Reimagining the Contextualization of a Rural Teacher Educator Preparation Program During COVID

Within the rural context of our nation, education has largely been overlooked or ignored within the research. The predominant educational research focuses more upon larger urban areas with a distinct context. Training quality teacher educators within the context of a worldwide pandemic dismisses many established and traditional methods. In order to prepare our teacher candidates within this new context, our EPP revaluated its current practices. Innovation in teacher preparation is clearly at hand and is well within our reach if we use the pandemic as a springboard to reimagine a teaching force equipped to face any challenge and problem-solve to create the most effective learning environment for the students they teach. It is possible and doable and can sustain our public education system in ways that we thought impossible prior to the pandemic. It pushes us out of the rut we find ourselves within. The chapter address strategies to support preservice teachers in rural settings.

Creative Pedagogy in the Elementary Classroom During Virtual Learning

Teaching during a pandemic has been a challenge. There were so many unknowns and much confusion. Many teachers around the globe asked themselves, “How will I engage students?” “Will I be able to build a community of learners?” “Where do I even begin?” One approach is using creative pedagogy to engage students to explore, problem solve, and promote social interactions with fourth grade students. This chapter will provide insights on how to captivate elementary school students during virtual learning.

Response to Intervention in the State of Florida

The 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act led to an era of educational reform that called for scientifically based curriculum and data-driven decision-making when devising instructional strategies. Response to intervention was subsequently endorsed. Because students with disabilities were being included within the general education setting during this time, many states like Florida, made use of the multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS). This process was used to plan and problem-solve effective teaching strategies to improve student performance in reading and in mathematics. This chapter explores how Florida has used MTSS to narrow achievement gaps and create educational opportunities for all students.

Using Visual Demonstrations of Learning to Promote Age-Integrated Problem Solving

Working to dismantle the “othering” of older adults requires active effort to reverse deeply ingrained cultural perceptions and attitudes. As gerontology educators, we are uniquely positioned to “move the needle” on this issue by providing students with the opportunity to engage with older adults in meaningful ways and to see the world from their perspective. In this presentation, visual demonstrations of student learning will be shared that allow students to demonstrate their mastery of course concepts in a creative way and to problem-solve a particular issue by engaging with their own future selves. This approach also allows for a deviation from the routine of written demonstrations of learning by appealing to a different set of student skills. Approaches discussed will include concept maps to deconstruct community collaboration; book bentos to explore optimal aging; multimedia presentations on meaning-making in older adulthood; and a photo elicitation project to address outdoor fall hazards.

Serotonin transporter (SERT) polymorphisms, personality and problem-solving in urban great tits

Understanding underlying genetic variation can elucidate how diversity in behavioral phenotypes evolves and is maintained. Genes in the serotonergic signaling pathway, including the serotonin transporter gene (SERT), are candidates for affecting animal personality, cognition and fitness. In a model species, the great tit (Parus major), we reevaluated previous findings suggesting relationships between SERT polymorphisms, neophobia, exploratory behavior and fitness parameters, and performed a first test of the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in SERT and problem-solving in birds. We found some evidence for associations between SERT SNPs and neophobia, exploratory behavior and laying date. Furthermore, several SNPs were associated with behavioral patterns and success rates during obstacle removal problem-solving tests performed at nest boxes. In females, minor allele homozygotes (AA) for nonsynonymous SNP226 in exon 1 made fewer incorrect attempts and were more likely to problem-solve. In both sexes, there was some evidence that minor allele homozygotes (CC) for SNP84 in exon 9 were more likely to problem-solve. Only one SNP-behavior relationship was statistically significant after correcting for multiple comparisons, but several were associated with substantial effect sizes. Our study provides a foundation for future research on the genetic basis of behavioral and cognitive variation in wild animal populations.

Working With Coauthors

This chapter reviews issues involved in collaborative writing. A coauthor job description is provided, emphasizing that a coauthor’s role is to provide whatever feedback and thoughts that occur to them as they review drafts. Coauthors also can support the lead author by being available to answer questions or problem-solve issues that occur as the first author is writing the draft. Authors are advised to progress their work as far as they can before sharing the manuscript with coauthors. The chapter also addresses some of the challenges involved in working with coauthors, such as delays, coauthors who refuse to approve manuscripts for submission unless their demands are met, and coauthors who manipulate and coerce other authors. Mentor–mentee collaborations and teams where a graduate student is leading a collaboration with several senior scholars are also addressed.

Introducing design thinking online to large business education courses for twenty-first century learning

Design thinking can be broadly defined as a set of creative skills to understand and problem-solve ambiguous and complex problems, and a practice that places humans at the heart of the design process. Such collaborative ways of design thinking and design-doing are much needed to address twenty-first century challenges such as climate change. Design thinking methodology is well known for teaching and learning in design disciplines, and to a lesser extent, as an innovative problem-solving framework for business education. Typically design thinking has been taught and practised in physical settings and to a lesser extent online. While design thinking is also increasingly practised online, this is challenging at scale in higher education contexts. This case study analyses design thinking activities with educational technologies in a large undergraduate cohort of first-year business students. Eleven students and three teachers were interviewed to ascertain their level of engagement with design thinking with digital tools and to identify common themes that enabled or inhibited such practice. Student artefacts of design thinking are explored and compared to the interview data. Findings indicate that students may develop novice design thinking skills, process knowledge and mindsets in online and remote delivery modes, despite limited experience, technical and time constraints. Broader learning design implications of design thinking constraints in digital practice are discussed to assist educators. It is suggested that higher education adopt and support design thinking, as a subject and practice, more widely.

Modeling the Probability of Fraud in Social Media in a National Cannabis Survey

Cannabis legalization has spread rapidly in the United States. Although national surveys provide robust information on the prevalence of cannabis use, cannabis disorders, and related outcomes, information on knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs (KABs) about cannabis is lacking. To inform the relationship between cannabis legalization and cannabis-related KABs, RTI International launched the National Cannabis Climate Survey (NCCS) in 2016. The survey sampled US residents 18 years or older via mail (n = 2,102), mail-to-web (n = 1,046), and two social media data collections (n = 11,957). This report outlines two techniques that we used to problem-solve several challenges with the resulting data: (1) developing a model for detecting fraudulent cases in social media completes after standard fraud detection measures were insufficient and (2) designing a weighting scheme to pool multiple probability and nonprobability samples. We also describe our approach for validating the pooled dataset. The fraud prevention and detection processes, predictive model of fraud, and the methods used to weight the probability and nonprobability samples can be applied to current and future complex data collections and analysis of existing datasets.

Peace (Re)building Initiatives: Insights from Southern Kaduna, Nigeria

Violent conflicts and crime have reached new heights in Nigeria, as cases of kidnapping, armed banditry, and communal unrests continue to tear at the core of the ethnoreligious divides in the country. Southern Kaduna has witnessed a virulent spree of communal unrest in northern Nigeria over the last decade due to its polarized politics and power differentials between the various groups in the area, particularly the Christians and Muslims, who are almost evenly split. In response to their experiences of violence, the people of that region have also shown incredible resilience and grit in transforming their stress and suffering. This policy note focuses on the transformative practices of the Fulani and other ethnic communities in southern Kaduna in terms of how they problem-solve deep-seated socio-political rivalries and violent relations by working through their shared identity, history, and cultures of peace. The note explores how peace practitioners and donor agencies could consolidate local practices of sustaining peace as complementary or alternative resources to the state’s liberal system.