2,379,180 research outputs found
"Does gender matter when teaching STEM?" : Australian primary teachers speak
No full textCurrent literature illuminates that primary school teachers lack the skills and confidence required to teach STEM subjects effectively. This a recurring theme in the literature and a cause for concern. Recent research indicates that the primary school years are a critical period during which children’s interests and dispositions towards STEM are formed. Building the STEM teaching capacity of Australian primary school teachers is, therefore, an issue gaining increasing prominence. Given that the Australian primary teaching workforce is predominantly female, it is also important to ask whether female teachers’ needs in relation to STEM teaching are different from, or greater than, those of male primary school teachers. A substantial body of research evidence suggests that gender disparities exist in STEM motivation and interest. Therefore, any assessment of teachers’ needs must be examined through a gender lens. This paper reports the findings of an Australia-wide study that compares the experiences and perspectives of female and male Australian primary STEM teachers (N ~ 100) on a range of topics, including: personal conceptualisation of STEM education; perceived importance of STEM; confidence in STEM teaching; and, enablers and barriers of personal STEM teaching efficacy. The paper also examines gender differences in teachers’ personal needs in relation to effective STEM teaching. Using a mixed methods approach, little evidence of substantial gender disparities across the range of issues listed above in relation primary school teachers and STEM teaching were found. The paper discusses this somewhat counter-intuitive finding, and considers the implications in terms of approaches to primary teacher development in STEM
Persistent Wnt/β-catenin signaling determines dorsalization of the postnatal subventricular zone and neural Stem cell specification into oligodendrocytes and glutamatergic neurons
Get PDFIn the postnatal and adult central nervous system (CNS), the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the forebrain is the main source of neural stem cells (NSCs) that generate olfactory neurons and oligodendrocytes (OLs), the myelinating cells of the CNS. Here, we provide evidence of a primary role for canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling in regulating NSC fate along neuronal and oligodendroglial lineages in the postnatal SVZ. Our findings demonstrate that glutamatergic neuronal precursors (NPs) and oligodendrocyte precursors (OPs) are derived strictly from the dorsal SVZ (dSVZ) microdomain under the control of Wnt/β-catenin, whereas GABAergic NPs are derived mainly from the lateral SVZ (lSVZ) microdomain independent of Wnt/β-catenin. Transcript analysis of microdissected SVZ microdomains revealed that canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling was more pronounced in the dSVZ microdomain. This was confirmed using the β-catenin-activated Wnt-reporter mouse and by pharmacological stimulation of Wnt/β-catenin by infusion of the specific glycogen synthase kinase 3β inhibitor, AR-A014418, which profoundly increased the generation of cycling cells. In vivo genetic/pharmacological stimulation or inhibition of Wnt/β-catenin, respectively, increased and decreased the differentiation of dSVZ-NSCs into glutamatergic NPs, and had a converse effect on GABAergic NPs. Activation of Wnt/β-catenin dramatically stimulated the generation of OPs, but its inhibition had no effect, indicating other factors act in concert with Wnt/β-catenin to fine tune oligodendrogliogenesis in the postnatal dSVZ. These results demonstrate a role for Wnt/β-catenin signaling within the dorsal microdomain of the postnatal SVZ, in regulating the genesis of glutamatergic neurons and OLs
W-STEM Process Mapping Template
No full textTemplate to collect the process associated to the attraction, access, guidance and retention of students into STEM programs.</p
W-STEM Self-assessment Matrix
No full textInstrument to analyze, quantitatively, the current state of each a university regarding indicators of access, attraction, guidance and retention of women in STEM programs. The instrument is based on the SAGA Indicator Matrix available in the SAGA Toolkit by UNESCO.</p
Activities of the Loja W-STEM node
No full textThe 3rd meeting of the W-STEM ERASMUS + Capacity-building in Higher Education European Project (Ref. 598923-EPP-1-2018-1-ES-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP) had scheduled to be held in Guadalajara (Mexico). The COVID-19 pandemic did not allow us to meet face-to-face, and we decided to organize the meeting online on January 12-14, 2021.
The Loja W-STEM node presented its activities related to the project in the Guadalajara project meeting.W-STEM (Building the future of Latin America: engaging women into STEM) is a project funded under European Union ERASMUS + Capacity-building in Higher Education Programme (598923-EPP-1-2018-1-ES-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP)
The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein
Evaluation of the impact of the STEM Ambassadors programme upon STEM Ambassadors
Get PDFSTEM Learning is the largest provider of STEM education and careers support to schools, colleges and community groups in the UK providing training, CPD sessions, free resources and governor support. The STEM Ambassador programme is one of STEM Learning’s ways of building young people’s awareness and interest in STEM careers. The programme is in its 20th year of being run by STEM Learning and with this, they have amassed over 25,000 STEM Ambassador volunteers from over 7,000 employers, who work with young people in schools and the community to provide the vital connection between STEM employers and young people. As long as you have experience within industry and/or STEM subjects you can be a STEM Ambassador, providing support in the form of workshops, mentoring, careers talks and enrichment days. The purpose of the evaluation that we undertook was to explore the Ambassadors’ experiences of the programme, the impact of the programme both on their volunteering and those they engage with and the effect of COVID-19 on the programme and shifts to virtual engagement. The evaluation found that motivations to participate in the programme were borne from wanting to raise awareness of STEM amongst young people and inspire the next generation. Young STEM Ambassadors in particular were seen to gain most skills from their volunteering roles and believed that volunteering was particularly important for their career progression. The STEM Ambassador programme was generally very well received by its volunteers who had adapted well to a virtual and hybrid version of their role during COVID-19, and it was expressed that many believed that their role had a positive impact on engaging schools and young people in STEM activities and careers
Hyaluronan is crucial for stem cell differentiation into smooth muscle lineage
Get PDFDeciphering the extracellular signals that regulate SMC differentiation from stem cells is vital to further our understanding of the pathogenesis of vascular disease and for development of cell-based therapies and tissue engineering. Hyaluronan (HA) has emerged as an important component of the stem cell niche, however its role during stem cell differentiation is a complicated and inadequately defined process. This study aimed to investigate the role of HA in embryonic stem cell (ESC) differentiation toward a SMC lineage. ESCs were seeded on collagen-IV in differentiation medium to generate ESC-derived SMCs (esSMCs). Differentiation coincided with increased HA synthase (HAS) 2 expression, accumulation of extracellular HA and its assembly into pericellular matrices. Inhibition of HA synthesis by 4-methylumbelliferone (4MU), removal of the HA coat by hyaluronidase (HYAL) or HAS2 knockdown led to abrogation of SMC gene expression. HA activates ERK1/2 and suppresses EGFR signaling pathways via its principle receptor, CD44. EGFR inactivation coincided with increased binding to CD44, which was further augmented by addition of high molecular weight (HMW)-HA either exogenously or via HAS2 overexpression through adenoviral gene transfer. HMW-HA-stimulated esSMCs displayed a functional role in vascular tissue engineering ex vivo, vasculogenesis in a matrigel plug model and SMC accumulation in neointimal lesions of vein grafts in mice. These findings demonstrate that HAS2-induced HA synthesis and organization drives ESC-SMC differentiation. Thus, remodeling of the HA microenvironment is a critical step in directing stem cell differentiation toward a vascular lineage, highlighting HA as a potential target for treatment of vascular diseases
W-STEM Benchmarking Questionnaire Form
No full textQuestionnaire based on the Columbus Association methodology to conduct benchmarking round. The instrument was used to collect the Good practices: strategies and mechanisms for the first benchmarking round of the W-STEM project in Barranquilla (Colombia) during the International Leadership Summit (November 28th, 2019).
The good practices identified with this instrument are available on https://zenodo.org/record/3585878.</p
Multimodal Treatment Eliminates Cancer Stem Cells and Leads to Long-Term Survival in Primary Human Pancreatic Cancer Tissue Xenografts.
Get PDFCopyright: 2013 Hermann et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.PURPOSE: In spite of intense research efforts, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma remains one of the most deadly malignancies in the world. We and others have previously identified a subpopulation of pancreatic cancer stem cells within the tumor as a critical therapeutic target and additionally shown that the tumor stroma represents not only a restrictive barrier for successful drug delivery, but also serves as a paracrine niche for cancer stem cells. Therefore, we embarked on a large-scale investigation on the effects of combining chemotherapy, hedgehog pathway inhibition, and mTOR inhibition in a preclinical mouse model of pancreatic cancer. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Prospective and randomized testing in a set of almost 200 subcutaneous and orthotopic implanted whole-tissue primary human tumor xenografts. RESULTS: The combined targeting of highly chemoresistant cancer stem cells as well as their more differentiated progenies, together with abrogation of the tumor microenvironment by targeting the stroma and enhancing tissue penetration of the chemotherapeutic agent translated into significantly prolonged survival in preclinical models of human pancreatic cancer. Most pronounced therapeutic effects were observed in gemcitabine-resistant patient-derived tumors. Intriguingly, the proposed triple therapy approach could be further enhanced by using a PEGylated formulation of gemcitabine, which significantly increased its bioavailability and tissue penetration, resulting in a further improved overall outcome. CONCLUSIONS: This multimodal therapeutic strategy should be further explored in the clinical setting as its success may eventually improve the poor prognosis of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
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