Self-Efficacy: A Key to Literacy Learning.

Perhaps one of the greatest problems in education today is not illiteracy, but aliteracy (Cramer and Castle, 1994). Aliteracy has been defined as a lack of the reading habit; especially, such a lack in capable readers who choose not to read (Harris and Hodges, 1981, p. 11). With all of our knowledge of reading strategies, activities, lessons, and programs, why do so many of our students seem to prefer aliteracy? What is missing in our classrooms and in our teaching? In this article, it is proposed that a crucial ingredient in helping students become lifelong learners and joyful literates is a clear understanding of motivation

Opportunities for new collaborative projects

The Research Group is currently working in successful partnerships with Lake Mead National Recreation Area, BLM Las Vegas, Desert National Wildlife Refuge (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), Joshua Tree National Park, and in collaboration with the Ecological Restoration Institute, the U.S. Forest Service (Region 3)

The Design of a Cognitive Apprenticeship to Facilitate Storytime Programming for Librarians

The majority of research that has been conducted on structuring mentorship programs has been on career support in terms of transferring tacit and explicit knowledge from the supervisor to the protégé. While the instructional design literature touts that cognitive apprenticeships provide a great framework for constructivist and situated learning environments, little research has been done examining how much time should be allocated to the various phases of the apprenticeship framework. The purpose of this study was to explore whether the use of a cognitive apprenticeship framework could be used to mentor new librarians. Data was collected and analyzed in three phases. Phase 1 consisted of a needs assessment to determine the skills necessary for programmers to deliver a curriculum based storytime. Phase 2 data collected during the implementation of the cognitive apprenticeship included observation and reflective journals. Data collected during Phase 3 consisted of participant interviews immediately following the implementation of the cognitive apprenticeship, and three months after the conclusion of the study. All data was coded and analyzed using a phenemonological approach. The researchers found the need for flexibility when utilizing a cognitive apprenticeship model, based on participant prior knowledge and experience, the importance of the modeling and coaching stages of the model, participant desire for working with other programmers being trained

Mojave Applied Ecology Notes Winter 2008

Mojave Desert collaborative projects, fire history in Spring Mountains, Northshore Road rehabilitation, wildfires and invasive plants in American deserts conference, weed sentry survey

Validation of a New Ramping Aerobic Exercise Protocol (NDKS) in Overweight, Obese, and Normal Weight Individuals

International Journal of Exercise Science 15(4): 386-398, 2022. The research purpose was to establish reliability and validity of determining VO2max via a new NDKS (Nustad Dressler Kobes Saghiv; named for the sir names of department faculty at the time) ramping protocol compared to the Standard Bruce protocol in normal weight, overweight, and obese individuals. Forty-two physically active participants (23M, 19F) ages 18-28 years were grouped into normal weight (N = 15, 8F, BMI 18.5-24.9 kg/m2), overweight (N = 27, 11F, BMI = 25-29.9 kg/m2), and Class I obese (N = 7, 1F, BMI = 30-34.9 kg/m2). Blood pressure, heart rate, blood lactate, respiratory exchange ratio, test duration, rate of perceived exertion, and preference via survey were analyzed during each test. Test-retest reliability of the NDKS was determined first, via tests scheduled one week apart. The NDKS was then validated by comparison with results of the Standard Bruce protocol; tests also conducted one week apart. The normal weight group’s Cronbach’s Alpha was .995 for absolute VO2max (L/min) and .968 for relative VO2max (mL/kg.min). Overweight/obese Cronbach’s Alpha for absolute VO2max (L/min) was .960 and for relative VO2max (mL/kg.min) .908. Relative VO2max was slightly higher with NDKS and test time lower compared to the Bruce (p \u3c .05). 92.3% of subjects identified more localized muscle fatigue with the Bruce protocol vs NDKS. The NDKS is a reliable and valid exercise test which can be used to determine VO2max in physically active, young normal weight, overweight and obese individuals

Mojave Applied Ecology Notes Spring 2008

Post-fire restoration, fire chronosequence study, Joint Fire Science update, Weed Sentry program and DNWR survey

Implications for Management Prioritization of Exotic Annual Weed Monitoring Near Roadsides in the Eastern Mojave Desert, USA

Invasive exotic plants provide an unnatural conduit for fires in the Mojave Desert. For the last five years, roadside monitoring for exotic invasive species has been a common practice for documenting distributions in Clark County, Nevada (Abella et al., in press). Yet, studies have shown that weed relationships to road corridors differ depending upon the natural system (Hansen and Clevenger, 2005). In the Mojave Desert, it is unknown whether exotic species are limited to or even predominant along roadsides. Compounding this uncertainty, fertile islands under shrubs are known to enhance conditions for many annuals (Thompson et al., 2005). Thus, a site’s shrub composition could influence exotic invasive plant distributions

Watercourse-Upland and Elevational Gradients in Spring Vegetation of a Mojave-Great Basin Desert Landscape

Springs in arid lands provide critical habitat for a variety of species and functions to humans, yet the ecology and management needs of springs to maintain these values are poorly understood. To examine plant communities along spring watercourse-upland gradients, we sampled 12 springs at low (desert) and high (forest) elevations on the Desert National Wildlife Refuge in the Mojave and Great Basin Deserts in southern Nevada. In contrast to the commonly reported positive relationship between native and exotic species richness in sampling studies, we did not find strong correlations (r² < 0.05) between native and exotic richness at any distance from watercourses. Additionally, exotic species cover was lower nearest (0 and 2 m) watercourses than at uplands 20 m from watercourses, which also differs from the hypothesis that watercourses are more heavily invaded than uplands. Exotic species were more pervasive at low-elevation compared to high-elevation springs, but the proportion of total plant cover comprised by exotics was still small (0.03 – 0.06) at low-elevation springs. Species distributions and ordinations suggested that compositional watercourse-upland gradients were often readily detectable, but the composition of springs was individualistic. Some springs contained wetland species such as Juncus saximontanus, while other springs contained species of dry-site affinity. This study also illustrated challenges associated with estimating reference conditions for arid-land springs, as there are no known data prior to the development (i.e., modifying surface flow) of the springs and no known unmodified springs on this landscape.Keywords: exotic species, seeps, wetlands, riparian, conservatio