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Developing a Transformative Approach to Destreaming for Equity in My Intermediate Mathematics Classroom During a Period of Uncertainty and Change: An Autoethnography
Get PDFChanges in my intermediate mathematics classroom at a secondary school were necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic as Grade 9 classes became destreamed. This resulted in the development of transformative pedagogy within my classroom in terms of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. This autoethnography describes what happened over the 2019–2020 to 2022–2023 school years in my classroom, from traditional teaching at the beginning, to online learning through the pandemic, to transformative teaching after. I implemented elements of Building Thinking Classrooms (Liljedahl, 2021) and the ICUCARE framework (Seda & Brown, 2021) as I made changes to how I teach. When the Grade 9 course became destreamed in 2021, I tried to improve the level of equity provided to my students. The record of each of the courses taught through the 4 years was documented on school hard drives and was used to recollect the experiences for the autoethnography. My memories of the experiences throughout help to tell the story of what happened to my pedagogical philosophy and its effect on the culture of my classroom. The pedagogical apple that every teacher holds within them and molds to fit their approach to teaching is always under duress. Cracks in the mold ultimately occur, and teachers must decide how to continue their careers, whether in traditional or transformative ways. I have found benefits to transformative pedagogy, but work is still needed to be done to improve it. The traditional approach remains popular for teachers but it may not be better for equity
The Effect of PPARβ/δ Activation on Soleus Contractile and Metabolic Function in the Rodent Model of Barth Syndrome
Get PDFBarth syndrome is a rare and incurable X-linked genetic disease that impairs the production of tafazzin (Taz) protein. Taz catalyzes the transacylation reaction of monolysocardiolipin (MLCL) in the final step of cardiolipin (CL) remodeling to produce biologically relevant tetralinolylcardiolipin (TLCL). CL is an integral phospholipid that is responsible for maintaining mitochondrial form and function. Mutations to the gene that encodes for Taz (TAZ) result in missing or decreased Taz enzymatic activity which lowers the quantity and quality of CL. This leads to mitochondrial dysfunction which produces the hallmark symptoms of Barth syndrome, namely cardiomyopathy, neutropenia (low white blood cells), and exercise intolerance stemming from skeletal muscle weakness. We have recently demonstrated that 8 weeks of supplemental linoleic acid treatment improves rates of contraction and relaxation of soleus in a rodent model of Barth syndrome, the Taz knockdown (KD) mouse. Interestingly, supplemental linoleic acid did not impact CL content or side chain composition. Thus, the mechanism underlying the improvements in contractile function are currently unknown, however, we hypothesize that these improvements may be a result of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) β/δ activation via supplemental linoleic acid. PPARβ/δ is a transcriptional regulator that, when activated, increases mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative capacity. Previous research has demonstrated that the activation of PPARβ/δ improves skeletal muscle function in wildtype mice (Chen et al., 2015; Narkar et al., 2008; Y.-X. Wang et al., 2004). Given that PPARβ/δ can be activated by free fatty acids, it is plausible that the improvements to contractile kinetics may be mediated through PPARβ/δ activation by linoleic acid. Thus, the purpose of this project is to investigate the role of PPARβ/δ in improving contractile kinetics in TazKD mice through increased mitochondrial biogenesis and improved oxidative metabolism
The Behaviour and Ecology of Mosquito Vectors
Get PDFMosquitoes continue to vector pathogens to humans around the world. Research into the unique behaviour and ecology of vector species enables new avenues of control to be developed. I examined two mosquito vector species. The first, Coquillettidia perturbans (Walker, 1856), has been incriminated as a competent vector of eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) in North America. The behaviour and ecology of Cq. perturbans is poorly studied due to how difficult it is to study the immature stages. I attempted to collect and rear Cq. perturbans to establish a laboratory colony. A multi-generational colony was not successful in part to high mortality rates in the 1st instar and pupal stage as well as a suspected obligatory diapause in later larval instars. Despite this, it was possible to artificially blood-feed and have them oviposit viable egg rafts, which hatched and developed into 4th instar larvae. Larvae and pupae collected from the field were also able to successfully pupate and emerge into adult mosquitoes. Other aspects: such as oviposition site preference, oviposition rate, hatch rate, and immature morphology were also documented. The second species studied, was Culex pipiens Linnaeus, which is known to be a competent vector of West Nile virus (WNV). Cx. pipiens is considered ornithophilic (bird-feeding) but is believed to switch to mammal blood-meals in the late-summer to early-fall in northern regions. I tested a protocol that could be used for determining the host preference of Cx. pipiens in a laboratory setting. The protocol involves creating an environment that limits distractions to feeding and positional bias while giving equal opportunity to choose between two different blood-meals. A PCR assay for testing the blood meal contents of blood-fed mosquitoes was also developed. When tested with bird blood vs. mammal blood, the laboratory colony of Cx. pipiens fed on bird blood ~60% of the time. The number of detections for each blood-meal in a cage raised questions about factors such as bias within the Cx. pipiens colony itself, highlighting a need to take behavioural factors into account when performing laboratory host preference experiments
Non-pollen palynomorphs and black carbon in sediments from Walden Pond (Massachusetts, USA): evidence of sudden onset events and human impact over the past millennium.
Get PDFWalden Pond (Concord, MA, USA) has long held important value from a cultural, ecological and geological perspective. It consists of three distinct subbasins where large-scale changes within the catchment and the lake are recorded in the acid-resistant organic fraction of the sediments. Palynological data from sediment cores in each of the three basins in Walden Pond record anomalous sedimentation events that can be correlated across the lake over the last 1000 years, and differences in the palynological signature of these events between sub-basins provide insights into depositional triggers. The youngest event, marked by abundant charcoal in palynological preparations, is attributed to late 19th – early 20th century CE fires, consistent with peak abundance of Ambrosia in the pollen assemblage. The non-pollen palynomorph (NPP) assemblage in this unit differs from that in the earlier three intervals of anomalous sedimentation in this deep, closed basin that pollen data help constrain to the mid- 18th, 14th–15th, and 12th–13th centuries CE, with additional potential redeposition events around 1000 CE and predating the turn of the second millennium. Earlier events are marked by increases in palynomorphs that record resedimentation from shallow parts of Walden Pond into deeper parts of the lake. The mid-18th century event is attributed to the 1755 Cape Ann Earthquake (estimated magnitude MLg 6.2 ± 0.5), supported by the first appearance of fly ash/ spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs) produced by smelting of bog iron by early European settlers in the late 17th century as well as the rapid increase in Ambrosia /nonarboreal pollen (i.e., ‘agricultural weeds’) at a time of rapid population growth. Although less well constrained chronologically, the two earlier events appear to have been of even greater magnitude based on palynological and sedimentological characteristics that are consistent with seiche action in Walden Pond, and thus can be used to refine estimates of paleoseismic risk in this heavily populated region characterised by infrequent historic high magnitude earthquakes and suggestions of earlier events in oral histories
"Don't Let Them Immanentize the Eschaton" and the North American City: Competing Discourses over Social Planning in the Journal of the American Planning Association, 1936–2000
Get PDFIn the mid-twentieth century new conservatives weaponized anti-Gnostic discourse to condemn pro-social planning. As such, I illustrate how this rhetoric became a useful tool by pro-market advocates to transform North American planning into a device that reflects and produces neoliberalization. To do this, I use content-analysis to investigate the competing mid-twentieth century discourses within the Journal of American Planning Association from 1936–2000. By the early 1970s, there is a clear epistemic shift within the journal revealing the ever-growing influence of anti-social/pro-market discourse. Within this shift planners began to utilize anti-Gnostic rhetoric to characterize pro-social planners as utopian and therefore politically dangerous. By the end of the twentieth century, pro-market discourse dominated planning—and pro-social planners were left feeling nostalgic toward the pro-social past of their practice, even employing “counter-planning” to protest this ideological shift. My findings, in confirming the presence of anti-social planning discourse within mid-twentieth century planning, encourages further research to be carried out on the political influence of the new conservative anti-Gnostic rhetoric in urban reform in the mid-twentieth century
Monitoring Psychotropic Medication Influence on Disruptive Behaviour in Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Get PDFDemographic research suggests that up to 50% of persons with intellectual and developmental
disabilities engage in disruptive behaviour (Sheehan et al., 2015). Psychopharmacological
interventions are an oft applied treatment approach. Unfortunately, efficacy research on this topic
is relatively limited, especially applied behavioural pharmacology research aimed at monitoring
and evaluating the behavioural effects of psychotropic medication in this clinical population
(Khokhar et al., 2023). Behaviour analysts often conduct a functional analysis to uncover
behaviour function as this assessment approach permits the systematic examination of the
relationship between disruptive behaviour and environmental events. Theory around how
psychotropic medications may be affecting behaviour suggests that functional analyses may
facilitate revealing drug-behaviour interactions. Thus, the proposed study explored the
behavioural effects of clinically-indicated psychotropic medication changes in 10 adults with
intellectual and developmental disabilities who engaged in disruptive behaviour and were
prescribed psychotropic medication. Repeat functional analyses were conducted across regular
and PRN phases to monitor changes in behaviour function and rate. Evidently, 47.82% of the
regular medication phase comparisons were associated with function stability, while 36.36% of
the PRN phase comparisons were associated with function stability. An odds ratio coefficient of
0.62 (95% CI: 0.14-2.73) indicated function changes across PRN medication phases were more
likely. Effect sizes were generated to examine the magnitude of change in disruptive behaviour.
Mean absolute effect size results for the PRN and regular medication phases (0.32 and 0.67,
respectively) suggest there may be a noteworthy difference across the two conditions. Clinical
implications, study strengths and limitations are discussed
Mechanistic Insights into the Notch signalling pathway through Molecular Condensation
Get PDFThe ability of a cell to undergo cellular decisions is ingrained in the integration of cues
from its local environments. One such cue is relaying information based on local cell
density, neighbouring cell identity, and cell positional information. A key signalling
pathway in interpreting this information is the Notch signalling pathway. It is currently
poorly understood how Notch is able to play a titratable role in signal transduction as our
current model does not effectively translate how fluctuations in Notch signalling lead to
dynamic changes in Notch target gene expression. One potential mechanism that has
recently been shown to play a role in titratable gene expression of several signalling
pathways is the ability for proteins to undergo molecular condensation within living cells.
To date, Notch signalling has been difficult to study because of the lack of live cell systems
that allow us to study both Notch protein localization and Notch target gene expression in
real-time. Using PlayBack, a system I developed that allows for cost-effective plasmid
cloning, I was able to develop both a light controlled Notch construct, OptoNotch, and a
Live Notch target gene promoter reporter, called Hes1-Live-RNA, to allow for both the
visualization and quantification of Notch activity within living cells. Using these tools, I
discovered that the Notch 1 intracellular domain forms molecular condensates which in
turn positively facilitates both Notch1 target gene expression as well as facilitating Notch’s
ability to regulate enhancer looping. This is the first instance of N1ICD undergoing
condensation within live cells and offers a mechanism by which Notch can have a
titratable effect on target gene expression
“I feel like I lost myself”: An Examination of Teachers’ Lived Experiences During The COVID-19 Pandemic
Get PDFThe current study aimed to understand teachers' lived experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, revealing six main themes from their interviews and open-response questions. Key findings of teachers' lived experiences included the prevalent feeling of isolation due to a lack of social connection with students and colleagues, the struggle to balance various responsibilities, the increased workload transferring an interactive in-person environment to online learning and adhering to safety protocols. Despite these challenges, some teachers reported benefits such as improved work-life balance and enhanced technology skills. The findings also highlight differences between elementary and secondary school teachers, particularly in implementing safety measures, and how these varied based on years of teaching experience. Elementary school teachers faced unique challenges in maintaining young students' engagement and adherence to safety measures, whereas secondary school teachers experienced challenges related to subject-specific teaching demands. Additionally, teachers have demonstrated resilience and dedication, adapted their roles as advocators, educators, and support systems to ensure educational success throughout the various stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study fills a gap in existing research by specifically examining the distinct challenges and benefits experienced by teachers during this unprecedented period. By providing nuanced insights into teachers' experiences, this research contributes to understanding the broader impacts of the pandemic on educational practices and teacher well-being
Listening to Build Rapport: Developing and Evaluating a Virtual Training Package to Teach Community Practitioners Active Listening Skills
Get PDFTransition-aged autistic youth experience unique challenges (e.g., developing and maintaining social relationships) during the transition to adulthood, and their parents do too (e.g., significant physical and emotional health stressors). Transitioning Together (TT) is an effective family-focused 8-week group psychoeducational program that supports autistic youth and their parents during this transition. While TT facilitators participate in TT Clinical Implementation Training, additional practitioner-targeted training opportunities may further enhance their TT delivery. In Study 1, the researchers interviewed previously trained TT facilitators to inform the development of an online training to complement the current TT training. Study 1 results indicated that establishing and maintaining rapport were important for TT delivery and that there are many strategies, including active listening, that we might teach facilitators to support the development and maintenance of rapport. In consultation with the TT program developers, the researchers developed an online active listening training that incorporated a behavioural skills training framework. In Study 2, the researchers used a concurrent multiple probe across participants design to assess the effectiveness of the online active listening training across three participants. In-vivo recorded observations were conducted to understand how effective the online training was at increasing the participants’ performance of active listening skills based on a predetermined criterion. All participants demonstrated an increase in performance accuracy following training. High acceptability was reported, and participants noted that they would use the active listening skills in their future practice. The clinical implications, strengths, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed
Brock’s Monument stereo cards, n.d.
Get PDFTwo stereo cards of Brock’s Monument in Queenston, Canada. One stereo card features a complete view of the monument. The other card is a close-up of the base of the monument