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1. Culturally Relevant and Responsive Education: A Re-Examination of the ISEE Equity & Inclusion Theme

   https://doi.org/10.58021/S5TG63  

   O’Donnell, Christine ( January 2022 , Institute for Scientist & Engineer Educators (ISEE))

   Seagroves, Scott ; Barnes, Austin ; Metevier, Anne ; Porter, Jason ; Hunter, Lisa (Ed.)

   The lack of diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is a complex problem, and one dimension is the experiences that students from marginalized groups often have in classroom environments. Students cite their struggles to negotiate between their own cultures and STEM’s cultures as a reason for why they do not feel a sense of belonging and identity as a person in STEM. To address these challenges, educators and researchers have proposed various frameworks to transform education. In this article, I re-examine the ISEE Equity & Inclusion (E&I) Theme in comparison to culturally relevant pedagogy and culturally responsive teaching models. While these frameworks have many common elements, including their emphasis on students’ achievements, building on students’ cultural assets, and providing scaffolding for content and practices, they differ in their focus on cultural pride and identities of critical consciousness. Drawing on these differences, I suggest directions for instructors who are familiar with the ISEE E&I Theme on how to make their approach to equity and inclusion more robust. 

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2. Detailed examination of astrophysical constraints on the symmetry energy and the neutron skin of Pb208 with minimal modeling assumptions

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.104.065804  

   Essick, Reed ; Landry, Philippe ; Schwenk, Achim ; Tews, Ingo ( December 2021 , Physical Review C)
3. From what I've heard, this is bad: An examination of Americans' source preferences and information seeking during the COVID-19 pandemic

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pdisas.2021.100145  

   Lachlan, Kenneth A. ; Hutter, Emily ; Gilbert, Christine ; Spence, Patric R. ( February 2021 , Progress in Disaster Science)

   null (Ed.)
4. The dynamic experience of taking an examination: Ever changing cortisol and expectancy for success

   https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12521  

   Graham, M.C. ; Husman, J. ; Pekrun, R. ; Villanueva, I. ; Christensen, D. ( April 2023 , British Journal of Educational Psychology)

   This study examined the relations between students' expectancies for success and a physiological component of test anxiety, salivary cortisol, during an authentic testing setting.

   The aim of the study was to better understand the connection between shifts in students' control appraisals and changes in the physiological component of test anxiety.

   The study comprised 45 undergraduate engineering majors in the United States.

   Survey data concerning students' expectancy for success and saliva samples were taken before, during and after the practice midterm examination prior to their actual in‐class examination.

   Students' expectancy for success declined during the examination while cortisol levels declined from the beginning to middle of the examination and began to increase again as a function of time. Although students' initial levels of expectancy for success and cortisol were not correlated, there was a negative relation between change in cortisol and change in expectancy for success.

   Our study demonstrates a relation between salivary cortisol, a physiological component of test anxiety and students' expectancy for success in an authentic testing context. Most students saw a decrease in cortisol during the examination, suggesting anticipatory anxiety prior to the test and a return to homeostasis as the examination progressed. Some students, however, did not see a declination in cortisol, suggesting they may not have recovered from pre‐examination anxiety. The negative relation between change in cortisol and expectancy for success suggests that students who had the greatest decrease in expectancy for success saw the smallest recovery in cortisol.

    

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5. Re-examination of the Southern Hemisphere truffle genus Amylascus (Pezizaceae, Ascomycota) and characterization of the sister genus Nothoamylascus gen. nov.

   https://doi.org/10.3767/persoonia.2023.51.03  

   Healy, R.A. ; Truong, C. ; Castellano, M.A. ; Bonito, G. ; Trappe, J. ; Caiafa, M.V. ; Mujic, A.B. ; Nouhra, E. ; Sánchez-Ramírez, S. ; Smith, M.E. ( January 2023 , Persoonia - Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Fungi)

   Amylascusis a genus of ectomycorrhizal truffles withinPezizaceaethat is known from Australia and contains only two described species,A. herbertianusandA. tasmanicus. Species ofAmylascusare closely related to truffles (Pachyphlodes,Luteoamylascus) and cup fungi (Plicariella) from the Northern Hemisphere. Here we reevaluate the species diversity ofAmylascusand related taxa from southern South America and Australia based on new morphological and molecular data. We identify previously undocumented diversity and morphological variability in ascospore color, ascospore ornamentation, hymenial construction, epithecium structure and the amyloid reaction of the ascus in Melzer’s reagent. We redescribe twoAmylascusspecies from Australia and describe seven newAmylascusspecies, five from South America and two from Australia. This is the first report ofAmylascusspecies from South America. We also describe the new South American genusNothoamylascusas sister lineage to thePachyphlodes-Amylascus-Luteoamylascusclade (includingAmylascus,Luteoamylascus,Pachyphlodes, andPlicariella). We obtained ITS sequences of mitotic spore mats fromNothoamylascus erubescensgen. & sp. nov. and four of the seven newly describedAmylascusspecies, providing the first evidence of mitotic spore mats inAmylascus. Additional ITS sequences from mitotic spore mats reveal the presence of nine additional undescribedAmylascusand oneNothoamylascusspecies that do not correspond to any sampled ascomata. We also identify three additional undescribedAmylascusspecies based on environmental sequences from the feces of two ground-dwelling bird species from Chile,Scelorchilus rubeculaandPteroptochos tarnii. Our results indicate that ascomata fromAmylascusandNothoamylascusspecies are rarely collected, but molecular data from ectomycorrhizal roots and mitotic spore mats indicate that these species are probably common and widespread in southern South America. Finally, we present a time-calibrated phylogeny that is consistent with a late Gondwanan distribution. The time since the most recent common ancestor of: 1) the familyPezizaceaehad a mean of 276 Ma (217–337 HPD); 2) theAmylascus-Pachyphlodes-Nothoamylascus-Luteoamylascusclade had a mean of 79 Ma (60–100 HPD); and 3) theAmylascus-Pachyphlodesclade had a mean of 50 Ma (38–62 HPD). The crown age ofPachyphlodeshad a mean of 39 Ma (25–42 HPD) andAmylascushad a mean age of 28 Ma (20–37 HPD), falling near the Eocene-Oligocene boundary and the onset of the Antarctic glaciation (c. 35 Ma).

    

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