Local High School Research Articles

Locating disconnected minoritized youth within urban community-based educational programs in an Era of Neoliberalism

We explore the experiences of youth who disconnected from their local high schools and resumed their educations in community-based education (CBE) programs offering high school equivalency instruction. Drawing on focus-group interview narratives (N = 59) where youth describe the ‘second chances’ offered to them, we document supportive, encouraging relationships with adults in the CBEs that stand in contrast to their experiences in school. Simultaneously, we suggest that in the face of program narratives that emphasized individual responsibility and success, any critical read of their world articulated earlier by the youth was no longer evident. In essence, they moved from one institution framed by neoliberal tenets to another but in the process, they traded the resistance they exhibited in their public high schools to accommodation in the CBEs. We problematize the discourse of ‘second chances’ if and when it remains uncoupled to analyses of societal and institutional inequity and injustices.

Building constituencies through evidence-based outreach: Findings from an archaeological STEM camp for International Baccalaureate high school students in the USA

ABSTRACTA recent Society for American Archaeology poll of Americans over the age of 18 revealed that while 93% of Americans believe that the ‘work archaeologists do is important,’ only half of Americans are willing to support an increase in federal funding for archaeological research. This article considers how archaeologists might work towards building archaeological constituencies to increase future voter support of archaeology. We argue that one method of reaching out to Americans is through intensive exposure to archaeology through an Archaeology STEM Camp aimed at high school students. We present the results and survey data from one such camp conducted in collaboration with local high school teachers, which reveal how a 2.5 day residential outreach programme can transform student perceptions of archaeology.

The Role of the Faculty Advisor for a Model United Nations Conference: 5 Lessons Learned from Practice

A Model United Nations (MUN) conference is one of Political Science’s most enduring and iconic formats for active learning and a defining event for many undergraduate students and high school students. Despite its established place in the discipline of Political Science, a MUN conference is an event that defies attempts at perfection, due mainly to the experience being out of the hands of faculty. This paper identifies five lessons learned from delivering hybrid MUN conferences at a mid-sized university campus (6,500 undergraduate students) between 2015-2019. The faculty member collaborated with upper-level undergraduate student organizers to organize and deliver conferences that included delegates participating in partial fulfillment of course credit, delegates from local high-schools, and university students participating for the experience. The connecting theme of these lessons is a consideration of achieving balance between the two roles of the participating faculty member as both the authoritative decision-maker, and that of a delegating supervisor providing oversight and allowing students the freedom to assume the responsibilities of serving as secretariat or as delegate.

Directional preferences of dogs’ changes in the presence of a bar magnet: Educational experiments in Israel

A lot of animals detect and then align their body axis with respect to the Earth's magnetic field lines (MF). This behavior was also presented for territory marking dogs. We collected data on directional preferences of dogs under different MF conditions and analyzed the data using circular statistics.Dogs excreted with the body aligned along the North–South axis, but when exposed to small bar magnets, significantly changed their directional positions. The study suggests that dogs are able to recognize MF.Additional value of this research is that the data were collected by local high school students, which required collaboration with teachers and their parents. We think that this idea has great potential and can be developed at a global scale and to become a citizen-science project involving other high school pupils and their families.

The Promise of Intergenerational Choir for Improving Psychosocial and Cognitive Health for those with Dementia: The Voices in Motion Project

Rates of dementia continue to increase along with life expectancy. As neither dementia’s causenor its cure is well understood from the perspective of medical science, further investigations ofcomplementary lifestyle and non-pharmaceutical interventions are imperative. Although arts-basedtherapies have been explored selectively, the significance of these interventions for persons withdementia (PwD) remains undervalued in both the general population and scientific literature. Thisstudy aims to examine one promising lifestyle intervention, the effect of intergenerational choirparticipation, on psychosocial and cognitive function for PwD. Participants (n = 32), in partnershipwith their family caregivers and local high school students, participated in an intergenerational choirfor as many as three choir seasons spanning up to 18 months of follow-up. Participants underwent anexpansive assessment of psychosocial, physiological, and cognitive function every four to six weeksas part of an intensive repeated measures design. Here, the potential benefits of choir for PwD wereexplored in relation to change for select cognitive (Mini-Mental State Examination: MMSE; TrailMaking Task A: TMT-A; Word Recall) and psychosocial (Patient Health Questionnaire: PHQ-9)indicators. Multilevel modelling was used to index initial levels (at baseline) and change (spanningup to eight follow-up assessments) in function for measures of global cognition, executive functioning,episodic memory, and depressive symptoms. Notably, no significant declines were observed for MMSEor TMT-A tasks. As expected, episodic memory function continued to decline, with a significantlessening of depressive symptoms and signs observed for the PHQ-9. These results suggest thatdespite the progressive nature of underlying neuropathology for dementia subtypes like Alzheimer’sDisease, preservation of select cognitive functions as well as mitigation of psychosocial comorbidities(depressive symptoms) is possible through participation in an intergenerational choir.

AnalysisofBased Test InstrumentsLocal Wisdomof Terbang Papatto Measure Mathematical Representation Capabilities in Learning Physics

This study aims to analyze the mathematical representation ability test instruments based on local wisdomof terbang papatto high school students. The research method used by compiling the instrument grid based on aspects of the ability of mathematical representation based on local wisdomof terbang papat, which is then used to compile indicators and items. The test instrument consists of four indicators of the ability of mathematical representation, each of which has five items and has been validated by expert judgment, physics teacher and peer reviewer. The validated instrument was tested on 338 students from two high schools in Kudus Regency. Data obtained in the form of polytomus data, then analyzed using Partial Credit Model (PCM). The results obtained showed that all test instruments of mathematical representation ability were proven to be fit with PCM, reliability of test instruments was declared reliable based on PCM results, total information function was between -2.00 to +1.8, difficulty indexes were more than -2.0 and less than 2.0 (-2.0 ≤b≤ + 2.0) which means all items are in good category. Thus the ability test instrument based on terbang papat local wisdom can be used to measure the ability of students' mathematical representation according to the partial credit model based on the five categories of polytomus data

Assessment and social change: Empowering underserved students to reimagine their future through STEM outreach

Using a STEM conference model is a method for creating social change among underrepresented student populations. Through outreach to local schools, university libraries can help pre-college students gain a better understanding of STEM fields and can ultimately attract more minority students to careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. For eight years, the University of Tennessee (UT) Libraries has hosted a STEM conference for local middle and high school students.

Helping High School-Aged Military Dependents With Autism Gain Employment Through Project SEARCH + ASD Supports.

Youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face high rates of unemployment, with unique challenges for military-dependent and -connected youth with ASD. This paper reports preliminary findings from Year One of a randomized waitlist controlled trial investigating the efficacy of the Project SEARCH + ASD Supports (PS+ASD) intervention model for military-dependent and -connected youth with ASD. Treatment group participants (n=6) participated in internships at a military installation in the southeastern United States; waitlist group participants (n=8) received special education transition services at their local high schools. Employment outcome data were collected at 12months for both groups. Fourteen unique internship experiences were developed across seven business partner organizations on the military installation during Year One. Five of six PS+ASD treatment group participants obtained competitive integrated employment for an overall employment rate of 83.3%. Four of the positions were federal jobs. None of the waitlist group participants obtained competitive integrated employment during the same period. Initial results are promising and suggest that the PS+ASD model may help to meet the transition needs of military-dependent and -connected youth with ASD and the employment needs of local military communities.

Islam and Muslims as Elephants in the Interfaith Room: <i>Frame governance of dialogue and de-radicalisation</i>

Bringing together theories of media and policy frames of Norwegian Muslims as governance instruments, this article performs a microanalysis of the Norwegian 2015 de-radicalisation seminar Together against Radicalisation and Extremism as an instance of governance of religious diversity. The seminar was organised by an interfaith forum based in the conservatively Christian ‘Bible Belt’ of southern Norway and directed at local high school students who attended the seminar as part of their compulsory curricula. Analysing how Islam came to constitute a focal point to which the public presenters frequently related, this study explores how media and policy frames impact cultural encounters at the civic society level and points to how the seminar’s subtle workings reproduce significant religious, ethnic and cultural demarcations that stand in opposition to the seminar’s minority-inclusive objectives.

School Culture and Its Effect on Extracurricular Participation in Hong Kong

Abstract Extracurricular participation has displayed positive effects on student development; it is, therefore, worthwhile to investigate the factors that influence students’ willingness and ability to participate in extracurricular activities held by the school. Through a qualitative research design, this study hopes to reveal how school culture and other factors influence extracurricular participation among local high school students in Hong Kong. Focus groups were conducted with students from three local schools, and teachers and administrative staff were interviewed when available. The study focused on four main themes: school and student profile, participation requirements, activity availability, and school mission and academic emphasis. Hand coding and data analysis suggest that principal and school attitudes influenced the activities available, while timing and activity arrangement significantly affected student participation. Overall, there were mixed opinions toward extracurricular activities.

From Arabic high school graduate to Western qualified nurse: the challenge of transition (a discussion paper)

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the challenges of transition experienced by local high school graduates of the Arabic school system in the Kingdom of Bahrain, in the Middle East, as they are shaped into the person of a professional nurse through a Western model of nursing education. It investigates the elements that comprise a Bahraini student’s first-year nursing experience in transnational education, and considers how this experience is navigated by the student. Drawing on best international practice, it concludes with recommendations of how to better support Bahraini nursing students’ first-year experience of transnational education, which may be usefully applied to other international contexts providing transnational nursing education.

Chinese delinquent and non-delinquent juveniles: An exploration of the relations among interparental intimacy, interparental conflict, filial piety and interpersonal adjustment

Juvenile delinquency is affected by family interpersonal relationships and interpersonal adjustment. Filial piety refers to how children treat their parents in Chinese family interpersonal relationships and is one of the most important codes of conduct for Chinese people. Exploring the relationship among family interpersonal relationships (e.g., interparental intimacy, interparental conflict and filial piety) and interpersonal adjustment in delinquent juveniles would help to expand the understanding of findings that show how the interaction between different family variables and adjustments affect delinquency. This study examined the differences in the relationships among interparental intimacy, interparental conflict, filial piety and interpersonal adjustment between delinquent juveniles and non-delinquent juveniles. The participants included 554 juvenile delinquents from juvenile criminal prisons in China and 344 non-delinquent peers from local middle and high schools and completed a survey that included items measuring interparental intimacy, interparental conflict, filial piety and interpersonal adjustment. The results indicated that delinquent juveniles had lower interparental intimacy, reciprocal filial piety and interpersonal adjustment and higher interparental conflict than non-delinquents. Interparental intimacy, interparental conflict and filial piety were generally associated with interpersonal adjustment. Filial piety mediated the effect of interparental intimacy and interparental conflict on interpersonal adjustment; however, there were some significant differences between delinquents and non-delinquents in terms of the mediating effect. The results supported the findings that family variables, particularly interparental relations and filial piety, which constitute a theoretically important aspect of Chinese values and beliefs, are uniquely associated with the interpersonal adjustment of delinquent juveniles in China.

Profile of Aravinda Chakravarti

Many of the genetic variations uncovered by genome-wide dragnets are bycatch, not primary disease culprits. Separating causality from coincidence in this sea of data is challenging, especially when many of the candidates do not reside in the coding portion of the genome. Aravinda Chakravarti, director of New York University’s Center for Human Genetics and Genomics, has made a career of not just cutting through the noise but anticipating it, thanks to his training in statistics and genetics. In his Inaugural Article, Chakravarti, who was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2015, outlines a systematic process for determining causality in genome-wide association studies. He examines variants of regulatory elements that control gene expression by focusing on variation in cis -regulatory elements that target the SCN5A gene, which is implicated in sudden cardiac death (1). Aravinda Chakravarti. Image courtesy of Sumantra Chatterjee (New York University School of Medicine, New York). Born in Calcutta, India in 1954, just seven years after the country gained independence, Chakravarti remembers a mood of optimism and a sense of possibility. “I grew up in India at a very magical time.” Only in hindsight would Chakravarti call his family’s financial circumstances poor. “I had every kind of material to read, from national newspapers to glossy magazines to books,” he says. “I grew up in a house where reading was very valued, and curiosity was valued.” Chakravarti attended a local high school run by Methodist missionaries that offered advanced science courses. After high school, Chakravarti applied to a plethora of colleges. “I don’t know that I had a particular sense of direction,” he says. That changed as soon as Chakravarti saw the first page of the Indian Statistical Institute’s entrance examination, which contained two 10-digit numbers. The question asked which of five possible answers resulted from …

Remote Highschool Hemorrhage Control (RHHECON) - Methods of a Randomized Control Trial

Introduction:Uncontrolled bleeding is a leading cause of preventable death in trauma. The “Stop the Bleed” campaign has trained over 130,000 lay people in the US to act to control bleeding. Current hemorrhage control courses, the most well-known being the American College of Surgeon’s Basic Bleeding Control (ACS B-con) course, require in-person training. Scaling this course nationwide is time and resource intensive. Furthermore, groups have advocated that young people, who are disproportionately affected by physical trauma, be universally trained in hemorrhage control.Aim:Compare the effectiveness of teaching the ACS B-con course to high school (HS) students utilizing three different delivery mechanisms: in-person live, video-recorded, and virtual-live training.Methods:432 students (aged 15-18) will be recruited from two HS settings: 300 from a local HS and 132 from a national online HS platform. Local HS students will be randomized into two arms: a control arm (in-person live training) and virtual training through a pre-recorded lecture. Online HS students will undergo virtual-live training. The primary outcome is correct tourniquet application following training. Secondary outcomes are the acquisition of personal resilience-associated traits using a validated instrument, motivation for further training, and perception of the importance of live training. Tourniquet application data will be assessed using a non-inferiority design using two pairwise comparisons of the intervention arms to the control (in-person). Pre- to post-training survey data will be assessed using paired univariates tests. Sub-analysis of the impact of demographic variables on these relationships will be assessed.Discussion:In addition to integration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation courses into HS curricula, there is momentum to develop effective programs to educate HS students to provide care for the injured and control bleeding before first responders arrive. This trial will help determine the most effective delivery mechanism to teach a hemorrhage control course to HS students at scale.

Increasing Underrepresented Minority Access to Healthcare Professions through Pipeline Programming [14N

INTRODUCTION: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy (RWJF-CHP) at Meharry Medical College (MMC) partnered with a local high school to create a pipeline program that trains minority students enrolled in the Community Health Academy (CHA). The program provided clinical training to successfully pass the certified clinical medical assistant (CCMA) exam that allows trained professionals to perform clinical duties and assist providers in the healthcare setting. It is expected that these students will enroll in an undergraduate institution affiliated with MMC and ultimately matriculate into one of MMC's Professional Schools. METHODS: Twenty-five students were selected from 100 applicants by the CHA committee to participate in the one year pilot study. Students submitted resumes, personal statements, and were interviewed. Parental consents were obtained. The RWJF-CHP implemented clinical and educational training which included Science Symposiums, Clinical Internships, Medical Simulation Training, and Tutoring by Meharry faculty, residents, and students. RESULTS: Prior to 2017, 25/25 took the CCMA exam and did not pass it. In 2018, 20/25 passed the exam on their first attempt. The current passage rate for students after implementation of this pilot pipeline program for one year was 80%. CONCLUSION: Through this pipeline opportunity, students learned clinical skills and earned a certification necessary to work in the medical field. This project demonstrated that the pipeline model is effective in increasing minorities in the healthcare field. Further implications are to expand the model to include other high schools in the Nashville area.

Assessing the Impact of Holocaust Education on Adolescents’ Civic Values: Experimental Evidence from Arkansas

American adults overwhelmingly agree that the Holocaust should be taught in schools, yet few studies investigate the potential benefits of Holocaust education. We evaluate the impact of Holocaust education on several civic outcomes, including “upstander” efficacy (willingness to intervene on behalf of others), likelihood of exercising civil disobedience, empathy for the suffering of others, and tolerance of others with different values and lifestyles. We recruit students from two local high schools and randomize access to the Arkansas Holocaust Education Conference, where students have the chance to hear from a Holocaust survivor and to participate in breakout sessions with leading Holocaust experts. We find that students randomly assigned to attend the conference become more knowledgeable about the Holocaust and are more willing to act as an upstander on behalf of others. In our subgroup analysis, we find that minority students are significantly more willing to act as an upstander relative to their white peers.

Community engagement of adolescents in the development of a patient-centered outcome tool for adolescents with a history of hypospadias repair

Hypospadias may lead to long-term issues with urination, sexual function and psychosocial well-being. Limited evidence exists regarding the healthcare communication preferences of male adolescents regarding sensitive topics. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the healthcare communication preferences of male adolescents regarding sensitive topics (e.g. urinary and sexual issues) and engage them in the initial stages of development of a patient-centered outcome tool for adolescents with a history of hypospadias repair. A multidisciplinary team with communication design expertise, pediatric urology experts, and health services researchers developed a self-reported toolkit for adolescent patients who had hypospadias repair as children. The toolkit featured short writing/diagramming exercises and scales to facilitate participant reflections about genital appearance, urination, sexual function, and psychosocial well-being. We recruited students from two local high schools for two focus groups to obtain feedback about the usability/acceptability of the toolkit's appearance/content. We inquired about language preferences and preferred format and/or setting for sharing sensitive information with researchers. The focus groups were audio recorded, professionally transcribed, checked for accuracy, and analyzed by two coders using qualitative content analysis. Major themes and subthemes were identified, and representative quotes were selected. We conducted two focus groups in January 2018 with 33 participants, aged 14-18 years. Participants preferred language that would make patients feel comfortable and serious, clinical language rather than slang terms/sexual humor (Extended Summary Table). They recommended avoidance of statements implying that something is wrong with a patient or statements that would pressure the patient into providing answers. They suggested fill-in-the-blank and open-ended responses to encourage freedom of expression and colorful graphics to de-emphasize the test-like appearance of the toolkit. Most participants preferred a toolkit format to a one-on-one interview to discuss sensitive topics such as urinary or sexual issues. Participants would prefer either a male interviewer or would like to have a choice of interviewer gender for individual qualitative interviews, and they recommended a focus group leader with a history of hypospadias repair. This study provides a rich description of a group of male high school students' experiences with healthcare providers and researchers. Its qualitative design limits generalizability, and our findings may not be similar to those of adolescents with a history of hypospadias repair. We used focus group feedback on the toolkit prototype to refine the tool for use in a future study of adolescents with a history of hypospadias repair.

Is there a future for agriculture in world leading tourism resort islands of developing countries? Case study about survey of consciousness about career choice of young generation in Bali, Indonesia

Recent years, there is a subject about economic development for tourism industry and concentration of labor populations, decline of agriculture with it, in international tourism destination in developing country. In this study, we conducted a consciousness survey by conducting questionnaire in Bali province in Indonesia to know “the way of thinking about work values for career choice” in local residents. The hypothesis that “most local young people will choose tourism industry when they proceed career choice” was proposed. This questionnaire was conducted for local undergraduate students (n = 406) and local high school students (n = 198), and the contents is classified in five contents [(1) Face Sheet, (2) idea of work values, (3) working in the tourism industry, (4) working in agriculture industry, (5) the idea for tourism mixing agriculture,] and has 59 questions in total. As the result of this analysis, it was cleared that”. About half of the young people in Bali island in Indonesia select tourism industry about proceeding career choice”. In fact, an attractive occupation for undergraduate students and high school students was both of “government employee” and “tourism”. About tourism, the consideration that was obtained was, “To work in Tourism is realistic dreams for university students. High school students are positioned as future dreams”. And about agriculture, the considerations that was obtained were, “someday the subjects want to work on agriculture for development of their own village.”

Using text mining for personalization and recommendation for an enriched hybrid learning experience

AbstractStudents are nowadays given many options to consume educational content in digital formats as alternatives to printed material. Previous research suggests that while digital content has advantages, printed media still provides other benefits that cannot be matched by digital. Therefore, technology should leverage the benefits of both. In this paper, we present the Meaningful Education and Training Information System, a multifaceted hybrid textbook learning platform. The goal of the system is to provide an easy digital‐to‐print‐to‐digital content creation and reading service. The Meaningful Education and Training Information System incorporates technologies for layout, personalization, cocreation, and assessments. These facilitate common teacher/student tasks and help provide a richer, more effective learning experience. Our system has been demonstrated in multiple international education events, partner engagements, and pilots with local universities and high schools.

Neutralization technique use predicts delinquency and substance use outcomes

This study was part of a larger research intervention that uses motivational interviewing (MI) as part of an in-school substance use intervention in local high schools in the greater Seattle area. Our aim was to test hypothesized relationships between marijuana use, other delinquent behavior, and neutralization techniques used by participants and determine their impact on the effectiveness of an MI-based substance use intervention. Of the 84 participants that completed Intake assessments, 60% were male and identified as an ethnic minority sample: Caucasian/White = 34%; African American/Black = 16%; Hispanic/Latin@ = 16%; Asian American/Asian = 8%; multiethnic = 8%. Forty-eight students completed Week 8 Follow Up assessments. Substance abuse was measured using the Customary Drinking and Drug Use Record (CDDR; Brown et al., 1998). Delinquency was measured using a revised version of the Late Adolescent Delinquency Scale (LADS; McCartan, 2007). Neutralization technique use was measured using a revised version of the Inventory of Neutralization Techniques (Ball, 1966; Ball, 1973; Mitchell & Dodder, 1983; Shields & Whitehall, 1994). Hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed that alcohol use at intake significantly predicted alcohol use at Week 8 Follow Up, F(1,47) = 8.503, p = .005 and accounted for approximately 16% of the model variance. Adding total neutralization to the model also yielded significant outcomes and accounted for 24% of the total variance, FΔ(2,46) = 4.835, p = .033. Data showed similar findings for marijuana, with Intake marijuana use predicting use at Week 8 Follow Up, F(1,47) = 9.542, p = .003, and accounting for approximately 18% of the model variance. Including total neutralization to this model also provided significant outcomes and accounted for 26% of the variance, FΔ(2,46) = 4.611, p = .037. Including delinquency did not significantly contribute to either regression model. Understanding these participants' cognitive strategies will be valuable in determining the most effective type of substance use treatment for each student.