A research capacity strengthening project for infectious diseases in Honduras: experience and lessons learned

Background: In Honduras, research capacity strengthening (RCS) has not received sufficient attention, but an increase in research competencies would enable local scientists to advance knowledge and contribute to national priorities, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Objective: This project aimed at strengthening research capacity in infectious diseases in Honduras, focusing on the School of Microbiology of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH). The primary objective was the creation of a research-based graduate program for the continued training of researchers. Parallel objectives included institutional strengthening and the facilitation of partnerships and networks. Methods: Based on a multi-stakeholder consultation, an RCS workplan was designed and undertaken from 2007 to 2012. Due to unexpected adverse circumstances, the first 2 years were heavily dedicated to implementing the project's flagship, an MSc program in infectious and zoonotic diseases (MEIZ). In addition, infrastructure improvements and demand-driven continuing education opportunities were facilitated; biosafety and research ethics knowledge and practices were enhanced, and networks fostering collaborative work were created or expanded. Results: The project coincided with the peak of UNAH's radical administrative reform and an unprecedented constitutional crisis. Challenges notwithstanding, in September 2009, MEIZ admitted the first cohort of students, all of whom undertook MDG-related projects graduating successfully by 2012. Importantly, MEIZ has been helpful in expanding the School of Microbiology's traditional etiology-based, disciplinary model to infectious disease teaching and research. By fulfilling its objectives, the project contributed to a stronger research culture upholding safety and ethical values at the university. Conclusions: The resources and strategic vision afforded by the project enhanced UNAH's overall research capacity and its potential contribution to the MDGs. Furthermore, increased research activity and the ensuing improvement in performance indicators at the prime Honduran research institution invoke the need for a national research system in Honduras.

Explicit/implicit training of cooperative learning with junior elementary students /

This experimental study examined the effects of cooperative learning and expliciUimpliGit instruction on student achievement and attitudes toward working in cooperative groups. Specifically, fourth- and fifth-grade students (n=48) were randomly assigned to two conditions: cooperative learning with explicit instruction and cooperative learning with implicit instruction. All participants were given initial training either explicitly or implicitly in cooperative learning procedures via 10 one-hour sessions. Following the instruction period, all students participated in completing a group project related to a famous artists unit. It was hypothesized that the explicit instruction training would enhance students' scores on the famous artists test and the group projects, as well as improve students' attitudes toward cooperative learning. Although the explicit training group did not achieve significantly higher scores on the famous artists test, significant differences were found in group project results between the explicit and implicit groups. The explicit group also exhibited more favourable and positive attitudes toward cooperative learning. The findings of this study demonstrate that combining cooperative learning with explicit instruction is an effective classroom strategy and a useful practice for presenting and learning new information, as well as working in groups with success.

Transformation in teaching : listening to every voice

Action research is a methodology that supports practitioner research. This study is an exploration of one researcher's practice using the living-theory approach to action research. Initially, my focus was to improve my practice by asking how I can facilitate transformative learning experiences with the teachers with whom I work. As part of this search, I examined the contradictions between my espoused and implicit values. In keeping with the evolving nature of my inquiry, I unveiled the telos that constituted the impetus for my search, which began as a tension about the quality of my interactions and ended as a quest to find my voice among the others'. I used personal narratives, journal entries, a videotaping session, interactions with critical friends and interviews with colleagues and administrators to engage in a process of continuing self- and interactive reflection. Throughout my study, I explored how theoretical concepts intertwine with personal experiences. In the final chapter, I share the possible connections between my living educational theory and a more general theory of transformative learning. I conclude my study with a look at the transformation process I underwent as a result of the study and the new questions I formulated as I began the action research spiral again.

Child care by choice or by default? : examining the experiences of unregulated home-based child care for women in paid work and training

This thesis aims to uncover the dynamics, causes and outcomes of women's reliance on unregulated home-based child care in Ontario, Canada, and the implications ofthis form of care for women's equality. Drawing on a longitudinal qualitative study, I examine the diverse experience of 14 women using home-based child care and engaged in both paid work/training and care work for children under the age of six, and draw comparisons with users of other forms of child care. I argue that home-based child care involves high levels of instability for continuity of care and is chosen largely as a default position based on economic considerations. It represents a compromise between the demands of social reproduction and paid work/training that entangles mothers in relations of exploitation with care providers. Doing so leaves both mothers and care providers socially and economically vulnerable and relying on social networks to fill in the gaps.

Teachers' professional learning within communities of mathematics-for-teaching practice

Ontario bansho is an emergent mathematics instructional strategy used by teachers working within communities of practice that has been deemed to have a transformational effect on teachers' professional learning of mathematics. This study sought to answer the following question: How does teachers' implementation of Ontario bansho within their communities of practice inform their professional learning process concerning mathematics-for-teaching? Two other key questions also guided the study: What processes support teachers' professional learning of content-for-teaching? What conditions support teachers' professional learning of content-for-teaching? The study followed an interpretive phenomenological approach to collect data using a purposive sampling of teachers as participants. The researcher conducted interviews and followed an interpretive approach to data analysis to investigate how teachers construct meaning and create interpretations through their social interactions. The study developed a model of professional learning made up of 3 processes, informing with resources, engaging with students, and visualizing and schematizing in which the participants engaged and 2 conditions, ownership and community that supported the 3 processes. The 3 processes occur in ways that are complex, recursive, nonpredictable, and contextual. This model provides a framework for facilitators and leaders to plan for effective, content-relevant professional learning by placing teachers, students, and their learning at the heart of professional learning.

Part Time University Teaching in Ontario: A Self-Study

This qualitative self-study explored the disappointment I felt as a part-time university teacher in a mid-sized, primarily undergraduate Ontario university, where I experienced difficulty integrating my beliefs about teaching into my practice of teaching. The purpose of this qualitative study was to inquire into why it was difficult for me, representative of a part-time university teacher in a mid-sized, primarily undergraduate university, to enact the critical pedagogical practices I espoused in my teaching philosophy. The secondary purpose was to apply the findings of the study to reframe my university teaching practice in a way that met my need to enact my beliefs about university teaching while complying with the broader geo-political conditions of part-time university teaching in Ontario (Loughran, 2006; Russell & Loughran, 2007). This study is grounded in the sociological theoretical framework of critical pedagogy (Freire, 1970; Giroux, 1988, 2010; McLaren, 2003) and the methodological framework of The Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP). This study combined the methods of Brookfield’s (1995; 2002) critically reflective practice and Cole and Knowles (2000) practice of reflexive inquiry with Creswell’s (2005) methods of thematic analysis to answer the research question: Why is it difficult for me to enact my beliefs about university teaching as a part-time teacher in an Ontario university? Findings suggest the geo-political contexts of part-time university teaching work can impact a teacher’s ability to enact his/her beliefs about teaching within his/her practice of teaching.

Changes in mitochondrial PLIN3 and PLIN5 protein content in rat skeletal muscle following acute contraction and endurance training

Surrounding lipid droplets in skeletal muscle are the perilipin (PLIN2-5) family of proteins, regulating lipid droplet metabolism. During exercise lipid droplets provide fatty acids to the mitochondria for oxidation while increasing their proximity to each other. Whether PLIN3 and PLIN5 associate with mitochondria following contraction has not been examined. To determine whether contraction altered mitochondrial PLIN3 and PLIN5 content, sedentary and endurance trained rats underwent acute contraction. The main outcomes are; 1) mitochondrial PLIN3 content is unaltered while mitochondrial PLIN5 content is increased following an acute contraction 2) mitochondrial PLIN3 content is higher in endurance trained rats when compared to sedentary and mitochondrial PLIN5 content is similar in both conditions 3) only PLIN5 mitochondrial content is increased similarly in both groups following acute contraction. This work highlights the dynamics of these two PLIN proteins, which may have roles not only on the lipid droplet but also on the mitochondria.