The Pop-Up Museum: How Students Exhibit Critical Literacy Practices Through Project-Based Learning

Project-based learning (PBL) has become standard practice in STEM classes reflecting a focus on critical thinking and collaborative skills required by the changing workforce. English Language Arts classes should offer more PBL opportunities; however, ELA teachers are often hesitant to implement PBL because of a fear of risk-taking, a concern for turning over curriculum choices to students, an acknowledgement of the role that standardized testing plays on student achievement and teacher accountability, and a lack of professional development training. This phenomenological study examines how 18 students take up critical literacy practices using PBL in the form of a pop-up museum protocol in four secondary ELA classes. Three pop-up museums culminated in students creating and displaying persuasive writing samples and meme artifacts, while one pop-up museum exhibited the findings of service-learning projects. This study revealed overwhelmingly positive accounts of PBL as an instructional approach from the teachers and the student participants. Interviews with two teachers and 18 purposely sampled students revealed that the participants were engaged in deeper, more fulfilling learning. The instructional spaces moved from classrooms as traditional first space locations to ecoscapes like social networks in third space as students created, curated, and hosted museums for their peers and their community. Although time and technology were factors in implementation, ELA classes and other subject areas that adopt the pop-up museum protocol will experience students’ shifts in identity, perception, and dispositions as they express their critical literacy practices

Evaluation of movement and physiological demands of full-back and center-back soccer players using global positioning systems

Purpose: This study investigated the physiological demands between Full-back and Center-Back soccer players during official matches and using Global Positioning System (GPS) devices. Methods: Four Full-back (FB) and four Center-back (CB) semi-professional soccer players (mean ± SD age 21,33 ± 2.07 y, height 179.53 ± 4,37 cm, and weight 76.62 ± 3.32 Kg) participated in this study during 2012. Match performance was reported as total distance, speed categories (stationary–walking (0–3.9 km/h), jogging (4.0–6.9 km/h), quick running (7.0–12.9 km/h), high-intensity running (13.0–17.9 km/h) and sprint (>18 km/h)), maximum speed, workload, high-intensity running distance (HIR: Sprint and High-intensity running), rest time and high/low intensity ratio. Data were expressed per 15-min period of game time, separate into positions roles. Results: in all periods of time, FB covered a significant higher total distance, HIR efforts, Workload and maximum speed. CB spent higher distance in walking speed category. FB had also a lower high/low ratio and shorter rest time. When compared with periods of time, rest time was longer each 15-min, but in the last period (75-90) HIR was higher than in the previous periods of time. Conclusions: Significant differences exist between Full-back and Center-back players, therefore, physical training in soccer should also be based on the specific requirements of the playing positions

Maintenance of neuronal fate and transcriptional identity

The processes that drive naive multipotent stem cells towards fully differentiated fates are increasingly well understood. However, once differentiated, the mechanisms and molecular factors involved in maintaining differentiated states and associated transcriptomes are less well studied. Neurons are a post-mitotic cell-type with highly specialised functions that largely lack the capacity for renewal. Therefore, neuronal cell identities and the transcriptional states that underpin them are locked into place by active mechanisms that prevent lineage reversion/dedifferentiation and repress cell cycling. Furthermore, individual neurons may be very long-lived, so these mechanisms must be sufficient to ensure the fidelity of neuronal transcriptomes over long time periods. This Review aims to provide an overview of recent progress in understanding how neuronal cell fate and associated gene expression are maintained and the transcriptional regulators that are involved. Maintenance of neuronal fate and subtype specification are discussed, as well as the activating and repressive mechanisms involved. The relevance of these processes to disease states, such as brain cancers and neurodegeneration is outlined. Finally, outstanding questions and hypotheses in this field are proposed

Targeting and Detention in Non-International Armed Conflict: Serdar Mohammed and the Limits of Human Rights Convergence

In recent years, the United Kingdom has seen a steady flow of legal challenges arising out of its involvement in the armed conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Among these, the case of Serdar Mohammed, decided by the English High Court in May 2014, is of particular interest because of its wider implications. In essence, the High Court’s judgment in Mohammed questions the existence of a legal basis under the law of armed conflict for the conduct of status-based operations in non-international armed conflicts. This article demonstrates that the restrictive approach adopted by the High Court in Mohammed is mistaken as a matter of law and undesirable as a matter of policy. In short, Mohammed drives the convergence between international human rights law and the law of armed conflict too far