Viking Pop Culture on Display: The Case of the Horned Helmets

The travelling exhibition, Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga, featured a case containing primarily plastic horned helmets seamlessly included within a serious cultural exhibition. Never worn by Vikings, this popular culture icon embodies the disjuncture between scholarly and popular knowledge of the Viking past. The exhibition as a whole sought to highlight the recent studies that have revealed a complex view of the Viking past at odds with the simplistic popular stereotype, and the homed helmet case was a fitting introduction to this theme. But it sim ultaneously demonstrated the lack of agency museums have over the meanings associated with modern popular culture items and was therefore an ironic, somewhat problematic, experience for the visitor. This essay examines issues that arose during the curation, design, and display of this case, suggesting an accepted, though perhaps unjustified, categorical division between popular material culture and "authentic" artifacts. Résumé L'exposition itinérante Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga comprenait une vitrine abritant surtout des casques cornus en plastique, objets déconcertants dans une exposition culturelle sérieuse. Pourtant jamais porté par les Vikings, ce symbole populaire est une manifestation concrète de la dijférence entre la connaissance que donne l'érudition et la connaissance populaire du passé des Vikings. L'exposition dans son ensemble visait à mettre en lumière de récentes études qui avaient révélé une vision complexe du passé des Vikings, contredisant le stéréotype populaire simpliste des Vikings, et la vitrine aux casques cornus constituait une bonne introduction à ce thème. Mais celle-ci démontrait en même temps le fait que les musées n'ont aucune autorité sur les significations associées aux objets de la culture populaire. L'exposition a donc été une expérience ironique et un peu problématique pour les visiteurs. L'article traite de questions soulevées parles volets conservation, conception et exposition de cette vitrine, qui supposent une division catégorique acceptée mais peut-être pas justifiée entre culture matérielle populaire et objets façonnés « authentiques »

Exploring conceptualizations of reading engagement

This dissertation study, which comprises a series of three articles, addresses the following overarching research questions: 1. How have reading motivation and engagement been conceptualized in the research literature? 2. How do educators, particularly teachers of the primary grades, conceptualize reading motivation and engagement? What sources of information do they draw upon to construct their understandings? 3. How do educators, particularly teachers of the primary grades, enact literacy instruction in support of student motivation and engagement? In the first article, I explore different theoretical approaches to the study of reading motivation and engagement through the creation of a continuum model of the extant literature. I advance an approach to the study of reading engagement that is primarily sociocultural, while also drawing on insights from research that is more cognitive in orientation. To accompany that approach, I present a new definition of reading engagement that draws on insights from various theoretical traditions. In the second article, I consider how 31 first-grade teachers at public schools in the Midwest and Northeast who were involved in focus groups to imagine what it might be like to implement project-based learning in their settings conceptualized students’ motivation for and engagement in literacy under the imagined curriculum. The analysis balances an approach in which the concepts from the extant literature are applied directly to participants’ comments with an actor-oriented approach (Penuel, Phillips, & Harris, 2014) that privileges practitioners’ perspectives and considers what participating practitioners were attending to in articulating their understandings. I explore in depth the complexities around the social and cultural dimensions of engagement experienced by participating teachers, and how they made sense of those complexities. Finally, in the third article I offer a case study of how two third grade teachers at an urban, public charter school conceptualized reading motivation and engagement, including what sources of information they drew upon to construct those conceptualizations, as well as what those teachers actually did in their instruction to support and promote students’ engagement in reading. Findings indicated that, while both teachers conceptualized engagement as social, the ways in which they enacted that understanding varied based on the principles around which they organized their literacy instruction. At the conclusion of each article and at the end of the dissertation as a whole, I discuss implications for research and for practice, including teacher education and professional development

Mondrian Math: An Artful Exploration of Area and Perimeter

Playing games in the math classroom is an excellent way for students to develop fluency and practice skills. This paper explains Mondrian Math, a game based on the artwork of Piet Mondrian, which gives students the opportunity to develop fluency with the concepts of area and perimeter. The authors share details of the game, including connections and extensions that integrate English language arts and art standards

Partnerships for Health - Jeff HEALTH and the Rwanda Village Concept Project – A Model of Interdisciplinary Health Professions Student Global Education

A partnership between the Rwanda Village Concept Project (RVCP), a medical student program in Butare, and Jeff HEALTH (Helping East Africans Link to Health), a multidisciplinary student organization at ThomasJeffersonUniversity, has been working in two Rwandan villages for the past five years. Initially, The Rwanda Health and Healing Project consisted of two programs, a Genocide Survivors Village Transformation and creation of a GenocideMemorial Park. These programs lead to a comprehensive community health assessment, which: 1) documented the needs through key informant interviews and focus groups; 2) identified health resources currently available; and 3) reviewed needs in context of the social and political history of Rwanda. The partnership has grown and taken shape based on this assessment and students\u27 learning experiences. Medical, Nursing, Public Health and Occupational Therapy students have implemented programs in hygiene, malnutrition, HIV education, and malaria prevention. The Rwandan students monitor these programs monthly when the Jeff HEALTH students are stateside. The team partnered with the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of Engineers Without Borders in a latrine construction project. For each of the past 4 years, 3 Rwandan medical students have spent 2 months at Jefferson exploring community medicine as a discipline. A formal educational program and peer mentoring prepares Jeff HEALTH students for immersion into Rwandan projects. Based partially on the success of this model of collaboration and growing faculty and student interest,Jefferson has expanded its Global Health education initiatives to a 4-year longitudinal area of concentration in Population Health for medical students and a Certificate in Global Health in the MPH Program. Learning Objectives: Participants at the presentation will be able to: 1. Learn a method to develop a collaborative international health professional interdisciplinary student driven initiative 2. Identify strategies for sustaining programs through cooperative agreements between students at aUnited StatesAcademicHealthCenterand anEastAfricanMedicalSchool 3. Organize an interdisciplinary student global education program based on student experiences and interes

Assessing Student Progress and Performance across the Curriculum

Evaluation of student learning is of paramount importance to the educational community and allows reflection on program successes and weaknesses; however, best practices are hotly debated. This project designed and implemented an assessment system in which an identical, mixed-format assessment was given to all levels of students in the Georgia Gwinnett College biology program at the start of the semester for academic years 2014-15, 2015-16 and Fall of 2016. The assessment contained multiple choice and free-response questions, and evaluated lab reports from core courses in the biology program. This system allows for longitudinal assessment of students, provides quick results for timely action, and can allow analysis of interesting demographic questions. We found student achievement on program goals was lower than previously assessed and student performance on multiple choice questions was higher than free-response questions. There was a modest, but temporary, gain in performance on the ability to effectively communicate science. Additionally, males outperformed their female counterparts and Hispanics underperformed their non-Hispanic peers

The natural history of spina bifida in children pilot project : Research protocol

Background: Population-based empirical information to inform health care professionals working with children with spina bifida currently is lacking. Spina bifida is a highly complex condition that not only affects mobility but many additional aspects of life. We have developed a pilot project that focuses on a broad range of domains: Surgeries, development and learning, nutrition and physical growth, mobility and functioning, general health, and family demographics. Specifically, we will: (1) explore the feasibility of identifying and recruiting participants using different recruitment sources, (2) test a multidisciplinary module to collect the data, (3) determine the utility of different methods of retrieving the data, and (4) summarize descriptive information on living with spina bifida. Objective: The overall objective of the project was to provide information for a future multistate prospective study on the natural history of spina bifida. Methods: Families with a child 3 to 6 years of age with a diagnosis of spina bifida were eligible for enrollment. Eligible families were identified through a US population-based tracking system for birth defects and from a local spina bifida clinic. Results: This is an ongoing project with first results expected in 2013. Conclusions: This project, and the planned multistate follow-up project, will provide information both to health care professionals experienced in providing care to patients with spina bifida, and to those who have yet to work with this population. The long-term purpose of this project is to increase the knowledge about growing up with spina bifida and to guide health care practices by prospectively studying a cohort of children born with this condition

Recruitment and retention in obesity prevention and treatment trials targeting minority or low-income children: a review of the clinical trials registration database

Abstract Background Efforts to recruit and retain participants in clinical trials are challenging, especially in studies that include minority or low-income children. To date, no studies have systematically examined recruitment and retention strategies and their effectiveness in working successfully with this population. We examined strategies employed to recruit or retain minority or low-income children in trials that included an obesity-related behavior modification component. Methods First, completed home-, community-, and school-based trials involving minority or low-income children aged 2–17 years were identified in a search of the ClinicalTrials.gov registry. Second, a PubMed search of identified trials was conducted to locate publications pertinent to identified trials. Recruitment and retention rates were calculated for studies that included relevant information. Results Our final analytic sample included 43 studies. Of these, 25 studies reported recruitment or retention strategies, with the amount of information varying from a single comment to several pages; 4 published no specific information on recruitment or retention; and 14 had no publications listed in PubMed. The vast majority (92 %) of the 25 studies reported retention rates of, on average, 86 %. Retention rates were lower in studies that: targeted solely Hispanics or African Americans (vs. mixed races of African Americans, whites, and others); involved children and parents (vs. children only); focused on overweight or obese children (vs. general children), lasted ≥1 year (vs. <1 year), were home or community-based (vs. school-based), included nutrition and physical activity intervention (vs. either intervention alone), had body mass index or other anthropometrics as primary outcome measures (vs. obesity-related behavior, insulin sensitivity, etc.). Retention rates did not vary based on child age, number of intervention sessions, or sample size. Conclusions Variable amounts of information were provided on recruitment and retention strategies in obesity-related trials involving minority or low-income children. Although reported retention rates were fairly high, a lack of reporting limited the available information. More and consistent reporting and systematic cataloging of recruitment and retention methods are needed. In addition, qualitative and quantitative studies to inform evidence-based decisions in the selection of effective recruitment and retention strategies for trials including minority or low-income children are warranted

Structures and functions of mitochondrial ABC transporters

A small number of physiologically important ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are found in mitochondria. Most are half transporters of the B group forming homodimers and their topology suggests they function as exporters. The results of mutant studies point towards involvement in iron cofactor biosynthesis. In particular, ABC subfamily B member 7 (ABCB7) and its homologues in yeast and plants are required for iron-sulfur (Fe-S) cluster biosynthesis outside of the mitochondria, whereas ABCB10 is involved in haem biosynthesis. They also play a role in preventing oxidative stress. Mutations in ABCB6 and ABCB7 have been linked to human disease. Recent crystal structures of yeast Atm1 and human ABCB10 have been key to identifying substrate-binding sites and transport mechanisms. Combined with in vitro and in vivo studies, progress is being made to find the physiological substrates of the different mitochondrial ABC transporters

Adaptation and development pathways for different types of farmers

One of the greatest challenges humanity faces is feeding the world’s human population in a sustainable, nutritious, equitable and ethical way under a changing climate. Urgent transformations are needed that allow farmers to adapt and develop while also being climate resilient and contributing minimal emissions. This paper identifies several illustrative adaptation and development pathways, recognising the variety of starting points of different types of farmers and the ways their activities intersect with global trends, such as population growth, climate change, rapid urbanisation dietary changes, competing land uses and the emergence of new technologies. The feasibility of some pathways depends on factors such as farm size and land consolidation. For other pathways, particular infrastructure, technology, access to credit and market access or collective action are required. The most viable pathway for some farmers may be to exit agriculture altogether, which itself requires careful management and planning. While technology offers hope and opportunity, as a disruptor, it also risks maladaptations and can create trade-offs and exacerbate inequalities, especially in the context of an uncertain future. For both the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2015 Paris Agreement to be achieved, a mix of levers that combine policy, technology, education and awareness-raising, dietary shifts and financial/economic mechanisms is required, attending to multiple time dimensions, to assist farmers along different pathways. Vulnerable groups such as women and the youth must not be left behind. Overall, strong good governance is needed at multiple levels, combining top-down and bottom-up processes