Outreach Project Research Articles

Sparking Interest in German through the Goethe/AATG‐sponsored SPARK Program

AbstractThe article discusses a year‐long outreach activity, “Sparking interest in German.” Five University of Utah German students engaged in the AATG/Goethe‐Institut‐sponsored SPARK program and taught German to local middle schoolers. At the heart of this outreach project were questions such as whether student‐run outreach programs could truly spark interest in German among middle school students and whether outreach projects administered via service learning or practicum courses offer our college students a viable academic experience. The article describes the structure of the program, student learning activities, and assesses whether the goals were reached. At the end of the project, parents, middle schoolers, and university students were highly satisfied with the SPARK program and recommended continuation of the program.

Movement breaks for classroom and online learning: An outreach project connecting university and elementary school students

After witnessing their own children learn online during the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic, Heather Trommer-Beardslee and Elaine DiFalco Daugherty collaborated with their university students to create instructional movement videos designed for elementary teachers to use as movement breaks during the school day. Knowing that movement triggers the human brain to reinvigorate focused learning, the video sequences were developed as a tool to aid teachers in providing opportunities to break up long periods of sitting and engage students in active dance play to stimulate multiple senses and therefore increase brain activity. Trommer-Beardslee worked with university students to create movement content while Daugherty worked with them on breath and speech to ensure that the verbal teaching component was articulate and accessible. This article details the inspiration, goals and process used for collaborative, practical engagement and provides a template for replication and further development.

The Soft Matter Kitchen: Improving the accessibility of rheology education and outreach through food materials

Foods can serve as a universal route for the understanding and appreciation of rheologically complex materials. The Soft Matter Kitchen is an educational outreach project started during the COVID-19 pandemic that leverages food recipes and experiments that can be carried out at home to discuss concepts in soft matter and rheology. This educational article showcases two representative outreach demonstrations developed by The Soft Matter Kitchen with detailed instructions for reproduction by a presenter. The first demonstration introduces the concept of complex materials to clarify the definition of rheology by comparing the flow behavior of whipped cream and honey. The second demonstration introduces the concept of material microstructure affecting material properties and macroscale behavior using a simple experiment with cheesecake. By grounding the presentation of this knowledge in food materials with which the audience likely already has experience, the goals of this project are to accelerate the understanding of rheological concepts, increase awareness of rheology in everyday life, and promote the development of intuition for rheologically complex materials.

Alterations in auditory brain stem response distinguish occasional and constant tinnitus.

BACKGROUNDThe heterogeneity of tinnitus is thought to underlie the lack of objective diagnostic measures.METHODSLongitudinal data from 20,349 participants of the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH) cohort from 2008 to 2018 were used to understand the dynamics of transition between occasional and constant tinnitus. The second part of the study included electrophysiological data from 405 participants of the Swedish Tinnitus Outreach Project (STOP) cohort.RESULTSWe determined that with increasing frequency of the occasional perception of self-reported tinnitus, the odds of reporting constant tinnitus after 2 years increases from 5.62 (95% CI, 4.83–6.55) for previous tinnitus (sometimes) to 29.74 (4.82–6.55) for previous tinnitus (often). When previous tinnitus was reported to be constant, the odds of reporting it as constant after 2 years rose to 603.02 (524.74–692.98), suggesting that once transitioned to constant tinnitus, the likelihood of tinnitus to persist was much greater. Auditory brain stem responses (ABRs) from subjects reporting nontinnitus (controls), occasional tinnitus, and constant tinnitus show that wave V latency increased in constant tinnitus when compared with occasional tinnitus or nontinnitus. The ABR from occasional tinnitus was indistinguishable from that of the nontinnitus controls.CONCLUSIONSOur results support the hypothesis that the transition from occasional to constant tinnitus is accompanied by neuronal changes in the midbrain leading to a persisting tinnitus, which is then less likely to remit.FUNDINGThis study was supported by the GENDER-Net Co-Plus Fund (GNP-182), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 grants no. 848261 (Unification of Treatments and Interventions for Tinnitus [UNITI]) and no. 722046 (European School for Interdisciplinary Tinnitus Research [ESIT]).

On the Air: How a Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio Show Made Me a Better Librarian

Twelve years ago, I created a radio show with Ameet Doshi, my friend and colleague at the Georgia Tech library. We wanted to do a library talk show on the college radio station, but we wanted to have some fun, too, so we decided to play rock music in between the library talk. We called it Lost in the Stacks (LITS). I thought I was adding a little rock ‘n’ roll fun to my Fridays with a student outreach project; I did not understand that I was embarking on a creative and scholarly venture that would inform my professional practice and identity in every way.

Actively Participating in University-Sponsored Ecological Research Increases High School Students’ Knowledge of and Attitudes About Science

The Next Generation Science Standards call for students to “investigate the natural world through the processes of scientific inquiry.” Yet, it is rare for secondary students in the U.S. to engage in authentic scientific investigations of natural phenomena. The Columbia River Estuary Science Education and Outreach (CRESCENDO) Project was a 2-year (2016–2018) university-high school partnership between scientists and science education researchers from Washington State University (WSU) and science teachers and students from five public high schools located adjacent to the Columbia River Estuary (CRE). The teachers and students collaborated with WSU scientists on a rigorous ecological study of the CRE, which provided an opportunity to study how engaging students in authentic scientific research would impact their ecological knowledge and their attitudes toward environmental stewardship. Our study methods included online attitude surveys and knowledge assessments for all participating students, classroom observations, and semi-structured small group interviews with 3–5 students from each school at the end of each year of the project. We found that many students made significant gains in their ecological knowledge and understanding of scientific inquiry practices, demonstrating deeper understanding of the connections between local land use and water quality in the CRE, as well how nutrient concentrations vary seasonally and along the axis of the estuary. Students also showed enthusiasm for taking part in a “real” scientific research project, collaborating with university scientists, contributing “their” data to an investigative effort that extended beyond their own school, and the opportunity to get outdoors during science class. We identified five “key elements” of the CRESCENDO project that contributed to its success, and which would allow our model of a consistent, long-term (months) and immersive research experience for high school students to be transferrable to university-school partnerships across a range of size, location, research mission, and resource availability. Finally, this project also provided more evidence in support of place-based approaches for student learning, and the importance of immersing students in their environments where they can study the natural world by asking relevant questions and generating novel data about the science topics that matter to them.

Impacts of Reading for Ethiopia’s Achievement Developed Community Outreach Project Intervention on Students’ Oral Reading Fluency, Reading Comprehension, and Academic Achievements

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of Reading for Ethiopia’s Achievement Developed Community Outreach (READ CO) project intervention on students’ oral reading fluency, reading comprehension, academic achievements, and listening comprehension. It also aimed at identifying the students and teachers’ awareness and practices about the READ CO project interventions. Experimental research—Posttest-only control group—design was employed for the study, which is mainly quantitative, but also uses qualitative techniques (latent content analysis). The results were analyzed using t tests and econometrics analysis mainly. Questionnaires and observations were also developed and employed as other tools among the experimental group principals and language teachers in the school to investigate the overall practice. The results from quantitative data analysis indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between the posttest performance of the study group and the control group for reading comprehension, academic achievements, and listening comprehension, yet oral reading fluency is significant. The result from questionnaire and observation also showed that the project has not been found to have a positive impact on students reading performance or improvement. Finally, it was mainly recommended that practical training and real service should be given for the targeted schools on how to improve and implement reading practices via the project.

Assessing the impact of a health education outreach project on cervical cancer awareness among Vietnamese-American women in San Diego.

The objective of this study was to assess the rate of effectiveness of cervical cancer awareness outreach among Vietnamese women in San Diego, USA. In collaboration with different community partners, educational seminars were hosted by student pharmacists in the Vietnamese community. We hypothesized that the seminars would increase cervical cancer awareness and encourage a positive outlook on obtaining annual Pap smears and HPV vaccines. The study design included pre- and post-intervention assessment surveys in either Vietnamese or English language. The surveys were administered to Vietnamese women who participated in the seminars. Eight seminars were hosted at local health fairs in San Diego. A total of 120 Vietnamese women participated in the seminars. Our study showed that educational seminars significantly improved the knowledge about cervical cancer, Pap smears and HPV vaccines. By comparing the pre- and post-intervention surveys, we observed an improvement in knowledge about cervical cancer (61% vs 93%, p < 0.001) and a positive change in the attitude towards obtaining a Pap smear within a year following the educational intervention (57% vs. 78%, p < 0.002). Therefore, we concluded that the educational health outreach seminars presented by student pharmacists are an effective educational model to help improve knowledge about cervical cancer and prevention among Vietnamese women.

The creation of a body donation program at Federal University of Juiz de Fora in Brazil: academic importance, challenges and donor profile.

Dissection and human specimens study remain the gold standard method for teaching anatomy. Due to the increasing health science courses in Brazil, the traditional way of obtaining bodies for scientific purposes, the unclaimed ones, became insufficient. In addition, this source is no longer ethically appropriate according to anatomists. In order to maintain the teaching quality, the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF) in Brazil, inspired by successful initiatives around the world, created a body donation program; Sempre Vivo. Besides the bureaucratic difficulty faced during its regulation, the implementation of a body donation program requires special attention regarding the religiosity, culture and uniqueness of the city's inhabitants. Informing people can demystify the process, avoid prejudice and increase the number of donors. In this way, an outreach project was designed to publicize Sempre Vivo and raise public awareness. In the first six years, Sempre Vivo reached the mark of 64 registered donors and seven bodies received. The donor’s profile corresponds to female (70.3%), 57 years of age, retired (50.8%), spiritist (53.1%) and with 12 years or more of formal education (90.6%). Considering that the UFJF has not received unclaimed bodies for ten years, the program was considered satisfactory up to this level and, in the future, it may be the exclusive source of anatomical specimens. The description of the creation and the publicizing of Sempre Vivo, the overcome challenges, as well as the donors’ profile, may encourage and facilitate the foundation of similar programs in Brazil and abroad.

Tele-buprenorphine for emergency department overdose visit follow up and treatment initiation.

An ED visit for opioid overdose may be a person's only contact with the medical and behavioral health care systems and is an important opportunity to reduce risk of subsequent overdose and death. While ED initiatives to engage people with opioid use disorder (OUD) are being increasingly implemented, there are significant gaps in the receipt of services at the time of the ED encounter. This is a retrospective cohort study of an outreach pilot project providing real-time telehealth delivered buprenorphine initiation and referral to community harm reduction and addiction treatment services via a follow up telephone call to patients after an ED visit for an opioid overdose. From January 2020 to April 2021 there were 606 patients with an ED visit for an opioid overdose eligible for a callback. Of the 606 eligible patients, 254/645 (42%) patients could be contacted and accepted service and/or treatment referrals. Fifteen patients were connected same-day to a buprenorphine prescriber for a telehealth encounter and, of connected patients, nine received a buprenorphine prescription. A post-ED follow up telephone call protocol is an opportunity to improve treatment engagement and access to buprenorphine for patients at high risk for opioid overdose and death.

The Marginalized Democracies of the World

This introductory article toDemocratic Theory’s special issue on the marginalized democracies of the world begins by presenting the lexical method for understanding democracy. It is argued that the lexical method is better than the normative and analytical methods at finding democracies in the world. The argument then turns to demonstrating, mainly through computational research conducted within the Google Books catalog, that an empirically demonstrable imbalance exists between the democracies mentioned in the literature. The remainder of the argument is given to explaining the value of working to correct this imbalance, which comes in at least three guises: (1) studying marginalized democracies can increase our options for alternative democratic actions and democratic innovations; (2) it leads to a conservation and public outreach project, which is epitomized in an “encyclopedia of the democracies”; and (3) it advocates for a decolonization of democracies’ definitions and practices and decentering academic democratic theory.

A social media microinfluencer intervention to reduce coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine hesitancy in underserved Tennessee communities: A protocol paper

BackgroundCentral to effective public health policy and practice is the trust between the population served and the governmental body leading health efforts, but that trust has eroded in the years preceding the pandemic. Vaccine hesitancy among adults is also a growing concern across the United States. Recent data suggest that the trustworthiness of information about the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine was a larger concern than the vaccine’s adverse effects or risks. ObjectiveThis study aims to describe the methods used to create a public health microinfluencer social media vaccine confidence campaign for the COVID-19 vaccine in underserved Tennessee communities. A secondary objective is to describe how the Social-Ecological Model (SEM) and Social Cognitive Theory may address vaccine hesitancy using community pharmacies. MethodsIn late 2020, 50 independent community pharmacies in underserved communities across Tennessee were involved in a public health project with the State of Tennessee Department of Health and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy. The project involved a 3-pronged, pharmacy-based COVID-19 vaccination outreach project, including (1) social media messaging (i.e., microinfluencer approach), (2) community partner collaboration, and (3) in-pharmacy promotion. Quantitative and qualitative data will assess the quality and effectiveness of the program. Social media outcomes will also be assessed to measure the impact of the microinfluencer social media training. ResultsProject implementation is planned for 6 months (January 2021 to June 2021) after an initial month of planning by the research team (December 2020) and preceding several months of assessment (July 2021 and beyond). ConclusionsNovel, theory-based approaches will be necessary to improve vaccine confidence. One approach to promoting public health, derived from the SEM, may be to use trusted microinfluencers on social media platforms, such as local community pharmacists and community leaders.

Last Generation Solar Cells in Outer Space: A STEM Outreach Project with Middle and High School Students in Colombia

As part of an unprecedented collaborative outreach effort, we implemented an innovative STEM outreach project, where more than 80 middle and high school students from different traditionally underrepresented school districts in Colombia -with no previous knowledge on material science or photovoltaics- created Last Generation Solar Cells (LGSCs) that were part of several suborbital spaceflight missions. As a result, the students were able to contrast visual and instrumental data obtained from the solar cells and modules that were launched to space with similar samples that remained on earth to measure the degradation that occurs during spaceflight conditions. At the same time, the students that participated were able to cultivate their curiosity, strengthen their scientific skills and increase their interest in pursuing careers in STEM fields. These experiences were possible thanks to an extraordinary collaborative network between public and private entities and the use of project-based education as a powerful driver of development, especially for low-to-middle-income countries, such as Colombia. Here, we share our methodology for constructing photovoltaic devices in rural settings, and we show the progression and impact of this novel scientific outreach project.

Tech Lunar Toilet: A STEM Project with High School Students

We performed an innovative STEM outreach project. High school students from the Colombian robotics’ designed a prototype of a Lunar Loo named Tech Lunar Toilet (TLT) that was part of the international HeroX-NASA Challenge. These experiences were possible thanks to a wonderful network of collaboration. As a result of this program, the students that participated were able to cultivate their curiosity, strengthen their scientific skills and increase their interest in pursuing careers in STEM fields. Simultaneously, they were able to contrast visual and instrumental data obtained from the robotics and new technologies that can be performed in the microgravity environments for future space explorations. The efficient TLT suction system will guarantee proper operation in both microgravity and lunar gravity. Most of the structure can be built in a 3D printer using PLA as a raw material. This polymer made from renewable resources with mechanical properties comparable to the petroleum-based ones will allow reducing the weight of the structure. We recognized that our project-based education is a powerful engine for development. We share our methodology for the construction of our TLT that can be used in microgravity. We also show the progression and impact of this innovative project of scientific dissemination.

Mentoring Underrepresented Students in Speech-Language Pathology: Effects of Didactic Training, Leadership Development, and Research Engagement.

The purpose of this study was to implement and track the outcomes of a yearlong, structured mentoring program aimed at enhancing the retention and success of underrepresented graduate and undergraduate students in speech-language pathology. Student participants were recruited following an open application process and based on meeting eligibility requirements and committing to program completion. The focus of this program was to provide didactic training on leadership development, culturally responsive practice, and research methods used in speech-language pathology. This program emphasized participant needs assessments and goal-setting, access to one-on-one and group mentoring by peers and professionals, and a culminating experience in which participant teams completed a supervised clinical research project or a community outreach and education project. Forty-six participants in three cohorts completed the yearlong program in three consecutive years. Positive outcomes included program completion, degree completion, student perceptions of program benefit, completion of innovative community-engaged and research projects, and dissemination of scholarly work. Our findings from implementing this program and tracking its outcomes have implications for using innovative, equity-minded, and evidence-based strategies for retaining and mentoring minoritized students in speech-language pathology.

Centralized colorectal cancer screening outreach and patient navigation for vulnerable populations in North Carolina: study protocol for the SCORE randomized controlled trial

BackgroundAlthough colorectal cancer (CRC) screening is effective in reducing CRC mortality, screening rates in vulnerable populations served by community health centers (CHCs) remain below national targets. CHCs in North Carolina are challenged to reach CRC screening targets as they tend to be under-resourced, have limited capacity to implement and sustain population health interventions, and typically operate independently from one another and from regional colonoscopy providers. The Scaling Colorectal Cancer Screening Through Outreach, Referral, and Engagement (SCORE) project is designed to address barriers to CRC screening in partnership with CHCs by implementing a multilevel intervention that includes centralized support infrastructure for mailed fecal immunochemical test (FIT) outreach and patient navigation to follow-up colonoscopy. This paper describes protocols for the SCORE implementation trial.MethodsWe will conduct a type 2 hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial that will assess effectiveness at increasing CRC screening and follow-up rates while also assessing implementation outcomes. The planned trial sample will include 4000 CHC patients who are at average CRC risk and due for screening. Participants will be randomized 1:1 to receive either usual care or a multilevel intervention that includes mailed FIT outreach and patient navigation support to follow-up colonoscopy for those with abnormal FIT. The primary effectiveness outcome is completion of any CRC screening test at six months after randomization. We will also conduct a multilevel assessment of implementation outcomes and determinants.DiscussionThis hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial will evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of an intervention that provides centralized infrastructure for mailed FIT screening and patient navigation for CHCs that operate independently of other healthcare facilities. Findings from this research will enhance understanding of the effectiveness of a centralized approach and factors that determine successful implementation in vulnerable patient populations.Trial registrationThe trial was registered on May 28, 2020, at ClinicalTrials.gov (identifier NCT04406714).

LOCAL CULTURE ON THE SCENE: independent productions in the news coverage of the website Cultura Plural

The article discusses the representativeness of cultural groups in Ponta Grossa/PR on the website Cultura Plural - the result of a university outreach project of the Journalism course at the State University of Ponta Grossa in operation since 2011 - to identify local culture marks and characteristics of the journalistic production. Based on studies of cultural journalism and the notion of culture supported by the theoretical framework of folk communication, the work aims to problematize the space dedicated to cultural manifestations of an independent and community character that were published by the website between 2018 and 2019. From this reflection, we seek to analyze the most represented cultural groups in reports published by the project, from aspects such as agendas approaches and cultural themes.&#x0D;

ARTE E AUTOESTIMA: JOVENS TECENDO SENTIDOS SOCIOAFETIVOS E ROMPENDO SILENCIAMENTOS

This study aims to analyze and identify in what aspect the practices and experiences with art are influencing the levels of self-esteem of a group of young students from the low-income working low-income working class students who are in a situation of social vulnerability. We will reflect on the ways young people are being narrated in the media and, especially, discuss the socio-affective contributions contributions resulting from the artistic productions produced by these young people. We conducted a conceptual about self-esteem, understanding the main theoretical foundations that address this conception. such conception. This research is qualitative in nature, adopting the case study of a community outreach project as the locus community outreach project as the locus of research. For data collection, we made use of participant observation The level of self-esteem was identified. The level of self-esteem was identified in two phases, before the beginning of the artistic practices the beginning of the artistic practices promoted in workshops, in which the young people were involved (capturing their perceptions (capturing their perceptions about the relationship between their self-esteem and the way of being young that is imposed by society) and, later, identifying the level of self-esteem of the subjects during and after the period of artistic practices. The results indicate that the experience in the project is providing positive influences on the levels of self-esteem of the young people researched.

DIÁLOGO DE SABERES NA RELAÇÃO JUVENTUDE-ESCOLA-COMUNIDADE: UM ENCONTRO DE GERAÇÕES COM A POÉTICA NARRATIVA DA MEMÓRIA

The objective of this study was to understand and highlight the educational potentialities, related to the dialogue between scientific and non-scientific knowledge, of an extension project that promotes the dialogue between scientific and non-scientific knowledge, of an outreach project that promotes artistic-pedagogical artistic-pedagogical actions through the dialogue between generations, having visual art, collective memory and the ecology of knowledge perspective as mediators. memory and the perspective of the ecology of knowledge as mediators. This work is based is based on the foundations of Boaventura Santos (2007, 2010), in relation to his perspective on the "Ecology of knowledge" and the "Ecology of knowledge", and Paulo Freire's (1996, 2011a, 2011b). The relationship between poetic narratives and collective memory was based on the studies of. Halbwachs (2004) and Walter Benjamin (1984, 1994, 1995). This research was organized on the basis of an exploratory qualitative exploratory study, adopting the case study as a research technique. research technique. The locus of the research was defined as the rural space, and young high school students and a family were investigated. high school students and a family of family farmers were investigated. The results of this The results of this research indicate that the participating students, when involved in dialogues with peasant subjects, mobilized different different knowledge linked to the construction of collective and dialogic processes that allow for the collective and dialogic processes that allow relating different forms of school or non-school knowledge. It was also found that the discourses and practices of the students manifested reflections on the ecology of knowledge perspective with the intention of applying it in artistic-pedagogical actions that occurred during the execution of the extension project investigated.

"It Takes Some Empathy, Sympathy, and Listening": Telephone Outreach to Older Detroiters in a Pandemic as a Modality to Gain an Understanding of Challenges and Resiliency.

This manuscript describes a telephone outreach project for members of a research registry program for older adults in Detroit, Michigan. From April until December 2020, the Healthier Black Elders Center designed and implemented a telephone outreach program, calling 1204 older adults utilizing 15 staff and volunteers. The calls served to check in on registry members and collect data on mental health, coping mechanisms, access to services, masks, testing, and tele-health. This paper details the methods of developing and implementing an innovative engagement program that collected time-sensitive data from older Black adults that has directly been applied to create virtual health education programs, share resource information, and create a program to reduce social isolation.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11524-021-00564-9.