COWpads: Sharing iPads in a range of secondary school classrooms

This article outlines a mid-point snapshot of the progress of a small teaching-as-inquiry project at Hillcrest High School in 2013. Three teachers (music, mathematics, French) volunteered to focus on using iPads in a COW (computers on wheels, hence the term COWPads) configuration with a junior class during 2013. Each teacher created their own teaching-as-inquiry question focused on specific aspects of their practice. A University of Waikato researcher supported the teachers by observing classes and meeting regularly for feedback, reflection and discussion. Halfway through the year the following themes have emerged: the technical challenges to using a device designed for personal use as a shared device; a positive impact on students’ concentration levels and spans when using iPads, and shifts in teachers’ pedagogical design and practice. The teachers individually contribute their voices to this article, describing their initial experiences of using iPads on a regular basis and what they concentrated on most during the first few months of the project

A foundation of ecology rediscovered: 100 years of succession on the William S. Cooper plots in Glacier Bay, Alaska

Understanding plant community succession is one of the original pursuits of ecology, forming some of the earliest theoretical frameworks in the field. Much of this was built on the long-term research of William S. Cooper, who established a permanent plot network in Glacier Bay, Alaska, in 1916. This study now represents the longest-running primary succession plot network in the world. Permanent plots are useful for their ability to follow mechanistic change through time without assumptions inherent in space-for-time (chronosequence) designs. After 100-yr, these plots show surprising variety in species composition, soil characteristics (carbon, nitrogen, depth), and percent cover, attributable to variation in initial vegetation establishment first noted by Cooper in the 1916–1923 time period, partially driven by dispersal limitations. There has been almost a complete community composition replacement over the century and general species richness increase, but the effective number of species has declined significantly due to dominance of Salix species which established 100-yr prior (the only remaining species from the original cohort). Where Salix dominates, there is no establishment of “later” successional species like Picea. Plots nearer the entrance to Glacier Bay, and thus closer to potential seed sources after the most recent glaciation, have had consistently higher species richness for 100 yr. Age of plots is the best predictor of soil N content and C:N ratio, though plots still dominated by Salix had lower overall N; soil accumulation was more associated with dominant species. This highlights the importance of contingency and dispersal in community development. The 100-yr record of these plots, including species composition, spatial relationships, cover, and observed interactions between species provides a powerful view of long-term primary succession.Ye

Controlling Contraception: The Case for Over-the-Counter Availability of Nonemergency Oral Contraceptives

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) currently categorizes nonemergency oral contraceptives as prescription-only instead of nonprescription, or over-the-counter, drugs. The time has come for the FDA to reconsider this decision and allow oral contraceptives to be prescribed on an over-the-counter basis. The high safety level of oral contraceptives, numerous studies indicating that greater misuse of oral contraceptives will not occur if they are available over-the-counter, and an assessment of collateral factors relating to oral contraceptive use support this conclusion. Additionally, should the FDA create a new class of behind-the-counter drugs, considerations of access, cost, privacy, and pharmacist interference with women’s right to make their own birth control determinations indicate that it would still be more appropriate to designate oral contraceptives as over-the-counter drugs rather than to move them to this new category

Policy Practice of Master of Social Work Students: An Analysis of a Policy Practice Intervention

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a significant difference in the levels of political engagement from a University in Southern California Master of Social Work (MSW) students that participated in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) -CA Lobby Days and students who do not participate. This study examined the NASW- CA Lobby Days as an intervention of experiential learning as existing literature explains experiential learning to be an effective method for learning policy practice. Using a quantitative approach by looking at student scores from the Political Activities Survey (PAS) which was distributed to MSW students at a University in Southern California Survey results were analyzed by comparing average scores between the control and intervention groups. Research findings suggest that a relationship exists between Lobby Days Participation and political engagement activities of voting in local elections, contacting legislators, participating in protests of social demonstrations, participating in service clubs, and participating in service clubs as service club officers

How Do Marital Status And Gender Affect The PRR To A University Degree In Australia?

While Australian evidence suggests that the Private Rate of Return (PRR) to a university degree in Australia has gradually declined with increases in the cost of higher education, these studies have only measured the PRR for the average male and average female. This paper uses income data from the ABS Income and Housing Survey (2003-04) CURF to measure the impact of the 2005 increase in HECS fees on the PRR based on gender and marital status. This paper shows that the return to a university degree is largely affected by both gender and marital status and studies that measure the PRR to a university degree for single males and single females with no dependent children underestimate the PRR for most male graduates and overestimate the PRR of female graduates

Assessing word recognition in infants with a history of chronic otitis media

Otitis media (OM) is a common ear-related disorder diagnosed in children that can cause a temporary conductive hearing loss. The fluctuating hearing loss may alter auditory processing which may interfere with language development while impacting quality of life for infants and their caregivers (Homøe et al., 2019). In several languages, eleven-month-old infants have shown a preference for familiar words over unfamiliar words using the head-turn preference paradigm. This study examines the effect of chronic OM on the preference for familiar or unfamiliar words in eleven-month-old infants. Fourteen eleven-month-old infants (mean age 344 days) with three or more diagnosed ear infections before the test date were tested using a familiar word list and unfamiliar word list adapted from Vihman et al. (2004). Infants with a history of chronic OM did not show a preference to either the familiar or unfamiliar word lists (t(13)=1.05, p=0.3), whereas their peers without a history of chronic OM showed a preference to the familiar word list over the unfamiliar word list from research previously conducted in the lab (t(11)=2.94, p=0.013). When combined with other high-risk factors such as pre-existing cognitive or language deficit and a compromised environment including smoking, overcrowding, poor nutrition, and non-compliance with medical management, more routine monitoring and additional support may be needed