The National Science Foundation (NSF) has a long history of investment in broadening participation (BP) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. A review of past NSF BP ...efforts provides insights into how the portfolio of programs and activities has evolved and the broad array of innovative strategies that has been used to increase the participation of groups underrepresented in STEM, including women, minorities, and persons with disabilities. While many are familiar with these long-standing programmatic efforts, BP is also a key component of NSF's strategic plans, has been highlighted in National Science Board reports, and is the focus of ongoing outreach efforts. The majority of familiar BP programs, such as the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (now 25 years old), are housed in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources. However, fellowship programs such as the Graduate Research Fellowships and Postdoctoral Research Fellowships under the Directorate for Biological Sciences (and parallel directorates in other STEM disciplines) are frequently used to address underrepresentation in STEM disciplines. The FY2016 and FY2017 budget requests incorporate funding for NSF INCLUDES, a new cross-agency BP initiative that will build on prior successes while addressing national BP challenges. NSF INCLUDES invites the use of innovative approaches for taking evidence-based best practices to scale, ushering in a new era in NSF BP advancement.
America's lab report Schweingruber, Heidi A; Hilton, Margaret L; Singer, Susan R
National Academies Press,
2006, 2005, 2005-00-00
eBook, Book
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Laboratory experiences as a part of most U.S. high school science curricula have been taken for granted for decades, but they have rarely been carefully examined. What do they contribute to science ...learning? What can they contribute to science learning? What is the current status of labs in our nation s high schools as a context for learning science? This book looks at a range of questions about how laboratory experiences fit into U.S. high schools: (1) What is effective laboratory teaching?; (2) What does research tell us about learning in high school science labs?; (3) How should student learning in laboratory experiences be assessed?; (4) Do all student have access to laboratory experiences?; (5) What changes need to be made to improve laboratory experiences for high school students?; and (6) How can school organization contribute to effective laboratory teaching? With increased attention to the U.S. education system and student outcomes, no part of the high school curriculum should escape scrutiny. This timely book investigates factors that influence a high school laboratory experience, looking closely at what currently takes place and what the goals of those experiences are and should be. Science educators, school administrators, policy makers, and parents will all benefit from a better understanding of the need for laboratory experiences to be an integral part of the science curriculum and how that can be accomplished.
Background
Although levodopa is considered the most effective pharmacotherapy for motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD), chronic use is associated with motor complications, including fluctuating ...response and unpredictable, involuntary movements called dyskinesia. ADS-5102 (amantadine) extended-release (ER) capsules (GOCOVRI
TM
) is a recent US FDA-approved treatment for dyskinesia in PD patients. ADS-5102 is a high-dose, ER formulation of amantadine, administered orally once daily at bedtime, that achieves high plasma drug concentrations throughout the day.
Objective
In this study, we present pooled results from two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase III ADS-5102 trials.
Patients and Methods
The two studies in PD patients with dyskinesia shared design and eligibility criteria, differing only in treatment duration. Results from common assessment time points were pooled.
Results
At 12 weeks, the least squares (LS) mean change in total score on the Unified Dyskinesia Rating Scale among 100 patients randomized to ADS-5102 and 96 patients randomized to placebo was − 17.7 (standard error SE 1.3) vs. − 7.6 (1.3) points, respectively (− 10.1 points, 95% confidence interval CI − 13.8, − 6.5;
p
< 0.0001). The relative treatment difference between groups was 27.3% (
p
< 0.0001). At 12 weeks, the LS mean change in OFF time was − 0.59 (0.21) vs. +0.41 (0.20) h/day, a difference of − 1.00 h/day (95% CI − 1.57, − 0.44;
p
=
0.0006). For both efficacy measures, a significant difference from placebo was attained by two weeks, the first post-baseline assessment, and was maintained throughout 12 weeks. In the pooled ADS-5102 group, the most common adverse events were hallucination, dizziness, dry mouth, peripheral edema, constipation, falls, and orthostatic hypotension.
Conclusions
These analyses provide further evidence supporting ADS-5102 as an adjunct to levodopa for treating both dyskinesia and OFF time in PD patients with dyskinesia.
Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT02136914 and NCT02274766
Several lines of evidence indicate that polyploidy occurred by around 54 million years ago, early in the history of legume evolution, but it has not been known whether this event was confined to the ...papilionoid subfamily (Papilionoideae; e.g. beans, medics, lupins) or occurred earlier. Determining the timing of the polyploidy event is important for understanding whether polyploidy might have contributed to rapid diversification and radiation of the legumes near the origin of the family; and whether polyploidy might have provided genetic material that enabled the evolution of a novel organ, the nitrogen-fixing nodule. Although symbioses with nitrogen-fixing partners have evolved in several lineages in the rosid I clade, nodules are widespread only in legume taxa, being nearly universal in the papilionoids and in the mimosoid subfamily (e.g., mimosas, acacias) – which diverged from the papilionoid legumes around 58 million years ago, soon after the origin of the legumes. Using transcriptome sequence data from Chamaecrista fasciculata , a nodulating member of the mimosoid clade, we tested whether this species underwent polyploidy within the timeframe of legume diversification. Analysis of gene family branching orders and synonymous-site divergence data from C. fasciculata , Glycine max (soybean), Medicago truncatula , and Vitis vinifera (grape; an outgroup to the rosid taxa) establish that the polyploidy event known from soybean and Medicago occurred after the separation of the mimosoid and papilionoid clades, and at or shortly before the Papilionoideae radiation. The ancestral legume genome was not fundamentally polyploid. Moreover, because there has not been an independent instance of polyploidy in the Chamaecrista lineage there is no necessary connection between polyploidy and nodulation in legumes. Chamaecrista may serve as a useful model in the legumes that lacks a paleopolyploid history, at least relative to the widely studied papilionoid models.
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Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Active learning in STEM education is essential for engaging the diverse pool of scholars needed to address pressing environmental and social challenges. However, active learning formats are difficult ...to scale and their incorporation into STEM teaching at U.S. universities varies widely. Here, we argue that urban agriculture as a theme can significantly increase active learning in undergraduate biology education by facilitating outdoor fieldwork and community‐engaged education. We begin by reviewing benefits of field courses and community engagement activities for undergraduate biology and discuss constraints to their broader implementation. We then describe how urban agriculture can connect biology concepts to pressing global changes, provide field research opportunities, and connect students to communities. Next, we assess the extent to which urban agriculture and related themes have already been incorporated into biology‐related programs in the United States using a review of major programs, reports on how campus gardens are used, and case studies from five higher education institutions (HEIs) engaging with this issue. We found that while field experiences are fairly common in major biology programs, community engagement opportunities are rare, and urban agriculture is almost nonexistent in course descriptions. We also found that many U.S. HEIs have campus gardens, but evidence suggests that they are rarely used in biology courses. Finally, case studies of five HEIs highlight innovative programming but also significant opportunities for further implementation. Together, our results suggest that urban agriculture is rarely incorporated into undergraduate biology in the United States, but there are significant prospects for doing so. We end with recommendations for integrating urban agriculture into undergraduate biology, including the development of campus gardens, research programs, community engagement partnerships, and collaborative networks. If done with care, this integration could help students make community contributions within required coursework, and help instructors feel a greater sense of accomplishment in an era of uncertainty.
We argue that urban agriculture is well suited as a theme for undergraduate biology education because it will facilitate the incorporation of outdoor fieldwork and community‐engaged education into the curriculum. In the manuscript, we review potential educational benefits of field courses and community engagement activities for undergraduate biology and discuss constraints to their broader implementation. We also assess the extent to which urban agriculture and related themes have already been incorporated into Biology‐related programs and make recommendations for incorporating urban agriculture into biology curricula.
Two revolutions in learning Singer, Susan R; Bonvillian, William B
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
2013-Mar-22, 2013-03-22, 20130322, Letnik:
339, Številka:
6126
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The dazzling promise of affordable, high-quality, globally accessible online courses has renewed attention to learning and teaching. The opportunity to realize the full potential of so-called MOOCs ...(massively open online courses) may reside in a parallel, yet often unconnected, revolution in learning. Applying our understanding of undergraduate learning to online environments will build their educational value, while the scale and speed of data generation from MOOCs can accelerate research on learning. Approached iteratively, the outcomes can be transformative.
This article examines the role of gesture in the shared meaning-making processes of 6th-grade students studying plate tectonics using a data visualization tool; specifically, a geographic information ...system. Students' verbal and gestural characterizations of key concepts of plate motions (i.e., subduction, rift, and buckling) were transcribed and coded across episodes of small-group work during the course of the unit, tracking emergent concepts and their subsequent refinements. The emergence histories of these concepts showed that they were initiated in gesture before they were conveyed in speech. Once they appeared in speech, speech and gesture figured prominently in the further elaboration, modification, and refinement of the key concepts. Gestures introduced by 1 member of the group were picked up and used by peers. Gestures were found to afford joint attention to concepts and negotiation of meaning in the group (e.g., through manual manipulation, imitation, and correction of gestures). These interactions appeared to advance the group's shared understanding of plate tectonics, and to mediate individual student learning. The findings suggest that explicit attention to gesture in instruction and assessment may impact the development of domain understandings in science investigations.
Biologists have long been concerned about the quality of undergraduate biology education. Over time, however, biology faculty members have begun to study increasingly sophisticated questions about ...teaching and learning in the discipline. These scholars, often called biology education researchers, are part of a growing field of inquiry called discipline-based education research (DBER). In this essay, the authors draw on the NRC report to highlight some of the insights that DBER in general and biology education research (BER) in particular have provided into effective instructional practices and undergraduate learning, and to point to some directions for the future. The views in this essay are the authors' as editors of the report and do not represent the official views of the Committee on the Status,Contributions, and Future Directions of Discipline-Based Education Research; the NRC; or the National Science Foundation (NSF). (Contains 1 footnote.)
The Online Challenge to Higher Education BONVILLIAN, WILLIAM B.; SINGER, SUSAN R.
Issues in science and technology,
07/2013, Letnik:
29, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
National Academy of Engineering President Charles Vest tells a story about the roles of people and computers. Vest notes that the combined team of a computer and chess master always beats either the ...computer or the chess master alone. This says much about the future of higher education, especially in the sciences. A key component of the emerging educational world is massive online open courses, popularly called MOOCs, a term just a few years old. Early MOOC providers were for-profit firms that saw opportunities to capture higher education markets. Many politicians in the United States seem to feel that MOOCs represent a kind of "new magic": online higher education for free. Even as online education advances, vital education components will remain face-to-face at least for some time to come. Conventional education will also remain vital in research, where online capabilities can be limiting. In the end, then, MOOCs may change everything, but they will not necessarily kill everything.
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Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NMLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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