Science Unit Research Articles

Evaluation of locally-administered controlled-release doxycycline hyclate gel in smokers and non-smokers in the management of periodontitis: An Indian study

Purpose: To assess the clinical and biological effect of locally-administered controlled-release 10 % doxycycline hyclate gel in smokers and non-smokers for the management of periodontitis.
 Methods: Forty periodontitis patients were enrolled in this study from December 2012 to February 2013 at the Department of Periodontology and Implantology of the Institute of Dental Sciences and Dental Unit of Rohilkhand Medical College, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh (UP), India. For each patient, probing pocket depth (PPD), clinical attachment level (CAL), plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), and sulcular bleeding index (SBI) were recorded. Changes in microbial counts were assessed by measuring colonyforming units (CFU) of three major periodontal pathogens. Clinical and microbial parameters were recorded at baseline and one month after scaling and root planing plus controlled local drug delivery of 10 % doxycycline hyclate gel in smokers and non-smokers.
 Results: A statistically significant change (p < 0.01) in PPD was observed among smokers between baseline (4.26 ± 0.12mm) and re-evaluation at one month (3.20 ± 0.11) with a change of 24.88 %. A statistically significant difference was found between smokers and non-smokers in PPD at the end of a 1-month re-evaluation (p < 0.05). None of the other parameters showed improvement in smokers following treatment.
 Conclusion: These results indicate that 10 % doxycycline hyclate gel, when administered locally into the periodontal pocket, shows clinical and microbial improvement, among smokers and non-smokers, in the management of periodontitis. Therefore, 10 % doxycycline gel is potentially an effective therapeutic strategy in the management of periodontitis.

Elementary teachers' verbal supports of science and engineering practices in anNGSS‐alignedscience, engineering, and computational thinking unit

AbstractContemporary science education frameworks identify computational thinking as an essential science and engineering practice that supports scientific sense‐making and engineering design. Despite national emphasis on teaching science, engineering, and computational thinking (NGSS Lead States, 2013), little research has investigated the ways that elementary teachers support students to engage in science and engineering practices (SEPs) within integrated science, engineering, and computational thinking curricula. This study explores how teachers provide verbal support of SEPs to upper elementary students during a 4‐week NGSS‐aligned curricular unit that challenged students to redesign their school to reduce water runoff. Students conducted hands‐on investigations of water runoff and created computational models to test their designs. Teacher audio data during the classroom implementation was collected and qualitatively coded for different purposes of verbal support, such as to understand how (pragmatic), when, and why (epistemic) to use SEPs, in three focal lessons. Results show that teachers provided a range of pragmatic and epistemic supports for many different SEPs in science‐focused and engineering‐focused lessons, but support for a more limited variety of SEPs in the lesson focused on computational thinking. Across the lessons, the majority of teacher support aimed to help students engage pragmatically with the SEPs through sense making and engaging prior knowledge. In addition, teachers provided epistemic support more frequently in the science‐focused lesson than in the engineering‐ or computational thinking‐focused lessons. Results also demonstrate differences within the quality of the verbal support across lessons. This study provides insight into how teachers may differentially support SEPs in elementary classrooms and the kinds of learning experiences and educative materials teachers may need to provide equitable supports for students across SEPs.

A29 ALBUMIN UTILISATION AT A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

BackgroundAlbumin is a colloidal solution with usage guided by recommendations from Canadian Blood Services (CBS). In Ontario, rates of albumin use increased substantially from 2012 to 2018 despite the lack of development of new indications for using over this time frame. Further, we recently found that >50% of albumin usage in patients with cirrhosis were non-evidence based. Albumin usage in other patient populations is not well described.AimsOur aim was to describe overall usage of albumin stratified by clinical setting, clinical indication, and dosage at a tertiary care hospital.MethodsWe retrospectively identified all albumin prescriptions during two randomly selected non-consecutive months between 2018 and 2019 at Kingston Health Sciences Centre. Data was abstracted from each hospital chart for indication, prescriber specialty, location of patient, amount of albumin ordered, and concentration (5% or 25%). Albumin prescriptions were then defined as either evidence-based or non-evidence based on published literature and guidelines. Overall cost for albumin during the study period was determined based on CBS pricing ($51.47/ 25gms).ResultsA total of 699 albumin prescriptions were dispensed to 317 individuals over December 2018 and May 2019, with a total of 38,458 grams used. Overall, 36% was prescribed for evidence-based indications. The most common indication was plasmapheresis (32%), non-sepsis volume resuscitation (23%), and cardiac surgery (17%). The majority of albumin was prescribed in dialysis unit (32%), ICU (23%), and cardiac sciences unit (11%). The largest prescribers of albumin were intensivists (26%), followed by nephrologists (17%), and cardiac surgeons (15%). There were differences in utilization based on concentration of albumin. Despite limited evidence of benefit, 25% albumin and 5% albumin were used excessively for volume resuscitation and cardiac surgery respectively. When used for an evidence-based indication, the dosing was incorrect in 45% of orders. A total of $79,176 was spent on albumin during the study period. Importantly, only $28,494 was spent on evidence-based indications with appropriate dosage and concentration.ConclusionsOverall, there is significant albumin use for indications lacking substantial evidence. This study identifies the clinical contexts in which there is opportunity to reduce non-evidence-based albumin usage and cut unnecessary expenditure. Targeted quality improvement initiatives are underway.Funding AgenciesNone

Choreographing Global Flyways: Interdisciplinary Middle School Dance and Science Learning

ABSTRACT Climate change is a contemporary global crisis that necessitates pedagogical innovation for the middle school dance classroom. This article describes an integrated design for a dance and science unit. Building on students’ kinesthetic abilities, teachers are able to create a unit comprising a series of lessons on bird migrations effected by climate change, culminating in a final performance. Students engage in research on climate change and its effects on global bird migrations and view past performances reflecting avian formations from Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov's Swan Lake (1895) to non-Western influences on dance. Yoga poses such as Swan, Eagle, and Pigeon evolve into dance phrases. The teacher facilitates students’ selection of a musical soundtrack for the choreography of an ensemble performance with props and upcycled costumes. An assessment of the dance and science unit is performed through a continuous feedback loop during practice and through a final group interview after the performance.

To assess marine cloud brightening's technical feasibility, we need to know what to study—and when to stop

To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, it’s paramount that we decarbonize the economy and preserve and restore natural ecosystems. Unfortunately, pledges made from countries thus far will not limit warming to below 1.5 °C, even after accounting for the more ambitious targets set at the recent COP26 climate summit in Glasgow (1). Meeting the 1.5 °C Paris Agreement goal will likely require a massive deployment of CO2 removal technologies that remain unproven at scale (2). As a result, many scientists—including an expert panel recently convened by the US National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)—have advocated for research into solar climate interventions that would offset some effects of greenhouse gas-driven warming by reflecting more sunlight back to space (3). This would temporarily cool the Earth, giving mitigation and adaptation efforts more time to scale up. One such approach, marine cloud brightening (MCB), would seed low-altitude clouds over the ocean with salt particles to produce more and smaller cloud droplets, leading to brighter clouds (4, 5). Right now, research into climate interventions such as marine cloud brightening lacks a comprehensive framework to produce and assess the information needed for sound decision making. Image credit: Shutterstock/Venera Salman. A view of marine clouds as seen from the International Space Station. Bands of brighter clouds are created by the pollution from ships' smokestacks. Marine cloud brightening proposals would aim to replicate this effect using sea salt. Astronaut photograph ISS059-E-36734. Image credit: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center, and NASA Earth Observatory. We endorse the need for a transdisciplinary research program focused on MCB and other solar climate interventions. However, climate intervention research currently lacks a comprehensive framework to objectively produce and assess the information needed for sound decision-making. This is attributable in part to a … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: michael.diamond{at}noaa.gov. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1

Expanding participation: supporting newcomer students’ language development through disciplinary practices

In teaching newcomer students, educators must envision how to provide opportunities for language use and development through age-appropriate content instruction. This article describes a design research study, in which we developed and piloted 5th grade science units and studied the participation of two newcomer students in sense-making interactions with peers. By analyzing their participation over a school year, we provide a vision of newcomers’ language development that is integrated with, rather than a prerequisite for, disciplinary work. Newcomers’ language development involved expanding the interactional moves they used to participate in scientific sense-making, including moves that might be considered purely ‘social’, but were essential to collaboratively enacting disciplinary practices. In addition, their positioning in small group interactions impacted affordances for participation and language use. Over time, students shifted their positioning, which coincided with improved participation and collaborative sense-making for newcomers and their peers. We offer implications for how teachers can create integrated classrooms that support newcomers’ language development and disciplinary learning.

Enabling dual aromaticity in fused nanobelts: evaluation of the magnetic behavior of fused [10]CPP units.

Cyclo-para-phenylene (CPP) nanobelt structures with curved π-surfaces are of relevance in the development of desirable building units for materials science. Dimeric [10]CPP motifs have been reported ([10]SCPP), extending the individual features to fused nanobelts sharing structural components. Our results indicate a local-aromatic behavior of the neutral dimeric motif, leading to a switched-on character upon di- and tetra-oxidation resulting in the formation of two long-ranged shielding regions at the center of each [10]CPP fused unit. This evaluation shows the ability to enable two global aromatic circuits to compromise the overall carbon backbone, instead of being located exclusively at each phenylene ring. Thus, fused nanobelt structures are able to sustain a dual global aromatic behavior, which can be switched-on via oxidation, leading to more complex aromatic species at the nanoscale.

Structural model of health anxiety based on intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety sensitivity with mediating the role of rumination in college students

Background and Aim: The purpose of this research was to investigate the structural model of health anxiety based on uncertainty intolerance and anxiety sensitivity with the mediation of rumination in students. Research method: This descriptive research project was conducted with structural equation modeling and with the presence of 454 people with the online sampling method among the students of Azad University, Science and Research Unit in the academic year of 1401-1400. To measure the research variables, Salkoskis et al.'s Short List of Health Anxiety (2002), Friston et al.'s Intolerance Scale (1994), Reiss et al.'s Anxiety Sensitivity Questionnaire (1986) and Nolen-Hoeksma and Maro's (1991) rumination response scale were used. Became. Data were analyzed with Pearson correlation coefficient and structural equations using SPSS and AMOS software version 24. Results: The results showed that there is a significant relationship between uncertainty intolerance, anxiety sensitivity and rumination with health anxiety (P<0.01); Also, the results showed that the direct paths of this research were significant and the indirect paths of uncertainty intolerance and anxiety sensitivity through the mediating role of rumination on health anxiety were significant. Conclusion: Based on the findings of this research, the modified model had a good fit (RMSEA=0.051 and P-value <0.05) and the final evaluated model has a good fit and is an important step towards understanding It is considered to be an effective factor on students' health anxiety.

Initial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on sexual and reproductive health service use and unmet need in Britain: findings from a quasi-representative survey (Natsal-COVID)

SummaryBackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has affected sexual and reproductive health (SRH) service use and unmet need, but the impact is unknown. We aimed to determine the proportion of participants reporting sexual risk behaviours, SRH service use and unmet need, and to assess remote sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing service use after the first national lockdown in Britain.MethodsWe used data from the National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal)-COVID cross-sectional, quasi-representative web survey (Natsal-COVID Wave 1). Adults aged 18–59 years who resided in England, Scotland, or Wales completed the survey between July 29 and Aug 10, 2020, which included questions about the approximate 4-month period after announcement of the initial lockdown in Britain (March 23, 2020). Quota-based sampling and weighting were used to achieve a quasi-representative population sample. Participants aged 45–59 years were excluded from services analysis due to low rates of SRH service use. Among individuals aged 18–44 years, we estimated reported SRH service use and inability to access, and calculated age-adjusted odds ratios (aORs) among sexually experienced individuals (those reporting any sexual partner in their lifetime) and sexually active individuals (those reporting any sexual partner in the past year). Unweighted denominators and weighted estimates are presented hereafter.Findings6654 individuals had complete interviews and were included in the analysis. Among 3758 participants aged 18–44 years, 82·0% reported being sexually experienced, and 73·7% reported being sexually active. 20·8% of sexually experienced participants aged 18–44 years reported using SRH services in the 4-month period. Overall, 9·7% of 3108 participants (9·5% of men; 9·9% of women) reported being unable to use a service they needed, although of the participants who reported trying but not being able to use a SRH service at least once, 76·4% of participants also reported an instance of successful use. 5·9% of 1221 sexually active men and 3·6% of 1560 sexually active women reported use of STI-related services and 14·8% of 1728 sexually experienced women reported use of contraceptive services, with SRH service use highest among individuals aged 18–24 years. Sexually active participants reporting condomless sex with new partners since lockdown were much more likely to report using STI-related services than those who did not report condomless sex (aOR 23·8 [95% CI 11·6–48·9]) for men, 10·5 [3·9–28·2] for women) and, among men, were also more likely to have an unsuccessful attempt at STI-service use (aOR 13·3 [5·3–32·9]). Among 106 individuals who reported using STI testing services, 64·4% accessed services remotely (telephone, video, or online). Among 2581 women aged 25–59 years, 2·4% reported cervical screening compared with an estimated 6% in a comparable 4-month period before the pandemic.InterpretationMany people accessed SRH care during the initial lockdown; however, young people and those reporting sexual risk behaviours reported difficulties in accessing services and thus such services might need to address a backlog of need.FundingWellcome Trust, The Economic and Social Research Council, The National Institute for Health Research, Medical Research Council/Chief Scientist Office and Public Health Sciences Unit, and UCL Coronavirus Response Fund.

A Study on Teaching Materials Using VR Technology to Promote Understanding with a Real Feeling for the Science Unit “Change of Weather” in Elementary School

A Study on Teaching Materials Using VR Technology to Promote Understanding with a Real Feeling for the Science Unit “Change of Weather” in Elementary School

Operational psychology and cold case investigations in New Zealand

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the application of psychology to the investigation of cold cases. The paper reviews the development of the discipline of operational psychology and reviews the role of the Behavioural Science Unit in assisting with cold case investigations within New Zealand. Design/methodology/approachThe paper integrates theory, academic principles, and practical investigative experience. FindingsAs a field, operational psychology has a wide application to cold case investigations. The main areas where expertise can be provided, includes, indirect assessment and personality profiles, offender profiling, crime analysis, victimology and equivocal death analysis, and in the interviewing and engagement of offenders. Operational psychology advice should be based upon sound reasoning, evidenced based conclusion, and within the bounds of practitioner competence. Psychologists should seek to educate investigators on probabilities, likelihoods and error rates, and endeavour to indicate the strength of conclusions and statements provided within a report. Originality/valueThe review aims to provide the necessary and relevant impetus for integrating operational, or forensic psychology expertise into cold case investigations. The application of psychological science to police investigations has been subject to numerous academic commentaries, however, there is a dearth of involvement from practitioners practicing in the field.

International science and education classification: The place of library science

Through the Order of the RF Ministry of Science and Higher Education of February 24, 2021, on the Nomenclature of Scientific Professions to be awarded academic degrees, the speciality 05.25.03 «Library science, bibliography, and bibliology» was excluded from this nomenclature. The concerns arouse that this speciality might be excluded from the educational programs. The post-graduate programs is to become the third level of higher education. One more attempt should be made to stand for our profession by referring to global precedents, i. e. to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCE), adopted by the UNESCOGeneral Assembly in 2011, and to FOS (Revised field of science and technology, classification in the Frascati manual). The latter is the international classification of science and technology adopted and approved by 75% world countries to represent scientific disciplines and to unify world statistical data. In both classifications, library science is specified as an independent discipline within the social sciences unit.

ОСНОВНІ ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ПЕРЕКЛАДУ ТЕРМІНІВ ІЗ АНГЛІЙСЬКОЇ МОВИ НА УКРАЇНСЬКУ (НА ПРИКЛАДІ ГАЛУЗІ АТОМНОЇ ЕНЕРГЕТИКИ)

The article deals with the productive ways of translating English terms of nuclear power industry and considers the field of nuclear power industry as a source of language units in science causing translation difficulties. The nuclear power industry term is a word or phrase that has both scientific and technical meaning, accurately and unambiguously reflects the concept of the studied field, used in the process of cognition and development of objects and relations in the investigated field. The main ways of translating terms on the example of nuclear power industry vocabulary are illustrated. The following methods are used such as systematization and description, continuous sampling of examples, and translation analysis. Like any other branch of science, the nuclear power industry vocabulary is illustrative of a set of distinctive features and arises difficulties in intercultural communication, the elimination of which is possible only through adequate translation of terms. The deep analysis of terms proves that the method of full correspondence of lexical units is universal when translating the terms of nuclear power industry. In order to give a correct translation and convey to the reader the exact meaning of terms and abbreviations in the field of nuclear power industry, it is necessary to interpret and “decipher” them accurately, i.e. to find the appropriate meaning in the dictionary, and create technical English-Ukrainian dictionaries and glossaries with full translation and explanation.

Translating RDoC to Real-World Impact in Developmental Psychopathology: A Neurodevelopmental Framework for Application of Mental Health Risk Calculators.

The National Institute of Mental Health Research Domain Criteria's (RDoC) has prompted a paradigm shift from categorical psychiatric disorders to considering multiple levels of vulnerability for probabilistic risk of disorder. However, the lack of neurodevelopmentally-based tools for clinical decision-making has limited RDoC's real-world impact. Integration with developmental psychopathology principles and statistical methods actualize the clinical implementation of RDoC to inform neurodevelopmental risk. In this conceptual paper, we introduce the probabilistic mental health risk calculator as an innovation for such translation and lay out a research agenda for generating an RDoC- and developmentally-informed paradigm that could be applied to predict a range of developmental psychopathologies from early childhood to young adulthood. We discuss methods that weigh the incremental utility for prediction based on intensity and burden of assessment, the addition of developmental change patterns, considerations for assessing outcomes, and integrative data approaches. Throughout, we illustrate the risk calculator approach with different neurodevelopmental pathways and phenotypes. Finally, we discuss real-world implementation of these methods for improving early identification and prevention of developmental psychopathology. We propose that mental health risk calculators can build a needed bridge between RDoC's multiple units of analysis and developmental science.

Measuring the impact of COVID-19 on sexual and reproductive health in the UK: web-panel surveys with qualitative follow-up

BackgroundThe UK's National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) have been done every 10 years since 1990, and provide a key data source to underpin sexual and reproductive health policy. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many lifestyle aspects, triggering an urgent need for population-level data on sexual behaviour, relationships, and service use at a time when gold-standard, in-person, household-based surveys with probability sampling were not feasible. We designed the Natsal-COVID study to understand the effect of COVID-19 on the nation's sexual and reproductive health. MethodsData were collected over 4 months (survey wave one; July 29 to Aug 10, 2020) and 1 year (wave two; March 27 to April 26, 2021) after the announcement of the UK's first lockdown (March 23, 2020). Data were collected online via web-panel surveys administered by Ipsos MORI. Eligible participants were UK residents aged 18–59 years, and the samples included a boost of those aged 18–29 years. Questions covered participants' sexual behaviour, relationships, and sexual and reproductive health service use. Quotas and weighting were used to achieve a quasi-representative sample of the UK general population. Participants meeting criteria of interest and agreeing to be recontacted were selected for qualitative follow-up interviews over the months of October and November, 2020. Comparisons were made with contemporaneous national probability surveys (2019 Annual Population Survey and 2018 Health Survey for England) and Natsal-3 (2010–12) to understand bias in sociodemographic characteristics, general health, and sexual behaviours. We obtained ethical approval from the ethics committees of the University of Glasgow College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences College (reference 20019174) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Research (reference 22565). Findings6654 participants completed wave one of the study, of which 45 (0·7%) completed qualitative interviews. A further 6658 participants completed wave two, of which 2098 (31·5%) were wave one participants. Compared with probability surveys, the weighted Natsal-COVID participants were more educated, less sexually experienced, and in poorer health. In wave one, we found that 20·8% of respondents (95% CI 19·3–22·3%) reported using sexual and reproductive health services in the first 4 months of lockdown, whereas 9·7% (8·6–10·8%) reported difficulty accessing services. Wave two allowed for the generation of 1-year estimates, including of chlamydia testing (5·4% [4·7–6·2%]), HIV testing (7·2% [6·4–8·1%]), and cervical cancer screening (10·3% [9·2–11·6%]). Qualitative interviews suggested that participants often required repeated attempts to access sexual and reproductive health services. InterpretationNatsal-COVID rapidly collected quasi-representative population data to evaluate the population-level effect of COVID-19 and lockdown measures on sexual and reproductive health in the UK and to inform sexual and reproductive health policy. Although less representative than the decennial Natsals, Natsal-COVID will complement national surveillance data and Natsal-4 (planned for 2022). FundingNatsal is a collaboration between University College London (UK), the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (UK), the University of Glasgow (UK), Örebro University Hospital (Sweden), and NatCen Social Research (UK). The Natsal Resource, which is supported by the Wellcome Trust (via grant number 212931/Z/18/Z), with contributions from the UK's Economic and Social Research Council and National Institute for Health Research, supports the Natsal-COVID study through funding from the University College London COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund and the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit (Core funding, grant numbers MC_UU_00022/3 and SPHSU18). The sponsors of the study had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the report.

Reconstruction of Crime Scene: Reveals the Truth at Railway Track

Forensic Science & Addiction Research Reconstruction of Crime Scene: Reveals the Truth at Railway Track Venktesh V1, Vashistha KN2, Kamlesh Pankaj3 and Mukesh Sharma4* 1Assistant Director (Biology Div.), Regional FSL, India 2Assistant Director (Serology Div.), Regional FSL, India 3In-charge, Mobile Forensic Science Unit, India 4Assistant Director (Physics Div.) State FSL, India *Corresponding author: Mukesh Sharma, Assistant Director (Physics Div.) State FSL, Jaipur, India Submission: September 17, 2021;Published: September 29, 2021 DOI: 10.31031/FSAR.2021.05.000621 ISSN 2578-0042 Volume5 Issue4

Custodians of Rationality: Data Scientists’ Informing Practices and Organizational Decision-Making

Over the last decade, data science has emerged as a new profession that has a promising proposition for the organizational decision-making. Building on existing research that has explored the impact of the use of data science in organizations, this study focuses on further unpacking the practices and implications of data scientists in organizational decision-making. Based on a qualitative field study utilizing on-site observations, interviews, and archival records from data science units in three large Indian banks, we identify inscribing expertise and prescribing insights as two dominant “informing practices” through which data science professionals shape rationality in organizations. As paradoxes emerge among these practices, in response, data scientists adopt a set of tactics to circumvent selected paradoxical forces. The study contributes to the emerging literature on the profession of data science and decision-making in organizations.

Methodological analysis of military forensic science

Emergence of new independent units of forensic science is a logical result of the development of scientific knowledge and forensic expert activity, if such a process takes place on the basis of the developed methodological foundations of forensic science, which ensures the scientific nature of new types of forensic science, organizational and legal procedure for their conduct and the admissibility of their results to ensure justice. Ignoring scientific approaches in implementation of forensic activities in Ukraine and attempts to adapt it to the needs of investigative and judicial practice cannot but cause concern, especially when it comes to an attempt to substitute forensic science for the proof process.
 Article purpose is to conduct a methodological analysis of the topic, objects and tasks of forensic military science and its place in the modern general classification system of forensic science on the basis of the general theory of forensic expertology.
 Research methodology was made up of the provisions of materialist dialectics as a universal method of cognition, as well as a set of methods of formal logic for solving individual research tasks: analysis, synthesis, analogy, comparison, comparison, deduction.
 While research, in order to establish formation consistency of military science as an independent stratification unit, its structural components were analyzed: topic, objects, tasks and specific expertise necessary for their solution.
 While conducted methodological analysis, it was found that formation of military science as an independent stratification unit of forensic examinations occurred in violation of the methodological foundations developed by forensic science and the evolutionary paths of the genesis of new species of forensic science.
 As a result of performed research, it was concluded that it is necessary to revise the place and essence of military science in the existing classification system offorensic science in Ukraine which will ensure the unity of the methodological approach to formation of new units of forensic science and guarantee declared principles of forensic science.

Teacher views of experimentation in ecosystem science

ABSTRACT Education reform calls for portraying science as a process of inquiry and argumentation grounded in the epistemic traditions of a domain. While experimentation is a core scientific investigation strategy, diverse approaches are represented across different domains of science. Ecosystem scientists use experiments as a core part of their investigations, yet also acknowledge limits to its applicability. They describe experimentation as one approach among investigative strategies – combining these into a ‘body of evidence’ (BOE) approach that triangulates sources of evidence to support causal claims. A study was conducted to explore how these epistemic assumptions in ecosystems science are understood by K-12 teachers. Ten teachers from across the United States were interviewed. The teachers expressed understandings of experimentation that did not fully align with a BOE approach but displayed knowledge of some approaches used by ecosystem scientists. This knowledge was less apparent in their descriptions of their ecosystems science unit pedagogy and curricula and teachers cited a number of obstacles to incorporating it. The results suggest that if a BOE approach were to be introduced in K-12 ecosystems science, teachers would need a fuller understanding of this perspective and support in overcoming obstacles to employing it in the classroom.

Luminous Science: Teachers Designing For and Developing Transdisciplinary Thinking and Learning

Creating learning environments that integrate arts, sciences, and computing in education can improve learning in these disciplines. In particular, transdisciplinary integrations of these disciplines can lead to expansive alterations or dissolutions of epistemological, ideological, and methodological boundaries. We wish to support teachers in the creation of transdisciplinary learning environments that draw on art, science, and computing. We developed a classroom project genre, Luminous Science, that was designed to bridge disciplinary materialities, epistemologies, and representations through students’ construction of computationally-rich representations of physical phenomena. We present a study of a multidisciplinary group of teachers co-designing a Luminous Science unit for their classrooms using sculptural lanterns with programmable media for both investigations and expressions of classroom gardens. We present a framework for examining what disciplinary understandings teachers drew on, how these ideas were utilized, and why they were brought together. We found teachers engaged in richly metarepresentational discussions wherein they applied values, epistemic criteria, and practices from all three constituent fields of study in their design work. We show how teachers developed units that simultaneously overlapped and diverged due to the pressures of navigating disciplinary and school structural challenges. Qualitative analysis of teacher discourse reveals how teachers liberated disciplinary boundaries, actively and critically explored synergies and tensions in disciplinary integration, and traversed goals that focused on both disciplinary improvement and holistic learning. Our study sheds light on how we can both study teachers who are designing for disciplinary integration and support them through professional development opportunities to encourage more transdisciplinary interactions that can expand what it means to do or teach art, science, and computing.