, open-label, single-arm study (NCT02378506), 187 adult patients with moderate to severe RA received ETN 50 mg once weekly for 24 weeks manufactured using the SFHCM process. Immunogenicity (presence of antidrug antibodies (ADAs) and neutralizing antibodies (NAbs)) was assessed at 12 and 24 weeks. Safety and efficacy were evaluated at 4, 12, and 24 weeks. ----- Results: Eight (4.5%) patients tested positive for ADA, and there were no NAbs detected at any time throughout the study. Ninety (48.1%) patients reported treatment-emergent adverse events (AEs), of which 27 (14.4%) reported injection-site reactions, and 43 (23.0%) reported infections. The majority of AEs were mild or moderate in severity, and the drug was well tolerated. Throughout the duration of the study (week 4 to week 24), there was a progressive increase in the American College of Rheumatology (ACR)-defined responses (ACR20: 55.9%–82.0%, ACR50: 16.1%–57.8%, and ACR70: 3.2%–26.7%) from baseline and the proportion of patients achieving low disease activity and remission, with a corresponding decrease in measures of disease activity. ----- Conclusion: The immunogenicity, safety, and efficacy of ETN manufactured using the SFHCM process were similar to the current approved ETN formulation. ClinicalTrials.gov registration: NCT02378506

MMP-13 Selective Isonipecotamide Alpha-sulfone Hydroxamates

A series of N-aryl isonipecotamide α-sulfone hydroxamate derivatives has been prepared utilizing a combination of solution-phase and resin-bound library technologies to afford compounds that are potent and highly selective for MMP-13

A Neural Region of Abstract Working Memory

■ Over 350 years ago, Descartes proposed that the neural basis of consciousness must be a brain region in which sen-sory inputs are combined. Using fMRI, we identified at least one such area for working memory, the limited information held in mind, described by William James as the trailing edge of consciousness. Specifically, a region in the left intraparietal sulcus was found to demonstrate load-dependent activity for either visual stimuli (colored squares) or a combination of vi-sual and auditory stimuli (spoken letters). This result was repli-cated across two experiments with different participants and methods. The results suggest that this brain region, previously well known for working memory of visually presented materials, actually holds or refers to information from more than one modality.