A theory-driven evaluation of Lesson Study as a model of professional development to support Irish teachers to enact the new primary mathematics curriculum

It is widely accepted in the literature that Lesson Study is an effective model of PD (Cavey and Berenson, 2005; Hart, 2009; Lewis et al., 2009; Matthews et al., 2009; Perry and Lewis, 2011; Suh and Fulginiti, 2011) and curriculum reform tool (Lewis and Tsuchida, 1997; Stigler and Hiebert, 1999; Fan Yang, 2013; Lewis and Takahashi, 2013; Olander and Sandberg, 2013; Takahashi et al., 2013; Tan-Chia et al., 2013; Ní Shúilleabháin and Seery, 2017).Notwithstanding, Lesson Study is still relatively new in Ireland and there is a paucity of research investigating Lesson Study in Irish schools, particularly at primary level. This research investigated the merit of Lesson Study as a model of professional development to support Irish teachers to enact the new primary mathematics curriculum. A multi-site case study theory-driven evaluation (TDE) of Lesson Study was conducted in three Irish primary schools (N=9). Over three cycles of Lesson Study, teachers focused on two key research themes related to the new primary mathematics curriculum. To guide and frame the evaluation of Lesson Study, participating teachers were facilitated to generate a programme theory (Donaldson, 2013; Chen, 2015) which made explicit their implicit views and assumptions as to how, why, and in what ways Lesson Study ought to work to support them to enactment this new curriculum. Guskey’s (2000) five critical levels of professional development evaluation served as an important conceptual tool for developing the programme theory and evaluating Lesson Study. The test model of Lesson Study implemented in the study was also evaluated, as was the TDE approach itself. The study found that Lesson Study provided a transformative space where participating teachers could interrogate and try out the new primary mathematics curriculum. The teachers’ engagement in Lesson Study resulted in enhancements to their knowledge for teaching mathematics, gains for children’s learning, as well supporting them to meet the demands of curriculum reform and change. Moreover, findings from objective measures of the impact of Lesson Study showed positive changes in teachers’ questioning as well as statistically significant improvements in children’s understanding of Place Value and reasoning skills. In explaining these outcomes, Lesson Study was found to effectively address both internal challenges and inhibitors to curriculum change. It is aimed that these overall findings will contribute to the knowledge base and academic discourse on Lesson Study, curriculum reform and evaluation of teacher PD in Ireland; and in doing so, minimise the gap between theory, research and practice (Murata et al., 2012). In terms of its original value, this paper is the first academic empirical source to shed light on Lesson Study as a model of PD to support Irish primary teachers to enact the new primary mathematics curriculum. It is also the first known theory-driven evaluation of Lesson Study conducted in the Irish context

Positive mindset and exercise capacity in school-aged children and adolescents with congenital heart disease

IntroductionPatients with congenital heart disease (CHD) have variable degrees of peak oxygen consumption (VO2) that can be improved with supervised fitness training. The ability to exercise is affected by anatomy, hemodynamics, and motivation. Motivation is in part related to mindset, or personal attitudes and beliefs, and a more positive mindset around exercise has been associated with better outcomes. It is unknown whether variations in measured peak VO2 in patients with CHD are related to having a positive mindset.MethodsPatient's ages 8–17 years with CHD were administered quality of life and physical activity questionnaires at the time of their routine cardiopulmonary exercise test. Those with severe hemodynamic burden were excluded. Patients were grouped based on disease classification. Mindset was evaluated via validated questionnaires including a PROMIS Meaning and Purpose (MaP) survey and an Anxiety survey. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to estimate the magnitude of the association between percent predicted peak oxygen consumption (pppVO2) and questionnaire scores overall and within CHD subgroups.ResultsEighty-five patients participated; median age was 14.7 years, 53% were female, 66% had complex CHD, 20% had simple CHD, and 14% had single ventricle heart disease. Mean MaP scores were significantly lower in all CHD groups compared to population norms (p < 0.001). As a group, MaP scores were positively associated with the amount of reported physical activity (p = 0.017). In patients with simple CHD, MaP scores were positively associated with pppVO2 (p = 0.015). The association was even stronger for MaP:Anxiety, with worse ratios associated with lower pppVO2 (p = 0.005). Patients with complex and single ventricle CHD did not show a similar association.ConclusionsPatients with CHD, regardless of severity, had lower meaning and purpose scores than the general population, and these scores were associated with amount of reported physical activity. In the simple CHD subset, having a more positive mindset was associated with higher peak VO2 and a more negative mindset with lower peak VO2. This relationship was not seen with more significant CHD. While underlying CHD diagnoses are not modifiable, mindset and peak VO2 are, and consideration should be given to measuring both as each may be a target for intervention

A holistic perspective on career development in UK female soccer players: A negative case analysis

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine career experiences of UK-based female youth soccer players from a holistic perspective with a view to producing a grounded theory of factors contributing to career/talent development and transitions in UK youth female soccer. Methodology: A Grounded Theory methodology (Corbin & Strauss, 2008) was used. Negative case (Denzin, 1989) former female soccer players (N=13), their best friend (N=13), soccer coaches (N=4), and teachers (N=8) took part in semi-structured interviews about factors associated with talent development and career transitions in female youth soccer. Results: Multiple social agents (players, team-mates, peers, teachers, parents and siblings) need to optimally interact to ensure that an optimal talent development and learning environment is created. This will provide a supportive holistic talent development environment, lead to adaptive player-level changes, and a greater chance of successful athletic and dual career development. Conclusions: This study presents a rich understanding of the dual careers of players who did not make it in female soccer. By considering their perspectives alongside of a range of important social agents, we have been able to construct a substantive grounded theory of factors contributing to career/talent development and transitions in UK youth female soccer. As a result, these findings may contribute to policy and practice development in UK female youth soccer

ehealth technology in cardiac exercise therapeutics for pediatric patients with congenital and acquired heart conditions: a summary of evidence and future directions

Many children and adolescents with congenital and acquired heart disease (CHD) are physically inactive and participate in an insufficient amount of moderate-to-vigorous intensity exercise. Although physical activity (PA) and exercise interventions are effective at improving short- and long-term physiological and psychosocial outcomes in youth with CHD, several barriers including resource limitations, financial costs, and knowledge inhibit widespread implementation and dissemination of these beneficial programs. New and developing eHealth, mHealth, and remote monitoring technologies offer a potentially transformative and cost-effective solution to increase access to PA and exercise programs for youth with CHD, yet little has been written on this topic. In this review, a cardiac exercise therapeutics (CET) model is presented as a systematic approach to PA and exercise, with assessment and testing guiding three sequential PA and exercise intervention approaches of progressive intensity and resource requirements: (1) PA and exercise promotion within a clinical setting; (2) unsupervised exercise prescription; and (3) medically supervised fitness training intervention (i.e., cardiac rehabilitation). Using the CET model, the goal of this review is to summarize the current evidence describing the application of novel technologies within CET in populations of children and adolescents with CHD and introduce potential future applications of these technologies with an emphasis on improving equity and access to patients in low-resource settings and underserved communities

Whole genome sequence analysis of blood lipid levels in >66,000 individuals

Blood lipids are heritable modifiable causal factors for coronary artery disease. Despite well-described monogenic and polygenic bases of dyslipidemia, limitations remain in discovery of lipid-associated alleles using whole genome sequencing (WGS), partly due to limited sample sizes, ancestral diversity, and interpretation of clinical significance. Among 66,329 ancestrally diverse (56% non-European) participants, we associate 428M variants from deep-coverage WGS with lipid levels; ~400M variants were not assessed in prior lipids genetic analyses. We find multiple lipid-related genes strongly associated with blood lipids through analysis of common and rare coding variants. We discover several associated rare non-coding variants, largely at Mendelian lipid genes. Notably, we observe rare LDLR intronic variants associated with markedly increased LDL-C, similar to rare LDLR exonic variants. In conclusion, we conducted a systematic whole genome scan for blood lipids expanding the alleles linked to lipids for multiple ancestries and characterize a clinically-relevant rare non-coding variant model for lipids

HRS/EHRA/APHRS Expert Consensus Statement on the Diagnosis and Management of Patients with Inherited Primary Arrhythmia Syndromes

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Whole-Genome Sequencing Uncovers Two Loci for Coronary Artery Calcification and Identifies Arse as a Regulator of Vascular Calcification

Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is a measure of atherosclerosis and a well-established predictor of coronary artery disease (CAD) events. Here we describe a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of CAC in 22,400 participants from multiple ancestral groups. We confirmed associations with four known loci and identified two additional loci associated with CAC (ARSE and MMP16), with evidence of significant associations in replication analyses for both novel loci. Functional assays of ARSE and MMP16 in human vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) demonstrate that ARSE is a promoter of VSMC calcification and VSMC phenotype switching from a contractile to a calcifying or osteogenic phenotype. Furthermore, we show that the association of variants near ARSE with reduced CAC is likely explained by reduced ARSE expression with the G allele of enhancer variant rs5982944. Our study highlights ARSE as an important contributor to atherosclerotic vascular calcification, and a potential drug target for vascular calcific disease

Genetic determinants of telomere length from 109,122 ancestrally diverse whole-genome sequences in TOPMed

Genetic studies on telomere length are important for understanding age-related diseases. Prior GWAS for leukocyte TL have been limited to European and Asian populations. Here, we report the first sequencing-based association study for TL across ancestrally-diverse individuals (European, African, Asian and Hispanic/Latino) from the NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program. We used whole genome sequencing (WGS) of whole blood for variant genotype calling and the bioinformatic estimation of telomere length in n=109,122 individuals. We identified 59 sentinel variants (p-value OBFC1indicated the independent signals colocalized with cell-type specific eQTLs for OBFC1 (STN1). Using a multi-variant gene-based approach, we identified two genes newly implicated in telomere length, DCLRE1B (SNM1B) and PARN. In PheWAS, we demonstrated our TL polygenic trait scores (PTS) were associated with increased risk of cancer-related phenotypes

Intoxicated witnesses: Testing the validity of the Alcohol Myopia Theory.

In an assessment of the Alcohol Myopia Theory, the effects of alcohol on an eyewitness’s recall of high and low salience details were investigated. In laboratory study 1, participants watched a staged videoed theft whilst either sober (control or placebo), above (MBAC=0.09%) or below (MBAC=0.06%) the UK drink-drive limit. A week later a free-recall and recognition test were completed. Intoxication was not found to reduce recall accuracy using either recall task. In Study 2, while on a night out participants watched the videoed theft with high (MBAC=0.14%) or low (MBAC=0.05%) BAC’s. A week later the free-recall and recognition test were attempted. High BAC’s were seen to impair recall when memory was assessed through free-recall but not with the recognition test. Neither study found the attention narrowing predicted by AMT using either recall technique, although poor recall for low salience details in all groups may have contributed to this result