The U.S. teacher pension system is in major financial trouble, with almost $390 billion in unfunded liabilities, according to a recent report from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ). And funding shortfalls grew in all but seven states between 2009 and 2012, the nonprofit research and policy group found. Though the current economic…

The geologic method of stratigraphy which studies the structure of the earth by making layers was employed with 3D laser cutting techniques to make more easily defined tactile regions in templates of cells, tissues and anatomic regions containing muscles and bones. Templates were made audio responsive by hand-drilling a small hole in a template…

Each year, an increasing number of children are born through surrogacy and thus lack a genetic and/or gestational link with their mother. This study examined the impact of surrogacy on mother-child relationships and children's psychological adjustment. Assessments of maternal positivity, maternal negativity, mother-child interaction, and child…

Vowel nasalization usually occurs through a two-step process whereby a vowel is nasalized via coarticulation with a nearby nasal segment; when the language later drops the nasal segment, a nasal vowel remains. Spontaneous vowel nasalization is a rare, peculiar form of nasalization that emerges in contexts that lack an historical etymological nasal…

Established models of doctoral education in Australia are generally based on an apprenticeship model, where doctoral students learn from their advisors. However, these are slowly being reconsidered in light of low completion rates. This study investigated doctoral students' perceptions of their candidature by way of focus group interviews. The…

This dissertation presents a historical case study of the Egg Harbor Township School District bond referendum that passed with an exceptionally high 92 percent of votes in January 2005. The methodology used in this study resulted in both an examination of the components of the New Jersey Public School District bond referendum process as well as an…

A simple procedure for the isolation of the cholesterol, by hydrolysis and extraction followed by column chromatography, is described. The cholesterol can be further purified by complexation with oxalic acid. It can also be oxidized and conjugated to cholestenone. The source of the cholesterol is one egg yolk, which contains about 200 mg of…

Background: A promising way to obtain vocal economy and efficiency is by semi-occluding the vocal tract while phonating. Current knowledge about the immediate effects of semi-occluded vocal tract (SOVT) phonation on the laryngeal function and configuration is based mainly on computer modelling or excised larynges studies. In in vivo SOVT studies,…

Background: STEM education has become a focus of research and teaching interest in recent years. However, not all scholars agree on the definition and purpose of STEM education. This paper summarizes related past research and suggests that, according to the requirements of Taiwan's educational environment, STEM education should focus on the…

Can reading a book about a boy and a hen in Ghana make a difference to fifth graders in their Michigan community? Indeed, it can, and in myriad ways. At a suburban elementary school in Michigan, the authors introduced fifth graders to economic concepts in a project-based learning (PBL) unit. They began by reading aloud and discussing the picture…

The present study investigated the longitudinal association between the development of bullying (traditional bullying and cyberbullying) and the development of moral deficiencies (moral disengagement, low moral responsibility, and weak feelings of remorse) during adolescence. A total of 960 Swiss adolescents completed an electronic questionnaire…

Reading comprehension skill is an important aspect of language acquisition that has far-reaching implications on the life of any student. Weak comprehension ability invariably affects not only students' performance in English language, but it hinders competence in other critical fields. Reading comprehension skills are not being taught in ways to…

This article by Elizabeth Reeve and Kim Beswick illustrates how primary children may engage with the Statistics and Probability content contained in the Australian Curriculum. Technology has opened up many possibilities for young children to engage with statistics. In the process the children learned a great deal more than just mathematics.

Hopscotch, basketball, or hide-and-seek? Children have many choices at recess, and while making these choices they must consider and make trade-offs. The way they make these decisions is not that different from the thought processes engineers use when making design trade-offs. Engineers have to make trade-offs because a design that meets all…

This article addresses and rebuts the claim that the purpose of the Socratic method is to humiliate, shame, and perplex participants. It clarifies pedagogical and exegetical confusions surrounding the Socratic method, what the Socratic method is, what its epistemological ambitions are, and how the historical Socrates likely viewed it. First, this…