No result found
2019-02-01
Greater Good Science Center (GGSC) at UC Berkeley;
What do you expect to be doing in five seconds? Five months? Five decades? Thinking about the future is a form of mental time travel at which humans are uniquely skilled. Psychologists call it prospection or future-mindedness, and some have argued it offers an invaluable framework for understanding topics ranging from perception, cognition, imagination, and memory to free will and consciousness itself.
2019-01-01
Aalborg University, EDGE (Centre for Equality, Diversity and Gender);
The objective of this research memorandum is to identify and describe what constitutes the significant barriers against achieving a better gender balance at Danish universities, in particular within natural sciences and technology.
The memorandum also addresses the question of the possible role of research funding institutions in relation to gender imbalances in academia, and in particular which actions and measures have been put in place in order to prevent women from remaining disproportionately underrepresented.
Based on desk research, this research memorandum presents in total six promising practices and short summaries of existing experiences regarding what works in addressing the gender gap in research funding. While the identified gender balancing initiatives and measures stem from numerous national contexts, each of them are characterised by focusing mainly on one specific part of the grant allocation process – whether it be early in the process, where measures such as certification of applicants and/or earmarked funds are a possibility, or while applicants and projects are being assessed, or in the post-award phase, where measures to ensure public accountability for funding schemes and counteracting the motherhood penalty are distinct possibilities. Following the presentation of the promising practices below is a number of clear and concise recommendations on possible actions to be taken.
2018-12-17
CREATE;
The achievement gap between English language learners and their English-proficient peers in U.S. schools is persistent and well documented (California Department of Education, 2004; Lee, Grigg, & Donahue, 2007; Siegel, 2002). Research shows that among in-school factors that contribute to student achievement, teachers have the biggest impact. Given this, it is imperative that all teachers know how to make academic content comprehensible to learners who are not yet proficient in English.One promising approach to improve the academic performance of English language learners is the SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) Model, an empirically tested, research-based model of sheltered instruction developed by researchers at California State University, Long Beach, and the Center for Applied Linguistics under the auspices of the National Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2008). The SIOP Model is a lesson planning and delivery system that incorporates best practices for teaching academic English and provides teachers with a coherent approach for improving the achievement of their students. Using strategies and techniques that make academic content comprehensible to students, teachers present curricular content concepts that are aligned with state standards. While doing so, teachers are developing students' academic English skills across the four domains—reading, writing, listening, and speaking—in addition to building their academic vocabulary
2018-10-02
Center for Economic and Policy Research;
This paper raises three issues on the relationship between intellectual property and inequality. The first is a simple logical point. Patents, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property are public policy. They are not facts given to us by the world or the structure of technology somehow. While this point should be self-evident, it is rarely noted in discussions of inequality or ways to address it.
2018-09-01
John Templeton Foundation;
If you've hiked among giant sequoias, stood in front of the Taj Mahal, or observed a particularly virtuosic musical performance, you may have experienced the mysterious and complex emotion known as "awe."
Awe experiences are self-transcendent. They shift our attention away from ourselves, make us feel like we are part of something greater than ourselves, and make us more generous toward others. But what is awe?
What types of experiences are most likely to elicit feelings of awe? Are some people more prone to experiencing awe? And what are the effects of awe?
While philosophers and religious scholars have explored awe for centuries, it was largely ignored by psychologists until the early 2000s. Since then, there has been growing interest in exploring awe empirically. This has led to a number of fascinating discoveries about the nature of awe, while also raising many questions still to be explored.
2018-05-11
Ian Potter Foundation;
This document is intended for future applicants and grant recipients in The Ian Potter Foundation's Environment & Conservation and Science program areas. It contains the summarised learnings of all Environment & Conservation and Science grantees over the past five years.
The information documented here has been taken from the final reports of Environment & Conservation and Science grantees, which were submitted to The Ian Potter Foundation following the completion of their projects.
2018-05-01
WestEd;
NGSS Early Implementers is a four-year initiative created to help eight California school districts and two charter management organizations, supported by WestEd's K–12 Alliance, implement the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
Designed for professional developers and administrators, this report describes 10 tools and processes that are central in the professional learning provided to teachers and administrators in the participating school districts.
The tools and processes are designed to aid NGSS lesson planning, NGSS instruction, and administrator support during implementation. The 10 tools and processes presented in the publication are listed below.
Criteria for Choosing Phenomena
Phenomena-Based, Three-Dimensional Conceptual Flow
5E Instructional Model for Developing Learning Sequences
Teaching Learning Collaborative (TLC)
Looking at Student Work
Questioning Strategies that Promote Student Discourse
Sense-Making Student Notebooks
Principal Academy
Walk-Through Protocol
Evidence of Learning Protocol
All tools and processes were created or adapted to be used explicitly for supporting NGSS implementation. The report describes each item, how it has been used, and how participants are benefitting from it. Other districts and schools can learn from, draw upon, and adapt the items to support their own implementation efforts.
2018-05-01
John Templeton Foundation;
Throughout history and around the world, religious leaders and philosophers have extolled
the virtue of gratitude. Some have even described gratitude as "social glue" that fortifies
relationships—between friends, family, and romantic partners—and serves as the
backbone of human society.
But what exactly is gratitude? Where does it come from? Why do some people seem to be
naturally more grateful than others? And are there ways we can foster more feelings and
expressions of gratitude?
Over the past two decades scientists have made great strides toward understanding the
biological roots of gratitude, the various benefits that accompany gratitude, and the ways
that people can cultivate feelings of gratitude in their day-to-day lives. The studies
comprising this science of gratitude are the subject of this paper.
2018-03-27
Uchitel Publishing House;
The paper discusses some aspects of integration of different regions and societies in the course of historical globalization. Within historical globalization one can observe a close correlation between such important processes as technological transformations, urbanization, political integration, struggle for political hegemony, etc. In the paper we analyze these correlations to associate historical globalization with phases of expansion. Within the expansion process we point out seven levels from the local level through the planetary one. The most significant changes were associated with crucial technological breakthroughs, or production revolutions, and other related transformations like the Urban Revolution. The latter can be regarded as a phase transition of the Afroeurasian world-system to a qualitatively new level of complexity. There are also several periods which one can define as landmarks in the world-system history. The paper also offers some theoretical ideas about cycles of divergence and convergence.
2018-02-28
WestEd;
How can teachers integrate and accelerate literacy and subject-area learning in science, history, and English language arts?
In today's schools, every subject involves discipline-specific text, so all students need support to develop the critical literacy skills required to use and understand those texts.
How can educators help diverse students participate successfully in the complex literacy practices required of the California State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards?
To help secondary educators examine these types of questions, the Strategic Literacy Initiative is showcasing educators using their evidence-based Reading Apprenticeship framework, which is based on more than twenty years of experience researching and learning how teachers incorporate disciplinary literacy strategies in their classrooms.
In this webinar series, participants will learn how educators can build literacy skills within a collaborative classroom context that supports all students to engage with academically challenging text, take a problem-solving stance, persevere, and succeed. When effective and academic development are linked, deep changes in teachers' practices and students' engagement and achievement happen.
This webinar will explore social-emotional learning and literacy in science.
Who Will Benefit
School, district, and community college administrators, teachers, and teacher educators focused on supporting secondary students
What You Will Learn
How to engage students in the metacognitive conversations that introduce them to their own intriguing reading and thinking processes
How to give students learning experiences that build resilience, stamina, confidence, and competence
How to integrate, and therefore accelerate, literacy and subject area learning (in science, history, and English language arts)
How the New Haven Unified School District (CA) implemented these strategies, and what teachers and students learned
2018-02-22
PLOS ONE;
Human fishing effort is size-selective, preferentially removing the largest individuals from harvested stocks. Intensive, size-specific fishing mortality induces directional shifts in phenotypic frequencies towards the predominance of smaller and earlier-maturing individuals, which are among the primary causes of declining fish biomass. Fish that reproduce at smaller size and younger age produce fewer, smaller, and less viable larvae, severely reducing the reproductive capacity of harvested populations. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are extensively utilized in coral reefs for fisheries management, and are thought to mitigate the impacts of size-selective fishing mortality and supplement fished stocks through larval export. However, empirical evidence of disparities in fitness-relevant phenotypes between MPAs and adjacent fished reefs is necessary to validate this assertion. Here, we compare key life-history traits in three coral-reef fishes (Acanthurus nigrofuscus, Ctenochaetus striatus, and Parupeneus multifasciatus) between MPAs and fished reefs in the Philippines. Results of our analyses support previous hypotheses regarding the impacts of MPAs on phenotypic traits. Asymptotic length (Linf) and growth rates (K) differed between conspecifics in MPAs and fished reefs, with protected populations exhibiting phenotypes that are known to confer higher fecundity. Additionally, populations demonstrated increases in length at 50% maturity (L50) inside MPAs compared to adjacent areas, although age at 50% maturity (A50) did not appear to be impacted by MPA establishment. Shifts toward advantageous phenotypes were most common in the oldest and largest MPAs, but occurred in all of the MPAs examined. These results suggest that MPAs may provide protection against the impacts of size-selective harvest on life-history traits in coral-reef fishes.
2018-02-01
Posse Foundation;
The Posse Foundation identifies public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential who may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes. The Foundation extends to these students the opportunity to pursue personal and academic excellence by placing them in supportive, multiculturalteams—Posses—of 10 students. The Foundation's partner colleges and universities award Posse Scholars full-tuitionleadership scholarships.
