A qualitative study of the pedagogical content knowledge and personal orientations toward economics of award-winning secondary economics teachers

Historically, economic education has been predominantly characterized by low student achievement, lack of teacher preparation, and quantitative research findings. Detailed descriptions of what effective economic instruction looks like in secondary classrooms remain scarce. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain an in-depth understanding of how the personal orientations toward economics of three award-winning secondary economic teachers influenced their instruction and how these teachers demonstrated their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in their instruction. Specifically investigated was how the economic teachers demonstrated horizon content knowledge, specialized content knowledge, knowledge of content and teaching, and knowledge of content and students. Data collection methods included classroom observations, teacher interviews and questionnaires, student surveys and tests, and artifacts. Guided by a PCK theoretical framework, a qualitative analysis of the data suggested that the most influential personal orientation factors included the teachers’ life and professional experiences, disciplinary background, political leanings, economic course beliefs, and economic instructional goals. All three teachers consistently demonstrated their PCK by connecting economic content to other grades and subjects as well as other economic concepts and skills. Economic content was also regularly used to prepare students for citizenship, including casting more informed votes and understanding current events. However, authentic discussions and controversial issues were mostly lacking. An emphasis was placed on developing students’ economic reasoning skills, including real-world applications of the economic way of thinking and decision making models. Active learning instructional practices were also frequently incorporated, and economic content was almost always related to students’ interests and experiences. Modest gains were achieved in students’ economic attitudes and knowledge midway through the yearlong course. Implications for classroom instruction and teacher education include teaching a basic economic course focused on life skills, integrating more assignments in social studies methods courses that develop PCK in economics, and offering an economic methods course

Learning to Think Politically: Toward More Complete Disciplinary Knowledge in Civics and Government Courses

Secondary civics and government courses are often framed as a content area in which students learn about processes of government and ways of participating in a democratic society, as opposed to a discipline in which students use specific tools and ways of thinking that mimic those used by professionals within that discipline. In this article, we call for an increased emphasis on disciplinary knowledge in civics and government courses, specifically knowledge that utilizes the tools and methodologies of political scientists. Through a study of an exemplary civics teacher during the 2012 Presidential Election, we illustrate the benefits of a disciplinary approach to civics instruction. Our findings suggest that such an approach allows students to better understand tools of social inquiry and provides them with the skills to think critically about politics and political behavior

Dose-Dependent Effects of Multiple Acute Cocaine Injections on Maternal Behavior and Aggression in Sprague-Dawley Rats

Rat dams, which had no prior drug treatment, were either nontreated controls or were injected subcutaneously 4 times during a 10-day period with a single dose of 30, 15 or 7.5 mg/kg of cocaine hydrochloride HCl, or normal saline. Injections were given immediately postpartum following delivery of their final pup (PPD 1), and again on postpartum day 3 (PPD 3), postpartum day 6 (PPD 6) and postpartum day 10 (PPD 10). Dams were observed 30 min following injections for maternal behavior (MB) towards 8 surrogate male pups on PPD 1 and PPD 3 and for aggression towards a male or female intruder in the presence of their litter on PPD 6 and PPD 10. Compared to saline and untreated controls, cocaine-treated dams exhibited more disruptions in MB on both PPD 1 and PPD 3 and were less aggressive towards an intruder, regardless of intruder sex, on PPD 6 and PPD 10. In most cases MB was altered in a dose-dependent manner with the higher doses of cocaine resulting in a greater disruption of behavior

Vasopressin versus norepinephrine infusion in patients with septic shock

Background Vasopressin is commonly used as an adjunct to catecholamines to support blood pressure in refractory septic shock, but its effect on mortality is unknown. We hypothesized that low-dose vasopressin as compared with norepinephrine would decrease mortality among patients with septic shock who were being treated with conventional (catecholamine) vasopressors

Effects of Anacetrapib in Patients with Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease

BACKGROUND: Patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease remain at high risk for cardiovascular events despite effective statin-based treatment of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. The inhibition of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) by anacetrapib reduces LDL cholesterol levels and increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. However, trials of other CETP inhibitors have shown neutral or adverse effects on cardiovascular outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 30,449 adults with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive atorvastatin therapy and who had a mean LDL cholesterol level of 61 mg per deciliter (1.58 mmol per liter), a mean non-HDL cholesterol level of 92 mg per deciliter (2.38 mmol per liter), and a mean HDL cholesterol level of 40 mg per deciliter (1.03 mmol per liter). The patients were assigned to receive either 100 mg of anacetrapib once daily (15,225 patients) or matching placebo (15,224 patients). The primary outcome was the first major coronary event, a composite of coronary death, myocardial infarction, or coronary revascularization. RESULTS: During the median follow-up period of 4.1 years, the primary outcome occurred in significantly fewer patients in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (1640 of 15,225 patients [10.8%] vs. 1803 of 15,224 patients [11.8%]; rate ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.85 to 0.97; P=0.004). The relative difference in risk was similar across multiple prespecified subgroups. At the trial midpoint, the mean level of HDL cholesterol was higher by 43 mg per deciliter (1.12 mmol per liter) in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (a relative difference of 104%), and the mean level of non-HDL cholesterol was lower by 17 mg per deciliter (0.44 mmol per liter), a relative difference of -18%. There were no significant between-group differences in the risk of death, cancer, or other serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive statin therapy, the use of anacetrapib resulted in a lower incidence of major coronary events than the use of placebo. (Funded by Merck and others; Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN48678192 ; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01252953 ; and EudraCT number, 2010-023467-18 .)

Erratum to: Cardiac ischemia in patients with septic shock randomized to vasopressin or norepinephrine

Medicine, Faculty ofOther UBCNon UBCPopulation and Public Health (SPPH), School ofReviewedFacult

Agreement in electrocardiogram interpretation in patients with septic shock

Objective: The reliability of electrocardiogram interpretation to diagnose myocardial ischemia in critically ill patients is unclear. In adults with septic shock, we assessed intra-and inter-rater agreement of electrocardiogram interpretation, and the effect of knowledge of troponin values on these interpretations