544 research outputs found
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Understanding Teachers’ Perceptions of Digital Natives: How Do Teachers Perceive Digital Natives in Their Classrooms?
No full textThis study seeks to understand how teachers perceive digital natives in their classrooms and how their teaching may be influenced by digital natives. Interviews revealed that teachers view digital natives as different than themselves and also viewed digital natives as being more comfortable with technology. Most of the interviews demonstrated that many teachers held negative perceptions of digital natives as both learners and students, and have modified their teaching to help address that. Recommendations include increased professional development on balancing technology and classroom conduct
The Impacts of Delayed Starts in Maine Schools
Get PDFThe purpose of this mixed methods study was to investigate the benefits and challenges associated with delayed starts in Maine high schools. In the past few years, several school districts in the midcoast-southern region of the state have elected to delay their high school start times for the purposes of allowing students more sleep. Across the five districts, administrators reported benefits to the delayed starts, and teachers reported more mixed results. In comparing between the five districts, the alignment patterns varied considerably
Fengshui Forests as A Socio-natural Reservoir in the Face of Climate Change and Environmental Transformation
No full textChinese lineage villages are social-ecological systems (SESs) designed according to principles of fengshui (“wind-water”). Fengshui is a composite of cosmological beliefs and landscape management strategies, including the protection of sacred groves, aimed at optimizing the collective, long-term wellbeing of lineage groups by enhancing long-term natural and social resilience. Along with other adaptive management features, village fengshui forests promote social-ecological vigor by conserving plant, soil, and water resources, enhancing social memory, and serving as living models of resilience in the face of social, economic, and political changes. Modern programs to transform rural communities through state-led agricultural production systems included bans on fengshui practice and the destruction of forests. Many communities protected their fengshui forests, providing contemporary opportunities for local, regional, national, and international conservation initiatives incorporating locally preserved forests
The Impact of Mathematics Coaching on Teacher Pedagogy and Student Understanding in Rural School Districts
Get PDFThis study collected data from teachers and math coaches in rural Maine schools to determine if working with a mathematics coach had an impact on teacher’s pedagogy. Participants were asked about their perception of whether coaching interactions impacted students understanding of mathematics. The design included interviews with four coaches who had been trained through the Maine Mathematics Coaching Project. Data from nineteen teachers was collected through surveys that were emailed to all teachers who had worked with the four coaches. Conclusions indicate that most coaches and teachers do believe that working with a mathematics coach has a positive impact on both teacher pedagogy and student understanding. Increased classroom discourse, greater use of questioning techniques, and stronger number sense due to increased use of research-based practices emerged as common trends in the findings from both sets of data
12th Annual Supreme Court Preview and Review Professor James P. Melcher
No full textThis video features University of Maine-Farmington Professor of Political Science James P. Melcher in his 12th Annual Supreme Court Preview and Review on September 19, 2018 at Lincoln Auditorium at UMF. He discussed retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, and discussed five upcoming cases before the Supreme Court this fall: Madison v. Alabama Timbs v. Indiana Gamble v. US Weyerhauser Company v. US Fish and Wildlife Service Apple Inc.v. Pepper He then also discussed five cases from the 2017-18 term: South Dakota v. Wayfair Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 Masterpiece Cake Shop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission Murphy (Christie) v. N.C.A.A. et al. Carpenter v. U. S. He also fielded questions and discussed other cases. He was introduced by UMF senior Allison Bernier
The Perceptions of Parents Related to the Special Education Process in a Rural Maine Public School
No full textThe purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore parent and guardian feelings and perceptions of the special education process. Through the use of a cross sectional survey design, school leaders were provided with information needed to modify current practices to increase parent and guardian engagement in the special education process. Overall, parents and guardians reported mostly positive feelings as their child was going through the referral process. Through the use of open ended questions, parents revealed that communication, increased inclusionary services, and compassion were major themes impacting how they felt after special education services had begun
Do Mixed Fire Regimes Shape Plant Flammability and Post-Fire Recovery Strategies?
No full textThe development of frameworks for better-understanding ecological syndromes and putative evolutionary strategies of plant adaptation to fire has recently received a flurry of attention, including a new model hypothesizing that plants have diverged into three different plant flammability strategies due to natural selection. We provide three case studies of pyromes/taxa (Pinus, the Proteaceae of the Cape Floristic Region, and Eucalyptus) that, contrary to model assumptions, reveal that plant species often exhibit traits of more than one of these flammability and post-fire recovery strategies. We propose that such multiple-strategy adaptations have been favoured as bet-hedging strategies in response to selective pressure from mixed-fire regimes experienced by these species over evolutionary time
Fedco Seeds 2018
Get PDFWhen is a seed catalog more than a seed catalog? When it is the Fedco Seed catalog.
Fedco, founded in 1978, is a worker-consumer cooperative in Maine known for promoting the ideals of cooperation, transparency, and the common ownership of seeds. These archives contain thousands of pages of Fedco’s seed catalogs. As one of its editors noted, “We give our readers things to think about.” Annual themes have included the role played by soil bacteria—the microscopic heroes that make life on this planet possible; the contributions of plant breeders and seed keepers; poetry by Walt Whitman, Vergil, and Russell Libby, among others. Editorials often stress the negative impact multinational corporations have on the genetic diversity of food crops, and provide annual updates on genetic engineering and the consolidation of the seed industry. Bits of humor are throughout, some of them in possibly the catalogs’ best feature: original art, and engravings from old seed catalogs and horticultural books. It is, in the words of Fedco’s founder CR Lawn, “More than a marketing tool.
Increasing Technology Engagement in the Mass Customized Secondary Classroom
Get PDFThe increase in student-centered and self-directed classroom practices and curriculum delivery methods such as proficiency based education (PBE) and mass customized learning (MCL) coupled with 1:1 technology environments requires the student be productive without direct teacher oversight. Using productivity software, this research project examines student digital engagement in a high school classroom employing student-centered MCL and PBE practices in an attempt to answer the following research questions: “Can the use of self-monitoring productivity applications increase positive technology outcomes while decreasing negative technology outcomes?” and “Do student perceptions of their engagement fit their behavior?” This qualitative study uses three phases of survey to collect data concerning productivity as reported by the productivity application and students’ beliefs concerning how the percentage reflects their actual computer use
Utilizing Technology to Increase Math Achievement
Get PDFThe purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate technology use for differentiation to boost achievement in math.Fourth grade students were assigned intervention activities based upon their fall NWEA scores. The interventions were for twenty minutes each for twelve lessons in both IXL and Khan Academy. Students were observed for their engagement every five minutes during these interventions. Students were also given pre and post tests from their current Pearson math curriculum. Findings indicated that over 50% of the students did meet their projected RIT scores when they took their winter NWEA math test. The greatest growth was found in two of the subcategories – Operations and Algebra and Numbers and Operations. Students had more success with Khan Academy interventions, and this resource may be beneficial to others looking to use technology to differentiate interventions