scholarly journals Screening plans for SARS-CoV-2 based on sampling and rotation: an example in the school setting

Author(s):  
Michela Baccini ◽  
Giulia Cereda

AbstractScreening plans for prevention and containment of SARS-CoV-2 infection should take into account the epidemic context, the fact that undetected infected individuals may transmit the disease, and that the infection spreads through outbreaks, creating clusters in the population. In this paper, we compare the performance of six screening plans based on poorly sensitive individual tests, in detecting infection outbreaks at the level of single classes in a school context. The performance evaluation is done by simulating different epidemic dynamics within the class during the five weeks following the day of the first infection. The plans have different costs in terms of number of individual tests required for the screening and are based on recurrent evaluations on all students or subgroups of students in rotation. Especially in scenarios where the rate of contagion is high, at an equal cost, testing half of the class in rotation every week appears to be better in terms of sensitivity than testing all students every two weeks. Similarly, testing one-fourth of the students every week is comparable with testing all students every two weeks, despite the first one is a much cheaper strategy. In the presence of natural clusters in the population, testing subgroups of individuals belonging to the same cluster in rotation may have a better performance than testing all the individuals less frequently. The proposed simulations approach can be extended to evaluate more complex screening plans than those presented in the paper.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0257099
Author(s):  
Michela Baccini ◽  
Giulia Cereda

Screening plans for prevention and containment of SARS-CoV-2 infection should take into account the epidemic context, the fact that undetected infected individuals may transmit the disease and that the infection spreads through outbreaks, creating clusters in the population. In this paper, we compare through simulations the performance of six screening plans based on poorly sensitive individual tests, in detecting infection outbreaks at the level of single classes in a typical European school context. The performance evaluation is done by simulating different epidemic dynamics within the class during the four weeks following the day of the initial infection. The plans have different costs in terms of number of individual tests required for the screening and are based on recurrent evaluations on all students or subgroups of students in rotation. Especially in scenarios where the rate of contagion is high, at an equal cost, testing half of the class in rotation every week appears to be better in terms of sensitivity than testing all students every two weeks. Similarly, testing one-fourth of the students every week is comparable with testing all students every two weeks, despite the first one is a much cheaper strategy. In conclusion, we show that in the presence of natural clusters in the population, testing subgroups of individuals belonging to the same cluster in rotation may have a better performance than testing all the individuals less frequently. The proposed simulations approach can be extended to evaluate more complex screening plans than those presented in the paper.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 1582-1595
Author(s):  
Burhanuddin Burhanuddin

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a measurement model in order to investigate sorts of organizational cultures (OCs) existing in school organizations. Design/methodology/approach This study involved 300 teachers of Primary Schools in the Malang City, East Java Indonesia. It used a quantitative approach with structural equation modelling to develop a measurement model of school OC. To enable the measure of this variable to work, OC scale was constructed and validated employing a confirmatory factor analysis. Findings Results suggest items of the scale are conceptualized as unidimensional measure. The scale, thus, could be used to examine and properly identified types of OCs within a school setting. Research limitations/implications This study developed e-scale to measure OC within a school context. The measure was tested in referring to the data derived from a limited sample of primary school teachers in Malang City, Indonesia. Practical implications This study recommends that school principals are expected to create an OC to ensure the improvement of individual capacities is carried out effectively. Originality/value The investigation focused on a school OC as a complex project. Since not many research studies developed the scales to measure this specific cultural construct, the findings add to the theory in this area.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 1291-1301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penelope Love ◽  
Alison Booth ◽  
Claire Margerison ◽  
Caryl Nowson ◽  
Carley Grimes

Abstract Schools are regarded as a key setting for obesity prevention, providing an opportunity to reach a large number of children, frequently and over a prolonged period, through formal and informal opportunities to learn about health behaviours. However, the low value placed on health versus academic achievement is a barrier to effective implementation of food and nutrition (F&N) education. This study used a qualitative exploratory approach to explore the views of teachers and key health and education sector stakeholders regarding opportunities for F&N education within the Australian primary school setting. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to explore this topic from the perspectives of state-level coordination and development through to local-level implementation and support within the Australian primary school context. Only 2.6% of the Victorian Curriculum related to F&N education, taught through two (of seven) learning outcomes: Health and Physical Education, and Technologies. While stakeholders considered child health a priority, and schools an ideal setting for F&N education, barriers included a lack of strategic policy alignment, limited leadership and coordination, a ‘crowded curriculum’ and poor availability of shelf-ready resources with explicit curriculum links. A cross-curriculum approach was considered essential for F&N education to become embedded as a core component of the curriculum.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Jolly Jones

As technology becomes ubiquitous in society, there is increasing momentum to incorporate it into education. Montessori education is not immune to this push for technology integration. This qualitative study investigates four Upper Elementary Montessori teachers’ attitudes toward technology and technology integration in a public school setting. Interviews and observations were used to understand the teachers’ thoughts and actions regarding technology in the classroom. Both the school context and teacher background played important roles in teachers’ beliefs and actions. Teachers in this study expressed positive views of technology in general, exhibiting high technology efficacy and valuing the development of technology skills in their students. However, all four teachers struggled to include instructional technology in ways that are consistent with a Montessori paradigm. Although individual student use of adaptive tutoring software was the most common use of technology, the teachers varied greatly in both the amount of student time spent on computers and the roles that technology played in their classrooms.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lieven Pauwels

Contextual research on adolescent offending is primarily based on the idea that residential areas provide a major ecological setting that (indirectly) shapes observed differences in adolescent offending. The social disorganisation/collective efficacy perspective has tried to explain why structural disadvantage of residential areas affects residents' involvement in offending. On the other hand, contextual research has also been conducted within the school setting. This separate contextual approach is problematic as it does not reflect the reality of adolescents' lives. Adolescents are exposed to different ecological settings. They are also exposed to many other settings that may provide opportunities to offend, as outlined in the situational action theory (SAT) of crime causation. This study contributes to the literature on the urban context of offending in three ways. First, the effects of adolescents' residential neighbourhood and school context on adolescent offending are assessed simultaneously. Second, this study elaborates on SAT from a cross-level point of view. Third, this contribution makes use of non-hierarchical multilevel modelling, which is a statistically correct method of testing hypotheses that involve multiple contexts. Our study revealed the existence of small contextual effects of school-level disadvantage, whereas the effect of neighbourhood-level disadvantage is entirely due to neighbourhood composition.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liane Pereira ◽  
Jennifer Lavoie

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 24pt 36pt;"><span style="color: #131413; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">Policies governing education in North America have given schools the responsibility of meeting the needs of a diverse student population, including those with emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD). To balance their need for individualized programs with their right to inclusion in schools, students with EBD may be placed in alternate programs within a mainstream school setting. However, little is known about student experiences leading to this placement or their experiences in these programs. The purpose of this study was to explore youth’s perceptions of the factors that influenced their being placed in an alternate program for students with EBD. Six eighth-grade students participated in semi-structured interviews and created a visual map of their school trajectories. An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of the data suggested that their schooling was a tumultuous journey that contributed to their emotional, behavioural, and academic struggles, and to their placement in an alternate school program. Students described disrupted school services, lack of supports, a negative school climate, and disengaging instructional strategies as contributing to their difficulties. An understanding of the influence of school context and policy on student behaviour is necessary if we are to improve educational outcomes and properly support child and adolescent development.</span></p>


Author(s):  
Lumiko Mori Tedesco ◽  
Mário Molari

O reconhecimento da diferença no contexto da escola é o resultado de lutas históricas dos movimentos sociais por direitos de cidadania e deigualdade para todos. Nesse cenário, a inclusão das pessoas com Transtorno do Espectro Autista vem ganhando espaço, em todo o território nacional, criando discussões acerca de estratégias, que garantam o ensino dessas crianças, no mesmo espaço de alunos com desenvolvimento típico. Sendo assim, o objetivo do artigo é refletir sobre ações voltadas às atitudes e desafios implícitos nos processos de ensino-aprendizagem daqueles alunos considerados diferentes, particularmente, daqueles com autismo, que apresentam atrasos no desenvolvimento e prejuízos no relacionamento social, em graus que requerem atendimento individualizado, tornando possível seu aprendizado e convivência na escola. O estudo foi feito a partir do levantamento de referências teóricas já analisadas e publicadas, com a finalidade de explicar as hipóteses e suposições formuladas pelo pesquisador a respeito das questões a serem investigadas em documentos de cunho científico. O que se percebeu, nesse estudo, é que no cenário escolar, quando é incluída uma criança com autismo, há uma dificuldade por parte dos professores em organizar ambientes, que possam oferecer uma aprendizagem de conteúdos significativos para todos os alunos da mesma turma, indiferentemente de suas diferenças cognitivas, sensoriais ou físicas. Porém, mesmo os desafios sendo grandes se observa uma mudança de paradigma, que tem como foco dar oportunidade para todas as crianças de estarem no mesmo  ambiente. Além disso, persiste uma luta permanente dos pais, em prol de uma educação inclusiva, que vem superando cada vez mais as barreiras na sociedade em todos os aspectos.Palavras-chave: Autismo. Inclusão. Estratégias pedagógicas.AbstractThe recognition of difference in the school context is the result of historical struggles of social movements for citizenship rights and equality for all. In this scenario, the inclusion of people with Autism Spectrum Syndrome has been gaining space throughout the national territory, creating discussions about strategies that ensure the teaching of these children in the same space of students without any type of disability. Thus, the objective of the article is to reflect on actions aimed at the attitudes and challenges implicit in the teaching-learning processes of those students considered to be different, particularly those with autism who present delays in development and impairments in social relationships in degrees that require individualized attention, making it possible theue learning and coexistence in school. The method used in the study was based on the collection of theoretical references already analyzed and published, with the purpose of explaining the hypotheses and assumptions formulated by the researcher regarding the questions to be investigated in scientific documents. What was perceived in this study is that in the school setting when a child with autism is included there is a difficulty on the part of the teachers to organize environments that can offer meaningful content learning for all the students of the same class regardless of their cognitive, sensorial or physical differences. However, even the big challenges are a paradigm shift that focuses on giving all children the opportunity to be in the same environment. In addition, there is a continuing struggle for parents for inclusive education that has increasingly been overcoming barriers in society in all aspects.Keywords: Autism. Inclusion. Pedagogical Estrategies.


Education ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Peacock ◽  
Carol Holliday

The use of the term trauma has become widespread in the discourse on mental well-being, mental health, and mental illness. Authors employ a proliferation of terms, such as complex trauma, emotional trauma, historical trauma, and community trauma, including racism and other institutionalized discrimination, interpersonal trauma, and relational and developmental trauma. Other bodies of knowledge, such as the literature about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), neurobiological understanding of human development, and attachment theory, all interrelate. Exposure to ACEs may increase the risk of trauma responses occurring in individuals, but individual resilience factors can mitigate the long-term mental health impact of such exposure. A felt sense of safety/security developed through early caring relationships underpins personal resilience. Equally disharmonious and neglectful early relationships set an early foundation for vulnerability to the traumatizing impact of ACEs. Thus, in considering the needs of children and young people in the school context, the terms relational trauma and developmental trauma seem the most appropriate to foreground within this review of the literature, as without addressing this form of trauma children will find it difficult to access both general well-being support and/or academic learning opportunities. However, having a broad understanding of the interrelated terms supports the critical evaluation of the appropriateness of various interventions for particular populations within the education system. While some approaches aimed at addressing the roots and impacts of developmental and interpersonal trauma may be suitable for the school setting delivered by skilled educationalists, others are more suited to a clinical setting delivered by counselors, psychotherapists, or other mental health practitioners or by counselors/psychotherapists in the school setting.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-47
Author(s):  
Jorge Amorim ◽  
◽  
Joana Rato ◽  

The learning styles theory is spread across the education field, despite previous research, especially from cognitive neuroscience, that concluded the lack of empirical support in its use in teaching. In this study, we used a survey to analyse the perception of learning styles in different professionals working in the Portuguese educational system. We recruited 136 participants, between the ages of 22 and 68 years (M=38,5 years; SD=10,51), 95% of them were female. The average of working experience it is 13.8 years (SD= 9.15). We analysed the answers of three groups of professional from different specializations, Teachers (n=42), Psychologists (n=44) and Speech-Language Pathologists (n=50) and no differences were found in their answers since all the groups scored above 80% as they classified as fact the benefits of teaching by learning styles. Our empirical data stand aligned with the scientific literature, suggesting that the learning styles myth is widely present in the school setting, affecting other professions beyond teachers. With this undistinguishable knowledge despite specialization, we discuss this bias's probable impact in the educational contexts.


2020 ◽  
pp. 026461962096181
Author(s):  
Sebastian Ruin ◽  
Martin Giese ◽  
Justin A Haegele

With a growing interest in sport, fitness, and a healthy lifestyle, bodily practices are increasing in importance in our society. In the school context, physical education (PE) is the subject where these practices play a central role. But, the German language discourse shows in an exemplary manner that inherent body-related social normality requirements are articulated in didactic traditions and curricular requirements, and that these normality requirements have exclusionary potential for those students who do not fit into the norms. Against this background, this article seeks to understand children with visual impairments’ (CWVI’s) individual constructions of PE in a school specialized for CWVI in Germany. This interview study with eight CWVI focused on individual opportunities and challenges concerning central aspects in PE. The findings show that the CWVI draw ambivalent perspectives on PE that range from existential fears (e.g., fears of heights) to feeling free in working off energy. These aspects especially gain importance in connection to the body, when the general wish to learn and experience with the body seems to be disturbed by normality requirements – like doing certain movements in a pre-defined way – which lead to existential challenges for the CWVI. Further, the relationship between blind and visually impaired students in PE seems ambivalent. Within this special school setting, the segregation according to the external differentiation in “handicapped” and “non-handicapped” somehow leads to a kind of subsegregation at the blind and visually impaired school.


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