Writing in the Digital Age: A Case Study of Fifth-Grade Boys

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the digital-related writing practices of one classroom of fifth-grade boys in a private school who had embraced a 1:1 laptop model in every classroom for over 12 years. As a response to discussions concerning the role of writing and technology in education, especially as states across the United States had been preparing for computerized writing assessment through measures such as the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), this study asked what influenced the digital writing practices and products of students with experience in digital writing technologies. Additionally, as girls have outperformed boys on traditional literacy achievement measures, the study asked what influences in the digital writing environment impacted the boys\u27 development of their identity as writers. The study found a multiplicity of influences on students\u27 digital writing practices, products, and confidence in participating in the classroom; more specifically, the researcher concluded that peer interactions were a particularly salient finding across the data. Discussions were provided with a proposed model for social intergration in digital writing environments. Future recommendations to research were suggested to extend the limited scope of the research to a variety of contexts. In particular, future research was suggested to explore a variety of student-centered and teacher-centered approaches for understanding the role of social support in digital writing environments such as the influence of peer feedback for improving digital writing products in various educational contexts and the impact of teacher training for facilitating quality peer responses for improving digital writing

CONDUCTING CLASSROOM PREFERENCE ASSESSMENTS TO DETERMINE EFFECTIVE REINFORCERS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

Reinforcement is a way to help students acquire and maintain skills and appropriate behaviors. This review of literature focuses on a variety of educational studies on students who have special needs. A majority of these studies discussed the types of reinforcers and assessments utilized in either these students’ classrooms or in the researchers’ offices. All educators should find a variety of reinforcers for their students; in order to avoid a student’s satiation (when they are bored of a specific reinforcer) for a specific item. The most productive way educators can avoid a student becoming satiated with a specific reinforcer is either introducing new reinforcers to the student that are similar to that student’s previous preferred reinforcer(s), or assessing the student to find another preferred reinforcer the student will work for. This review of literature will define what preference assessments are, and also looks at the benefits of using various forms of reinforcement with students with disabilities. This review of literature will explain the types of preference assessments educators can utilize to help create an effective reinforcement system within the classroom

19th Century Developments in Food Preservation

This paper describes the essential contributions of Nicolas Appert, Peter Durand, and Louis Pasteur to how food was preserved. From the earliest stages of canning and jarring to pasteurizing, the 19th century housed the some of the most significant growth in the development of safety and longevity of food

Is the association between sleep and internalizing symptoms mediated by student and parent-related pressures?

Objectives: Inadequate sleep has been afforded relatively little attention, despite known declines over adolescence, a critical period for the onset of mental ill-health. There remains a need for population-level longitudinal studies to better understand links with internalizing symptoms and in managing relevant pressures among adolescents. We examined the bidirectional relationships between sleep and depression and anxiety symptoms, and whether the relationships are mediated by school- and parent-related pressures. Measures: We used 2-year linked prospective data from 25,722 Canadian secondary school students that participated in the COMPASS study in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years. Path analysis models tested autoregressive and cross-lagged relationships between sleep duration and depression and anxiety symptoms. Bootstrap method of indirect effects was used to test school and parent pressures as mediators. Results: Results supported the hypothesized bi-directional relationships between sleep duration and depression and anxiety symptoms across one year. Shorter sleep predicted greater internalizing symptoms, and vice versa. In females, both parental and school pressures mediated the association between sleep duration and depression and anxiety symptoms, and in the reverse direction, parental but not school pressures mediated the association between depression and sleep. In males, school pressures mediated the association between sleep and depression symptoms. Conclusions: This study provides new insights into the nature and directionality of associations between sleep and internalizing symptoms over time and differences by sex. Results further strengthen calls that short sleep should be taken seriously. Interventions promoting regular sleep schedules in adolescence may help mitigate risk for stress-related psychopathology

Community and Idolatry: San Francisco Cajonos, Yalalag, and Betaza through the Criminal Court of Villa Alta, 1700-1704

The trials of San Francisco Cajonos and Betaza and Yalálag heard in Villa Alta’s criminal court depict many important facets of life in Colonial Oaxaca, and they especially paint the picture of community, how it was defined and how it operated in reality. Looking specifically at these two rich examples in Villa Alta’s criminal court, at the time, idolatry – native religion, rituals, and devotions defined by Catholics as idolatrous -- helped shape the lines of community and defined who belonged in which space. It also highlights how betrayal and revenge were construed by a community and the response for those actions by individuals. As these trials and stories show, in the towns and villages surrounding Villa Alta, native devotion, classified as idolatry by colonial forces, was essential to understanding community because it helped to create it. The practice and defense of native rituals and devotions, identified as idolatry by the colonial Spanish authorities, defined the boundaries of community in the 1701 trial of San Francisco Cajonos and the 1703 trial of Betaza and Yalálag. The revenge taken against the two fiscales, Juan Bautista and Jacinto de los Angeles by the community for a violation of community boundaries by betraying their idolatrous practices to colonial church officials as well as the hostility between the communities of Betaza and Yalálag because the punishment for engaging in practices deemed idolatrous was seen as a communal attack highlighted the dividing lines between communities created by participation and persecution of native rituals

The Value of Natural Kinds from a Kripkean Perspective: A Critique of Eric Katz\u27s \u27Organism, Community and the Substitution Problem

The author endeavors to extend the Kripke/Putnam theory of reference in order to improve Eric Katz’s argument in “Organism, Community, and the ‘Substitution Problem.” Katz criticizes the organism model for species and supports the community model, which supposedly strikes a balance with a species’ intrinsic value and functional purpose within a natural ecosystem. But since it can be shown that the so-called organism model includes intrinsic value, too, the substitution problem (which had plagued it for Katz) is unfounded. Because Katz’s real goal is to differentiate between the intrinsic and instrumental value of a given species, Kripke’s theory of natural kinds coupled with Putnam’s counterfactual reasoning can help make Katz’s ethics into a stronger argument. Even still, Kripke’s thought urges us to recognize that human science improves and our understanding of a species is never a fixed one. Thus, theory alone cannot definitively conclude how best to treat a given species

RIO Country Report 2015: Denmark

The 2015 series of RIO Country Reports analyse and assess the policy and the national research and innovation system developments in relation to national policy priorities and the EU policy agenda with special focus on ERA and Innovation Union. The executive summaries of these reports put forward the main challenges of the research and innovation systems.JRC.J.6-Innovation Systems Analysi

Principal Investigator Perspectives on the Effects of COVID-19 on their NSF-Funded International Research Projects with Students in 2020

A web-based survey of 103 principal investigators (PIs) of NSF-funded international research training programs administered in late 2020 revealed that over 640 undergraduate and graduate student researchers were unable to participate in international research projects as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020. Nevertheless, PIs did not generally suspend applications or seek re-budgeting of travel funds. Some research activities were able to continue without the international travel component such as data analysis, lab work, and publication preparation. Follow-up interviews with 12 PIs revealed that virtual activities such as webinars, workshops, and networking events were implemented as a substitute for research and cultural experiences abroad with the goal of keeping students engaged until travel can resume. The disproportionate impact of these virtual substitute activities on students from disadvantaged backgrounds is not known

4-H Summer of STEM: A Practical Approach to Increasing Workforce Readiness

4-H Summer of STEM is a workforce readiness program for high school youth. The goals of the program are to increase students’ interest in STEM careers, improve college and workforce readiness, and connect youth to businesses and industries in the local community. Selected youth receive hands-on development of workforce readiness skills, are paired with a STEM mentor for job shadowing, and participate in college campus visits. Preliminary findings show that participants reported having a positive relationship between participation in 4-H youth development programs and career skills. This article introduces the 4-H Summer of STEM and offers suggestions for implementation