This convergent mixed-methods study explored the relation between strategies fourth-grade students self-reported to navigate and interpret science texts and their performance on a comprehension posttest. Using Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA), results reveal a higher degree of metacognitive awareness and the ability to orally explain one's thinking was evident for students who scored higher on the comprehension posttest. Students who had higher comprehension scores were more likely to report how they used the written text and visual representations separately, and in an integrated manner, to comprehend the text. Students who scored lower on the comprehension posttest relied more strongly on decoding and physical tracking strategies to navigate the pages and to interpret the text. This study provides evidence that students could benefit from instruction in disciplinary literacy strategies specific to the complex layouts of multimodal texts, and the unique ways in which visual representations depict information.

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract Session 1526 Mathematical Problem Solving for Engineering Students Robert Leland1, James Richardson2, Tan-Yu Lee3, John Dantzler4 1 Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept. /2Civil and Environmental Engineering Dept./3Mathematics Dept., University of Alabama/4Censeo Research, Inc. 1. Introduction At the time of the Second World War, Sir Lawrence Holt recognized that younger sailors in the British merchant marine were unable to perform their duties, especially in emergency situations, often leading to loss of life. He called on educator Kurt Hahn for help. In 1941, Hahn began a program that has become known as Outward Bound. This program builds self-confidence and ability by confronting young people with challenging tasks, such as climbing a mountain11. We face a similar situation in engineering education. Students arrive at universities frequently lacking the mathematics and problem solving skills needed to succeed as engineering students. These deficiencies are often not remedied as the students pass through the curriculum, leading to low retention rates and shortages of US educated engineers. In response, we are developing a course and materials in mathematical problem solving for first- year engineering students who are either Calculus-ready or one semester away from Calculus. Only pre-calculus mathematics is used in the course. This effort supported as an NSF CCLI- EMD proof of concept study. The goal of the course is to increase students’ mathematical problem solving skills in a way that transfers to future coursework. This course differs from many problem solving courses in two ways. First, like Outward Bound, the course will emphasize the solution of hard problems, so that students develop a sense of self-efficacy in mathematics that will transfer to future coursework. Second, the course will emphasize explanations, including training and practice in both self-explanation and explaining problems and solutions to others. We believe these emphases are essential for students to develop mathematics and problem solving skills that will transfer to their future coursework. 2. Rationale for the Course A simple problem statement for the course we are developing is to teach mathematical problem solving in a way that leads to transfer of knowledge and skills to future coursework. We focused on the solution of difficult, but well defined problems because this is a major deficiency in the students we see. We also included the formulation of real-world problems, which usually are not well defined, contain both incomplete and unnecessary data, and lack a clearly defined objective. Engineers need a solid foundation in solving well defined problems in order to solve these real world problems. Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education

( Am J Perinatol . 2018. Doi:10.1055/s-0038-1670680) Opioid replacement therapy (ORT) is the recommended treatment for opioid use disorder during pregnancy, as it is associated with more positive maternal and neonatal outcomes and reduction in risky behavior. However, as ORT uses methadone or buprenorphine, neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) remains an issue, and the long-term neurodevelopmental impact of ORT exposure during pregnancy and NAS on neonates is unclear. The authors of the present study thereby reviewed the literature to determine neonatal effects of prenatal opioid maintenance therapy versus detoxification in opioid-dependent women and assessed the efficacy and safety of available treatment options.

INTRODUCTION:Drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death in the United States. It is imperative to explore predictors of opioid overdose in order to facilitate targeted treatment and prevention efforts. The present study was conducted as an exploratory examination of the factors associated with having a past opioid overdose.METHODS:Participants (N = 244) from substance treatment facilities, inpatient services following ER admittance, or involved within the drug court system and who reported opioid use in the past 6 months were recruited in this study. Measures of opioid use and history were used to determine characteristics associated with previous experience of a non-fatal opioid overdose.RESULTS:Opioid users who were Caucasian and used a combination of prescription opioids and heroin were more likely to have experienced a prior overdose. Opioid user characteristics associated with greater odds of experiencing a prior overdose included: witnessing a friend overdose (OR 4.21), having chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (OR 2.44), reporting a higher frequency of buprenorphine treatment episodes (OR 1.55), and having a higher frequency of witnessing others overdose (OR 1.42). Greater frequency of methadone treatment episodes was related to decreased odds of experiencing an overdose (OR 0.67).CONCLUSION:Overall, this study demonstrated certain demographic and drug use factors associated with elevated risk for an overdose. Understanding the risk factors associated with drug overdose can lead to targeted naloxone training and distribution to prevent fatal overdoses.

Objective We sought to compare the efficacy and safety of detoxification from opioids compared with opioid replacement therapy (ORT) during pregnancy. Study Design We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov from inception to June 2017 for English-language randomized-controlled trials or cohort studies that compared detoxification with ORT. We sought studies with outcomes data on maternal abstinence at the time of delivery, neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), stillbirth, and preterm birth (PTB). We calculated pooled relative risks (RRs) with a random-effects model, assessed heterogeneity using the chi-square test for heterogeneity, and quantified heterogeneity using the I 2 test. We assessed publication bias using funnel plots and the Harbord test. Results Three cohort studies met the inclusion criteria; eligible studies included 235 women with opioid use disorder in pregnancy. Maternal detoxification was associated with increased risk of relapse (RR = 1.91; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.14–3.21); however, no treatment differences were observed for the rates of NAS (RR = 0.99; 95% CI = 0.38–2.53) or PTB (RR = 0.39; 95% CI = 0.10–1.60). Conclusion Our findings suggest an increased risk of relapse with detoxification treatment compared with ORT; however, detoxification does not alter the risk of PTB or NAS. Further studies should confirm our findings and explore mechanisms to fight the current opioid epidemic.

One method that has been touted to help end mass incarceration is using intermediate sanctions. While intermediate sanctions often present as attractive options, there is evidence that as practiced, these sanctions often result in net widening. One of the most common forms of intermediate sanctions are drug courts, which are often viewed as progressive alternatives to locking up people with substance abuse problems. However, along with the dangers of net widening, scholars have shown that many people admitted to drug courts do not seem to have substance abuse problems and could benefit from lesser criminal justice interventions. In the current study, we analyzed intake data from a drug court to determine: (1) what charge(s) drug participants had and (2) how they became involved with the criminal justice system. Among important findings were that a large number of drug court participants were arrested for the possession of one drug only (often marijuana) and that more than half of participants came to the attention of the criminal justice system through a traffic stop rather than through repeated encounters with the criminal justice system.

This experimental study examined how the presence of visual diagrams in 2 science texts affected the independent reading comprehension of 213 fourth-grade students in the southeastern United States. In addition, the relative impact of 3 diagram designs and layout (representational, interpretational, or integrated) was compared with a control. Prior knowledge was measured and statistically controlled for each text. Comprehension measures were a term-selection posttest and a reading comprehension posttest. Overall, on both texts, visual diagrams provide minimal or no added value to students' comprehension above the text-only conditions. Findings also indicated that the integrated diagram may create a condition of cognitive overload for some students. Implications for instructional material design are discussed.

Before we can effectively apply specific interventions through professional development, it is important to determine what is occurring in our high school physics classrooms. This study investigated common professional practices in physics teaching among a representative sample group of schools and teachers from a diverse, geographically large population. An adaptation of a convergent parallel design was utilized in this study. Three separate parallel studies were conducted to answer the overarching research question, what is the nature of the secondary physics classroom in our high schools as they exist today? The results provide a unique picture of the variables impinging on physics teachers in their current classroom setting that converges from the particular viewpoints found in each of the parallel studies.

H onors administrators may ask whether honors experiences facilitate student growth and whether honors students are inherently smarter than non-honors students and hence more able to seize these opportunities for growth. Although these questions will never fully be answered, we designed 191 the current study to address the underlying topics of student characteristics and engagement in honors within the larger university. Students' motivation, their willingness to extend beyond the minimal level, significantly influences engagement. Honors students are engaged in experiences, curricular and extracurricular, that promote development, and the types of additional opportunities available to honors students and the feedback they receive affect participation. The interaction between honors students and their instructional environment may encourage them to engage with available resources more fully than non-honors students do. Some tendencies, though, are an impediment to engagement. Self-handicapping , for instance, is a characteristic that can interfere with learning by actively encouraging students to withdraw from engaging activities or to fail in preparing for challenging opportunities. Self-handicapping and motivation can be viewed as a continuum affecting both engagement and achievement. Our study compares these characteristics in honors and non-honors cohorts as they relate to the process of engagement. The purpose of this study was to apply several measures of learning and engagement to a comparable cohort of honors and non-honors students in order to generate a preliminary model of student engagement. Specific purposes were the following: 1. To determine the feasibility for use of several measures of student characteristics that may affect their engagement in the learning process. 2. To compare honors and non-honors students in measures that affect goal orientation and student engagement. 3. To create a model of student engagement that relates to the characteristics of student learning within the context of the teaching-learning environment. The primary variables included mastery and performance goal constructs, self-handicapping, and student perceptions of engagement. Comparisons between honors and non-honors students in the context of these variables provides implications for teaching-learning strategies in both honors and non-honors educational contexts .

Abstract This study sought to examine the frequency and type of graphical representations in science trade books for children from 1972 to 2007. Specifically questions addressed differences in graphical forms in science discipline and for intended audience age for books. The results revealed that there is an increase in the presence and variation of graphics over time. The physical science trade books had larger proportions of the range of graphics than life and earth science books. Most notably flow diagrams, cross sections, cutaways and tree diagrams were present in physical science books. Regarding intended audience age, there were more graphical representations of most types in books for intermediate age children. The results suggest that students will encounter a higher presence of trade books with graphics and graphical types in the coming years.

Medicaid home and community-based services waiver programs provide important long-term care services and supports for millions of eligible Americans with intellectual disability. The purpo...

This study evaluated the construct validity of the Traits, Aptitudes, and Behaviors Scale (TABS). Data for this study were collected from two separate school districts across three different academic years in the Southeastern United States. Of the total sample (N = 2,330), 64.6% of the children were identified as African American, 29.0% as Caucasian, and 6.4% had no or other racial category specified. A two-step process was used to assess evidence of construct validity in the TABS. The first step was to identify an optimal factor structure using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) techniques. The second step was to confirm the structure using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) methods. Results point to a one-factor solution as the optimal factor structure for the TABS EFA sample; however, CFA showed mixed results for model fit. Despite these limitations, results of this study suggest that the TABS might help reduce teacher bias during the referral/nomination process of gifted children. Although the TABS factor structure suggests that it measures a single construct of giftedness, additional studies need to be conducted to confirm these findings.

We describe the efforts of two related undergraduate projects to promote lasting social change in marginalized communities in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. The projects represent a test of the premise that undergraduate projects can engage academically based strategies and transcend good intentions to achieve effective community partnerships to improve health and health care. The projects proceed from a perspective and theory of marginalization and its consequences. Specifically, marginalization undermines individual and collective capacity to meet basic needs and efforts to thrive. Through strengthening social infrastructure, communities can overcome the effects of marginalization. Project work begins with annual medical clinics and, with the permission of community residents, team members conduct ethnographic descriptions of the communities and their health and health care concerns and resources. We use social network analysis (SNA) and geographic information system (GIS) techniques to describe social infrastructure. Working from those foundations, both projects have enabled increased social infrastructure. To date, we have observed increased communication among community residents, facilitated the development of community-endorsed five-year plans, and established partnerships with regional and international groups. Community Engagement: Conceptual and Methodological Foundations Introduction Writing from a student perspective, Bessaw, Gerke, Hamilton, and Pulsipher (2012) sketch issues that dog those committed to community engagement and scholarship in higher education: constraints on time, energy, and talent; compressed time frames; community apathy; and issues of trust. Over the course of the semester, these ambitious graduate students in bioregional planning hosted five community meetings. They reported that a core of about 10 residents attended meetings regularly and that they struggled to communicate effectively with residents throughout the community. Some residents expressed concerns about sustainability and some recalled earlier failed attempts at organizing. Still, Bessaw and her colleagues report that none of the locals stepped into active roles of leadership and that residents remained discouraged about prospects for the future. To be certain, community engaged scholarship in higher education faces challenges in addition to these, including institutional resources and academic values. Still, the issues identified by Bessaw et al. (2012) are sufficiently daunting and pervasive to warrant unpacking, closer examination, and some effort toward resolution. Often, students and scholars are drawn to community engagement by their concerns for inequities and injustices of various sorts, including those that involve health, the environment, employment, and human rights. For example, Bessaw et al. (2012) responded to issues of high unemployment in Priest River, Idaho. It is unlikely that these students expected to accomplish fundamental economic change. Instead, they articulated the following goals: (1) to establish a common vision; (2) to create a toolbox for the community to use in future projects; and (3) to identify leaders to ensure project sustainability. These students, and others who pursue community engagement research and action, share in common with contemporary students of international development certain philosophical predispositions (cf. Handler, 2013): • Intentional social change or development can be progress toward a better life, • Community-engaged work and development should entail cooperative, egalitarian social relationships. • Good communications are central to community-engaged social change and development SOMOS and MANOS Undergraduate students at William & Mary combined these predispositions with concerns about health disparities in marginalized communities to

The purpose of Science in Action (SIA) was to examine the relationship between implementing quality science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) service-learning (SL) projects and the effect on students' academic engagement in middle school science, civic responsibility, and resilience to at-risk behaviors. The innovative project funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) included 6,000+ middle school at-risk students (eligible for at least 50% free or reduced-cost lunch), 126 science teachers who integrated STEM problem-based SL pedagogy into science instruction to teach students to solve real problems in schools and communities. The project involved 20 schools and communities with assistance from 120 community partners. Participants completed pre- and post-SL surveys on academic engagement, civic responsibility, and resilience; qualitative data were collected from journals, interviews, focus groups, observations, and field notes. Results highlight exemplary SL projects that demonstrated increased student academic engagement and achievement for students living in high poverty areas with potential at-risk behavior. Implications for future research and educational practices are discussed.

Using exploratory factor analysis, we examined the factor structure of data collected from the Race-Related Events Scale, which assesses perceived exposure to race-related stress. Our sample (N = 201) consisted of diverse caregivers of Head Start preschoolers. Three factors explained 81% of the variance in the data and showed sound reliability.

The National Study of Education in Undergraduate Science (NSEUS) was a multiyear (2006-2012) National Science Foundation supported research project. We focused on critical needs in teaching undergraduate science to diverse majors. A specific long-term emphasis in this study was on the development of pedagogical content knowledge of preservice elementary teachers of science. The research question guiding the investigation was, "How do undergraduate entry-level science courses, differing in level of reform, affect student outcomes?" Entry-level undergraduate science courses were analyzed in a faculty professional development impact design model involving a national sample of reformed and comparison undergraduate science courses from a population of 103 universities. The NSEUS study investigated several sub-questions related to outcomes of faculty professional development. The results discussed centered around four sub-questions. The NSEUS Research Model provides evidence for an undergraduate reform process extending from initial faculty professional development to increased student learning outcomes. What we learned was that the reform process is not a short-term endeavor. It is a process that is long-term and for most, rarely ends. The broader impacts of this study advance the professional development, course planning, and teaching of undergraduate science faculty and the development of more effective entry-level courses. Other aspects of the complete study are presented in Chapters 1 and 2.

A randomized pretest–posttest control group design was utilized to measure the effects of a platform swing on independent work behaviors of 30 children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Participants engaged in two 5-min intervals of independent work. Between the intervals, participants in the treatment group received 5 min of vestibular stimulation using a platform swing and children in the control group watched a video. No significant differences were evidenced between the treatment and control groups on engagement, on-task behavior, stereotyped/repetitive behavior, or out-of-seat behavior. Changes noted for individual participants could not be linked to age, diagnosis, or sensory profile patterns.

This study measured artistically gifted students’ attitudes toward technology and compared them to their math/science peers. Researchers administered the English version of the Modified Fennema Sherman Attitudes Scales (M-FSAS) to 149 students enrolled at a residential school (grades 7 – 12) for the artistically and math/science gifted (108 female, 41 male). Analyses revealed no multivariate difference between arts concentrations; however, there was a statistically significant multivariate difference between math/science students and arts students. Further univariate analyses indicated statistically significant differences in all areas except in the gender differences subscale. Math/science students had lower M-FSAS scores, which equate to stronger attitudes surrounding technology. Results suggest that artistically gifted students do not perceive technology as being as relevant to their lives as their math/science gifted peers. For this artistically gifted sample, these results potentially represent fewer career opportunities and creative outlets. Based on these results, educators should imbed into the curriculum opportunities for artistically gifted students to utilize technology for career-oriented purposes. Key Words:

The transfer rate from community college to four-year institutions has been dropping for the past 70 years. In the most recent statistics, the national rate of transfer is 23% (Cohen & Brawer, 2008). In the state of Alabama the transfer rate is approximately 4%, and in the rural counties of Alabama the transfer rate hovers around 1%. Many studies have been conducted on the transfer process, but none have focused on the transfer process from a theoretical perspective. Most studies focus attention on disparate pieces of the transfer puzzle. To date, there is no overarching theory of the transfer process that will bring coherence to this field of study. This study views the transfer process through the experience of nine transfer advisors who serve students in 11 community colleges located in rural counties in the state of Alabama. The findings establish a substantive theory that will provide a contextual framework for researchers who wish to study specific features of the transfer process. The Influence Theory establishes five factors that play a prominent role in the transfer advising process: institutional, cultural, contextual, advisor, and student. This article concludes with implications for practice and future research.