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1. From Students to Cofacilitators: Latinx Students’ Experiences in Mathematics and Computer Programming

   https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681221104104  

   LópezLeiva, Carlos A. ; Noriega, Gabino ; Celedón-Pattichis, Sylvia ; Pattichis, Marios S. ( June 2022 , Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education)

   Computer programming is rarely accessible to K–12 students, especially for those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Middle school age is a transitioning time when adolescents are more likely to make long-term decisions regarding their academic choices and interests. Having access to productive and positive knowledge and experiences in computer programming can grant them opportunities to realize their abilities and potential in this field.

   This study focuses on the exploration of the kind of relationship that bilingual Latinx students developed with themselves and computer programming and mathematics (CPM) practices through their participation in a CPM after-school program, first as students and then as cofacilitators teaching CPM practices to other middle school peers.

   An after-school program, Advancing Out-of-School Learning in Mathematics and Engineering (AOLME), was held at two middle schools located in rural and urban areas in the Southwest. It was designed to support an inclusive cultural environment that nurtured students’ opportunities to learn CPM practices through the inclusion of languages (Spanish and English), tasks, and participants congruent to students in the program. Students learned how to represent, design, and program digital images and videos using a sequence of 2D arrays of hexadecimal numbers with Python on a Raspberry Pi computer. The six bilingual cofacilitators attended Levels 1 and 2 as students and were offered the opportunity to participate as cofacilitators in the next implementation of Level 1.

   This longitudinal case study focused on analyzing the experiences and shifts (if any) of students who participated as cofacilitators in AOLME. Their narratives were analyzed collectively, and our analysis describes the experiences of the cofacilitators as a single case study (with embedded units) of what it means to be a bilingual cofacilitator in AOLME. Data included individual exit interviews of the six cofacilitators and their focus groups (30–45 minutes each), an adapted 20-item CPM attitude 5-point Likert scale, and self-report from each of them. Results from attitude scales revealed cofacilitators’ greater initial and posterior connections to CPM practices. The self-reports on CPM included two number lines (0–10) for before and after AOLME for students to self-assess their liking and knowledge of CPM. The numbers were used as interview prompts to converse with students about experiences. The interview data were analyzed qualitatively and coded through a contrast-comparative process regarding students’ description of themselves, their experiences in the program, and their perception of and relationship toward CPM practices.

   Findings indicated that students had continued/increased motivation and confidence in CPM as they engaged in a journey as cofacilitators, described through two thematic categories: (a) shifting views by personally connecting to CPM, and (b) affirming CPM practices through teaching. The shift in connecting to CPM practices evolved as students argued that they found a new way of learning mathematics, in that they used mathematics as a tool to create videos and images that they programmed by using Python while making sense of the process bilingually (Spanish and English). This mathematics was viewed by students as high level, which in turned helped students gain self-confidence in CPM practices. Additionally, students affirmed their knowledge and confidence in CPM practices by teaching them to others, a process in which they had to mediate beyond the understanding of CPM practices. They came up with new ways of explaining CPM practices bilingually to their peers. In this new role, cofacilitators considered the topic and language, and promoted a communal support among the peers they worked with.

   Bilingual middle school students can not only program, but also teach bilingually and embrace new roles with nurturing support. Schools can promote new student roles, which can yield new goals and identities. There is a great need to redesign the school mathematics curriculum as a discipline that teenagers can use and connect with by creating and finding things they care about. In this way, school mathematics can support a closer “fit” with students’ identification with the world of mathematics. Cofacilitators learned more about CPM practices by teaching them, extending beyond what was given to them, and constructing new goals that were in line with a sophisticated knowledge and shifts in the practice. Assigned responsibility in a new role can strengthen students’ self-image, agency, and ways of relating to mathematics.

    

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2. Using workplace thriving theory to investigate first‐year engineering students' abilities to thrive during the transition to online learning due to COVID ‐19

   https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20447  

   Krishnakumar, Sandeep ; Maier, Torsten ; Berdanier, Catherine ; Ritter, Sarah ; McComb, Christopher ; Menold, Jessica ( January 2022 , Journal of Engineering Education)

   During the onset of the COVID‐19 crisis, universities rapidly pivoted to online formats and were often unable to adhere to the best practices of online learning highlighted in prior literature. It is well documented that a variety of barriers impeded “normal” educational practices.

   The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of first‐year engineering students enrolled in an introductory engineering design course during the rapid transition to online working environments. We view students' perceptions through the theoretical lens of workplace thriving theory, a framework that allowed us to capture aspects of education required for students to thrive in non‐optimum learning settings.

   This research employed semi‐structured interview methods with 13 students enrolled in an introductory engineering design course that relies on project‐based team learning. We analyzed interview transcripts using thematic analysis through an abductive approach and made interpretations through workplace thriving theory.

   Results indicated that students' abilities to thrive are related to four intersecting themes that demonstrate how workplace thriving theory manifests in this unanticipated online setting. These themes demonstrate elements that must be optimized for students to thrive in settings such as this: relationships with others, building and sharing knowledge through interactions, perceptions of experiential learning, and individual behaviors.

   Our research, viewed through workplace thriving theory, highlights the mechanisms by which students tried to succeed in suboptimal environments. While not all our participants showed evidence of thriving, the factors required for thriving point to opportunities to harness these same factors in in‐person instruction environments.

    

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3. Mobile app features that scaffold pre‐school learning: Verbal feedback and leveling designs

   https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13055  

   Callaghan, Melissa N. ; Reich, Stephanie M. ( December 2020 , British Journal of Educational Technology)

   Guiding hints and challenge can help scaffold learners to progress beyond what they would achieve independently. The interactive and adaptive capabilities of mobile devices allow educational applications (apps) to support learning through scaffolding designs. However, little research has tested the effects of scaffolding features in apps on young children’s learning. Using a 3 × 2 between‐subjects design, this study experimentally tests how three types of app feedback (nonverbal sounds, verbal encouragement, or scaffolded verbal hints) and two types of leveling (gradual vs. random‐ordered challenge) influence 4–5‐year‐old children’s learning of novel words (N = 240). Results showed that scaffolded feedback was especially useful when provided at the beginning of app play (p < .01), and scaffolded leveling through gradual increases in difficulty supported faster and more accurate responses than random order challenge (p < .001).

   What is already known about this topic

   Researchers have worked to apply what we know about traditional in‐person teaching with young learners and how that might translate to digital platforms.

   Parent and teacher scaffolding has been shown to successfully help young children learn. Guidance through increased difficulty and explanatory feedback can help learners gradually build their skills and reflect more deeply on the content they are learning.

   What this paper adds

   This study adds to the newly growing collection of experiments testing the design features of educational pre‐school apps.

   Findings show that scaffolding through educational app feedback and leveling can support young children learning.

   Results also show that the impact of scaffolding can depend on when the guidance is presented during app play – at the very beginning of play versus later on.

   Implications for practice and/or policy

   Findings can help educators and other consumers identify which types of apps are better for scaffolding young children’s learning.

   Suggestions are provided to support educational app developers in designing products that are truly effective.

   Findings suggest that combinations of app designs may differently impact young children’s learning, providing next step testing conditions for educational app designs.

    

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4. Podoplanin is Responsible for the Distinct Blood and Lymphatic Capillaries

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s12195-022-00730-2  

   Jeong, Donghyun Paul ; Hall, Eva ; Neu, Erin ; Hanjaya-Putra, Donny ( August 2022 , Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering)

   Controlling the formation of blood and lymphatic vasculatures is crucial for engineered tissues. Although the lymphatic vessels originate from embryonic blood vessels, the two retain functional and physiological differences even as they develop in the vicinity of each other. This suggests that there is a previously unknown molecular mechanism by which blood (BECs) and lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) recognize each other and coordinate to generate distinct capillary networks.

   We utilized Matrigel and fibrin assays to determine how cord-like structures (CLS) can be controlled by altering LEC and BEC identity through podoplanin (PDPN) and folliculin (FLCN) expressions. We generated BEC^ΔFLCNand LEC^ΔPDPN, and observed cell migration to characterize loss lymphatic and blood characteristics due to respective knockouts.

   We observed that LECs and BECs form distinct CLS in Matrigel and fibrin gels despite being cultured in close proximity with each other. We confirmed that the LECs and BECs do not recognize each other through paracrine signaling, as proliferation and migration of both cells were unaffected by paracrine signals. On the other hand, we foundPDPNto be the key surface protein that is responsible for LEC-BEC recognition, and LECs lackingPDPNbecame pseudo-BECs and vice versa. We also found thatFLCNmaintains BEC identity through downregulation ofPDPN.

   Overall, these observations reveal a new molecular pathway through which LECs and BECs form distinct CLS through physical contact byPDPNwhich in turn is regulated byFLCN, which has important implications toward designing functional engineered tissues.

    

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5. Enhanced plant leaf P and unchanged soil P stocks after a quarter century of warming in the arctic tundra

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3838  

   McLaren, Jennie R. ; Buckeridge, Kate M. ( November 2021 , Ecosphere)

   Phosphorus (P) limits or co‐limits plant and microbial life in multiple ecosystems, including the arctic tundra. Although current global carbon (C) models focus on the coupling between soil nitrogen (N) and C, ecosystem P response to climate warming may also influence the global C cycle. Permafrost soils may see enhanced or reduced P availability under climate warming through multiple mechanisms including changing litter inputs through plant community change, changing plant–microbial dynamics, altered rates of mineralization of soil organic P through increased microbial activity, and newly exposed mineral‐bound P via deeper thaw. We investigated the effect of long‐term warming on plant leaf, multiple soil and microbial C, N, and P pools, and microbial extracellular enzyme activities, in Alaskan tundra plots underlain by permafrost. Here, we show that 25 yr of experimental summer warming increases community‐level plant leaf P through changing community composition to favour relatively P‐rich plant species. However, despite associated increases in P‐rich litter inputs, we found only a few responses in the belowground pools of P available for plant and microbial uptake, including a weak positive response for citric acid–extractable PO₄in the surface soil, a decrease in microbial biomass P, and no change in soil P (or C or N) stocks. This weak, neutral, or negative belowground P response to warming despite enhanced litter P inputs is consistent with a growing number of studies in the arctic tundra that find no long‐term response of soil C and N stocks to warming.

    

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