Pedagogy and Information Technology Integration, As Strategies for Improving Academic Performance in Stem Subjects: A Critical Literature Review

Globally, the teaching of STEM subjects has been construed as a plausible solution to solving societal problems ranging from economic to social development issues. In order to realize these benefits, there is need to focus on the pedagogy in teaching of STEM subjects. Besides in 21st Century use of IT has become both enabler and a driver of every part of life including education. As such this study purposes to explore and synthesize major trends of research on stem subjects’ pedagogy and IT integration and academic performance. The systematic critical review methodology for this study included perusal of quality journal articles related to topic of study in the last three years. However, in cases of absence of more recent studies, collection of information from previous years was allowed. The main search key themes included: Pedagogical beliefs and attitudes, IT access and integration, Skills capacity interventions, Cloud digital content and academic and Performance in STEM Subjects The selected journals include but not limited to Emerald, Taylor and Francis, JSTOR, EBSCOhost and Wiley Online. Study findings show varying propositions regarding teacher pedagogy aspects and integration of IT in STEM subjects. Particularly teacher beliefs and attitudes seem to have implication on probability of IT integration in STEM teaching; while IT access, skills capacity interventions, access to cloud digital content pose a challenge in teachers’ pedagogical practices which in turn affect the learner performance. Despite the comprehensive literature search and review across geographical regions within limits of time and access, it is clear that the study findings prepare ground for further research and possibility of capacity building interventions. KEY WORDS: Pedagogical beliefs, IT access and integration, Skills capacity interventions, Cloud digital content and academic Performance in STEM Subjects DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-21-21 Publication date:July 31st 202

Threats to safe transitions from hospital to home: a consensus study in North West London primary care.

BACKGROUND: Transitions between healthcare settings are vulnerable points for patients. AIM: To identify key threats to safe patient transitions from hospital to primary care settings. DESIGN AND SETTING: Three-round web-based Delphi consensus process among clinical and non-clinical staff from 39 primary care practices in North West London, England. METHOD: Round 1 was a free-text idea-generating round. Rounds 2 and 3 were consensus-obtaining rating rounds. Practices were encouraged to complete the questionnaires at team meetings. Aggregate ratings of perceived level of importance for each threat were calculated (1-3: 'not important', 4-6: 'somewhat important', 7-9: 'very important'). Percentage of votes cast for each patient or medication group were recorded; consensus was defined as ≥75%. RESULTS: A total of 39 practices completed round 1, 36/39 (92%) completed round 2, and 30/36 (83%) completed round 3. Round 1 identified nine threats encompassing problems involving communication, service organisation, medication provision, and patients who were most at risk. 'Poor quality of handover instructions from secondary to primary care teams' achieved the highest rating (mean rating at round 3 = 8.43) and a 100% consensus that it was a 'very important' threat. Older individuals (97%) and patients with complex medical problems taking >5 medications (80%) were voted the most vulnerable. Anticoagulants (77%) were considered to pose the greatest risk to patients. CONCLUSION: This study identified specific threats to safe patient transitions from hospital to primary care, providing policymakers and healthcare providers with targets for quality improvement strategies. Further work would need to identify factors underpinning these threats so that interventions can be tailored to the relevant behavioural and environmental contexts in which these threats arise

Nonequilibrium dynamics of a hadronizing quark gluon plasma

We investigate the hadronic cooling of a quark droplet within a microscopic model. The color flux tube approach is used to describe the hadronization of the quark phase. The model reproduces experimental particle ratios equally well compared to a static thermal hadronic source. Furthermore, the dynamics of the decomposition of a quark-gluon plasma is investigated and time dependent particle ratios are found

Parental Involvement in Homework and Primary School Academic Performance in Kenya

The factors associated with students’ academic performance may have been addressed but the impact of parental involvement continues to be a significant issue. Some schools in Kenya post poor results amid claims that parents are not supportive. This study examined the effect of parental involvement in homework on academic performance in public primary schools in Teso North Sub County, Busia- Kenya. The objectives were; to establish the types of homework assistance children get from parents, to ascertain the extent of parental involvement in homework and to examine the association between parental involvement in homework and school academic performance. All teachers, head teachers, pupils and parents in public primary schools were targeted. Thirty schools were sampled randomly from where 532 respondents (30 head teachers, 30 parents, 192 teachers and 280 pupils) were then sampled. Parents and head teachers were purposively sampled while teachers and pupils were proportionately sampled.  A descriptive survey design was employed and data collected using questionnaires, semi- structured interviews schedules and document analysis. Quantitative data was analyzed using means, percentages and frequencies and qualitative data was reported directly. T-tests, Pearson moment correlation coefficient, and OLS regression coefficients were used to test hypotheses. The results indicate female parents were more willing to assist children in homework. Parents provided limited assistance in areas such as reading, writing and solving difficult sums. Parental involvement in homework positively correlated with school academic performance. The positive effect of parental involvement in homework disappeared when other variables were controlled for. It was concluded that since educational gains of parental involvement are noted and confirmed the significance of parents in educational processes. It was recommended that parents who don’t assist children in homework should be sensitized to do so. Keywords: parental involvement, homework, primary school, academic performance

Cord blood hemopoietic progenitor cell toll like receptor expression and function: a mechanism underlying allergic inflammation in early life?

RATIONALE: Neonatal immune responses to environmental stimuli, mediated via TLR, may determine the development of atopy in childhood. Since hemopoietic mechanisms are involved in development and maintenance of allergic inflammation, we investigated alterations in progenitor expression and differentiation profiles after stimulation with TLR agonists.<p></p> METHODS: Freshly isolated, CD34-enriched human CB cells were stimulated with 10μg/mL lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or 5μM CpG ODN overnight. Flow cytometric analyses were used to evaluate surface and intracellular expression of TLR-2, TLR-4, TLR-9, as well as the hemopoietic cytokine receptors (HCR) IL-5R, IL-3R and GM-CSFR; methylcellulose cultures were performed to assess CD34+ cell differentiation capacity into Eo/B CFU.<p></p> RESULTS: After TLR agonist stimulation, CD34+ cell TLR-2, -4 and TLR-9 percentage expression increased significantly (p=0.005), whereas HCR expression decreased (p=0.01); however, mean fluorescence intensity of all receptors was found to be increased. Stimulation with a combination of TLR agonists and hemopoietic cytokines induced increased IL-5- and IL-3-responsive Eo/B CFU (p=0.02), when compared to hemopoietic cytokine stimulation alone.<p></p> CONCLUSIONS: CB CD34+ progenitor cells significantly express TLR, and TLR ligation directly affects both TLR and HCR expression. These receptor alterations allow modulation of progenitor cell differentiation capacity into eosinophils and basophils, key cells involved in allergic inflammation. These findings may highlight an alternate innate immune pathway of microbial influence on the development of allergic inflammation in early life.<p></p&gt

Examining a Neural Measure of Attentional Bias to Emotional Faces in Social Anxiety and Depression

Cognitive theories suggest that attentional biases may contribute to both social anxiety and depression, such that attention may be biased to focus on or away from certain information (e.g., rejecting or sad images; Clark & McManus, 2002; Lemoult & Gotlib, 2019). Although research is mixed, recent studies using a neural measure called the N2pc (an event-related potential) has indicated attentional biases in social anxiety. However, little N2pc research has examined depression or co-occurring depression and social anxiety. The current study used electroencephalography to measure the N2pc during a dot-probe task in which images of faces with emotional or neutral expressions competed for attention. Undergraduates (N = 102) completed the task and self-report measures of social anxiety and depression. Hierarchical linear regressions examined the hypotheses that social anxiety would be associated with attentional biases toward both angry and disgust faces and that depression would be associated with biases away from happy faces and toward sad faces. Social anxiety was associated with a more negative N2pc for (i.e. greater bias toward) happy faces (β = -.32, p \u3c .01) when holding depression constant. Depression was only marginally associated with bias toward sad faces (β = -.20, p = .09), given average social anxiety, and the interaction of depression and social anxiety marginally predicted less bias toward sad faces (β = .21, p = .08). The social anxiety bias toward happy faces supports the fear of positive evaluation theory (Weeks et al., 2008). Individuals with social anxiety may rapidly attend to positive evaluation because it signals being pulled further into an anxious situation. The depression bias toward sad faces was marginal but provides some support for the cognitive perspective that attentional vigilance for depressive content influences negative thoughts and mood. This research informs interventions such as attentional bias modification and cognitive-behavioral therapy.https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/gradposters2022_sciences/1006/thumbnail.jp

"It All Ended in an Unsporting Way": Serbian Football and the Disintegration of Yugoslavia, 1989-2006

Part of a wider examination into football during the collapse of Eastern European Communism between 1989 and 1991, this article studies the interplay between Serbian football and politics during the period of Yugoslavia's demise. Research utilizing interviews with individuals directly involved in the Serbian game, in conjunction with contemporary Yugoslav media sources, indicates that football played an important proactive role in the revival of Serbian nationalism. At the same time the Yugoslav conflict, twinned with a complex transition to a market economy, had disastrous consequences for football throughout the territories of the former Yugoslavia. In the years following the hostilities the Serbian game has suffered decline, major financial hardship and continuing terrace violence, resulting in widespread nostalgia for the pre-conflict era