Annotations of Awareness: A Framework for Externalizing Thinking to Promote Metacognitive Discourse in High School English and Social Studies Classrooms

Teachers find it challenging to integrate metacognition into the classroom to promote critical thinking, but such rigorous instruction is one way to improve access to quality education for all students, no matter their access to outside-of-school resources. To help teachers find more comfort and confidence in designing for increased critical thinking and metacognitive discourse and to help close the theory-practice gap in metacognition research, I conducted a mixed-methods case study focusing on assessment-design interventions. Using the Metacognitive Framework for Assessment Design and Annotations of Awareness, both designed in response to my literature review, my 90-day action research included three Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles. Qualitative-data collection included surveys, observations and conversations, interviews, reflection logs, and design-session transcripts. Quantitative-data collection included Likert-scale portions of pre- and post-surveys and assistant-superintendent scores of teacher assessments pre and post study. Eight teachers (six English and two social studies) at a traditional public high school in South Carolina participated. Activity theory helped guide my iterative research design, my coding, and my findings. The benefits of the Metacognition Framework were measured and substantiated. Six themes emerged to reveal how the Framework supports critical thinking and metacognition: (a) Finding Clarity through Abstraction, (b) Moving Backwards to Move Forwards, (c) Giving More Feedback to Give Less, (d) Slowing Down to Speed Up, (e) Focusing on the Discrete for Transfer, and (f) Students Guiding the Teachers. Teacher self-ratings in confidence improved on average. Pre- and post-study assessment scores in the Thinking and Problem-Solving domains of the South Carolina Teaching Standards 4.0 Rubric (South Carolina Department of Education [SCDE], 2021d) revealed maintenance of or growth in rigor for five teachers, while the scores for the other three teachers offered guidance on how to hold up the 4.0 Rubric (SCDE, 2021d) to the realities and priorities of teaching. South Carolina public schools should integrate the Framework in secondary English and social studies classrooms utilizing school-level instructional coaching and district induction programs in order to support teachers in crafting assessments for increased student critical thinking and increased metacognitive discourse

SOCIAL JUSTICE IN EDUCATION: JUST ANOTHER BUZZ WORD OR A TRUE DAILY STRUGGLE?

Editor\u27s Welcom

Binary Central Stars of Planetary Nebulae Discovered Through Photometric Variability III: The Central Star of Abell 65

A growing number of close binary stars are being discovered among central stars of planetary nebulae. Recent and ongoing surveys are finding new systems and contributing to our knowledge of the evolution of close binary systems. The push to find more systems was largely based on early discoveries which suggested that 10 to 15% of all central stars are close binaries. One goal of this series of papers is confirmation and classification of these systems as close binaries and determination of binary system parameters. Here we provide time-resolved multi-wavelength photometry of the central star of Abell 65 as well as further analysis of the nebula and discussion of possible binary--nebula connections. Our results for Abell 65 confirm recent work showing that it has a close, cool binary companion, though several of our model parameters disagree with the recently published values. With our longer time baseline of photometric observations from 1989--2009 we also provide a more precise orbital period of 1.0037577 days.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

Daily Interpersonal Stress and the Stressor–Vulnerability Model of Alcohol Use

We used an experience sampling design to examine the within–person, within–day associations among interpersonal stress, negative affect, and alcohol use, and how these associations varied as a function of alcohol–outcome expectancies (AOEs), avoidance coping style, sex, and neuroticism. Ninety–eight community adult drinkers who wanted to reduce their alcohol consumption (49 women) reported for 21 days on their interpersonal stress and affect (three times per day), and alcohol use (as it occurred) using hand–held computers. Several individual difference factors interacted with daytime interpersonal stress and afternoon negative affect in predicting nighttime alcohol use, with individuals high in careless unconcern AOEs or low in impairment AOEs demonstrating stronger positive associations between daytime stress and negative affect and nighttime drinking. Daytime drinking and individual difference factors also interacted in predicting nighttime interpersonal stress, with individuals high in careless unconcern AOEs or those low in impairment AOEs or avoidance coping style demonstrating the strongest positive associations between daytime drinking and nighttime stress. The interactive effects in predicting drinking outcomes were generally limited to days on which some interpersonal stress occurred

College of Puget Sound: A Dream Realized

History of the College written by President Todd.https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/pugetsoundhistoricaltext/1012/thumbnail.jp