SUBJECT PANELS AS SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION FOR TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

For centuries, teacher professional development has largely been done by external experts who advise teachers on how to improve classroom practice and learner performance. This research explores a relatively unchartered idea of history subject panels/clusters as an innovation meant to break away from orthodox teacher professional development spearheaded by external experts. The research adopts a qualitative case study design. One history subject panel was case studied to examine how teachers initiated and sustained improvements in classroom practice and learner performance. Eight history teachers, who were active participants in the panel, were purposively sampled out of 25 teachers who constituted the history subject panel. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, document analysis and focus group discussion. Symbolic interactionism was used as the theoretical lens to gain deeper insights into how teachers socialised and shared ideas in the subject panel. Results indicated that the history subject panel was involved in the induction of new history teachers into the profession and the creation of learning communities for history students; practices hitherto undocumented in existing literature on subject panels and teacher networks. Results also showed that the activities of the history subject panel improved teachers’ classroom practice. The implications of this research are that teacher-led subject panels need to be nurtured and supported so that teacher-driven continuous professional development can be enacted across all the subjects offered in the school curriculum. Subject panels can reduce schools’ dependency on external experts for teacher professional development, making teachers the proverbial doctors who can heal themselves. Keywords: history subject panels/clusters, qualitative case study, teacher induction, student learning communities, sustainable innovation, teacher professional development

Learning to love cosmopolitanism? Testing the socialisation effect of educational field of study on cosmopolitan attitudes in the Netherlands

Across Europe, those with higher education are consistently found to be more pro-cosmopolitan than those with less education. However, it remains an open question what aspects of education drive this relationship. One influential mechanism through which education is argued to affect cosmopolitan attitudes is by instilling tolerance inducing values and beliefs that continue to influence the thinking of students long after they have left the education system. Using the Dutch LISS panel between 2008 and 2019, we explore differences in the emphasis on tolerant values and beliefs across fields of study to assess the explanatory power of the socialisation model of education for cosmopolitan attitudes. By estimating between- and within subject panel regressions, we find that although there are cross-sectional differences between fields of study in cosmopolitan attitudes, these differences cannot conclusively be attributed to the socialisation influence of the specific field. Consequently, our results challenge the importance of the socialisation model to understand the current educational divide in cosmopolitanism.

Abstract 3456: Assessment of Genetic Risk for Hypertriglyceridemia

Introduction. Hypertriglyceridemia is an important risk factor for coronary heart disease. The purpose of the present study was to identify gene polymorphisms associated with hypertriglyceridemia (serum triglyceride concentration, ≥1.65 mmol/L) for assessment of the genetic risk for this condition. Methods. A total of 5206 individuals from two independent populations was examined: Subject panel A comprised 3787 individuals who either visited outpatient clinics of or were admitted to the participating hospitals because of various symptoms or for a health checkup; subject panel B comprised 1419 community-dwelling elderly individuals. The genotypes for 100 polymorphisms of 65 candidate genes were determined by a method that combines the polymerase chain reaction and sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes with suspension array technology. Given the multiple comparisons of genotypes with hypertriglyceridemia, we adopted the criterion of a false discovery rate (FDR) of <0.05 for significant association in initial screening with the chi-square test. Results. Evaluation of genotype distributions by the chi-square test and subsequent multivariable logistic regression analysis with adjustment for age and sex revealed that seven polymorphisms [−1131T→ C, −3A→G, and 553G→T (Gly185Cys) of APOA5 ; 1100C→T of APOC3 ; 85T→C of APOA1 ; 41A→G (Glu14Gly) of ACAT2 ; C→G (Ser47Stop) of LPL ] were significantly (FDR < 0.05) associated with hypertriglyceridemia in subject panel A. To validate these associations, we examined the same polymorphisms in subject panel B. The six polymorphisms of APOA5 , APOC3 , APOA1 , and LPL , but not that of ACAT2 , were again significantly associated with hypertriglyceridemia. Serum triglyceride concentrations differed significantly ( P< 0.05, ANOVA) among genotypes of each of these six polymorphisms in both subject panels. The three polymorphisms of APOA5 were in linkage disequilibrium. Conclusions. Polymorphisms of APOA5 , APOC3 , APOA1 , and LPL are determinants of hypertriglyceridemia. Genotyping of these polymorphisms may prove informative for assessment of the genetic risk for hypertriglyceridemia and may contribute to the personalized prevention of this condition.

Abstract 2322: Genetic Risk for Low HDL-cholesterol or High LDL-cholesterol Concentrations

Introduction. A low serum concentration of HDL-cholesterol and a high serum concentration of LDL-cholesterol are risk factors for atherosclerosis. Our goal was to identify genetic variants that confer susceptibility to a low serum concentration of HDL-cholesterol (<1.04 mmol/L) or a high serum concentration of LDL-cholesterol (≥3.64 mmol/L). Methods. A total of 5213 individuals from two independent populations was examined: Subject panel A comprised 3794 individuals who either visited outpatient clinics of or were admitted to the participating hospitals because of various symptoms or for a health checkup; subject panel B comprised 1419 community-dwelling elderly individuals. The genotypes for 100 polymorphisms of 65 candidate genes were determined. Given the multiple comparisons of genotypes with these conditions, we adopted the criterion of a false discovery rate (FDR) of <0.05 for significant association in initial screening with the chi-square test. Results. Examination of genotype distributions by the chi-square test and subsequent multivariable logistic regression analysis with adjustment for age and sex revealed that six [−1131T→C, −3A→G, and 553G→T (Gly185Cys) of APOA5 ; −250G→A and −515C→T of LIPC ; 13989A→G (Ile119Val) of CYP3A4 ] and three [4070C→T (Arg158Cys) and 3932T→C (Cys112Arg) of APOE ; 190G→A (Val64Ile) of CCR2 ] polymorphisms were significantly (FDR < 0.05) associated with low HDL-cholesterol and high LDL-cholesterol, respectively, in subject panel A. To validate these associations, we examined the same polymorphisms in subject panel B. The three polymorphisms of APOA5 and two polymorphisms of APOE were significantly associated with low HDL-cholesterol and high LDL-cholesterol, respectively. The serum concentrations of HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol differed significantly ( P < 0.01, ANOVA) among genotypes of the corresponding polymorphisms in both subject panels. The polymorphisms of APOA5 and APOE were each in linkage disequilibrium. Conclusions. Polymorphisms of APOA5 and APOE are determinants of low HDL-cholesterol and high LDL-cholesterol, respectively. Genotyping of these polymorphisms may prove informative for prediction of the genetic risk for these conditions.

Patients and Social Skills Groups: Do they Lack Social Skills?

Twenty-eight young adult out-patients with social interaction difficulties were assessed in an attempt to measure the three variables of social performance, social anxiety and self-esteem. A non-clinical comparison group comprising 32 subjects from a university subject panel were assessed on the same measures. There were significant differences in the patient and non-clinical group on anxiety and esteem, however, some patients scored well within the range of the non-clinical group and had adequate social performance. The patient group was characterized by high social anxiety which was more often related to low self-esteem than adequacy of social performance. We concluded that interaction difficulties are multiply determined and social performance, social anxiety and self-esteem are potentially independent variables. The implications of this for therapy were discussed.