Becoming an inclusive educator : applying Deleuze & Guattari to teacher education

New ways of thinking are required in teacher education to promote beginning teachers as change agents in education. Twenty years after the Salamanca Statement (UNESCO, 1994) that called for schools to provide equitable opportunities for all children, teaching practices in many classrooms are informed by the deficit view of learning. Beginning teachers need to be prepared to challenge the ideological influences that operate in schools. Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) model of the rhizome is used to report one beginning teacher’s journey as she learnt to negotiate structural and personal obstacles to create an inclusive learning environment. Data from reflective diaries, semi-structured interviews and classroom observations highlight contextual and personal factors in one case study that contributed to the nonlinear, complex process of becoming an inclusive educator. The paper concludes by arguing the voice of beginning teachers is essential for the ongoing movement towards the creation of just, inclusive schools.

Alteración de la atención y concentración en estudiantes de medicina que realizan turnos de noche

El sueño, es indispensable para la recuperación, física, mental y de procesos como la consolidación de memoria, atención y lenguaje. La privación de sueño (PS) incide en la atención y concentración. La PS es inherente a la formación médica, pero no es claro el papel de los turnos nocturnos en estudiantes, porque no cumplen con un objetivo académico, pero hay relación con disminución de la salud, productividad, accidentes, y alteraciones en diversas actividades. Está descrito el impacto de la PS sobre la capacidad de aprendizaje y aspectos como el ánimo y las relaciones interpersonales. MÉTODOS: Se realizó un estudio analítico observacional de cohorte longitudinal, con tres etapas de medición a 180 estudiantes de Medicina de la Universidad del Rosario, que evaluó atención selectiva y concentración mediante la aplicación de la prueba d2, validada internacionalmente para tal fin. RESULTADOS: Se estudiaron 180 estudiantes, 115 mujeres, 65 hombres, entre los 18 y 26 años (promedio 21). Al inicio del estudio dormían en promedio 7,9 horas, cifra que se redujo a 5,8 y 6,3 en la segunda y tercera etapa respectivamente. El promedio de horas de sueño nocturno, disminuyó en el segundo y tercer momento (p<0,001); Además se encontró mediante la aplicación de la prueba d2, que hubo correlación significativa directa débil, entre el promedio de horas de sueño, y el promedio del desempeño en la prueba (r=0.168, p=0.029) CONCLUSIONES: La PS, con períodos de sueño menores a 7,2 horas, impactan de manera importante la atención selectiva, la concentración

José Manuel Blecua, una lección sencilla.

Artículo del monográfico: Manojuego de estudios literarios ofrecidos a José Manuel Blecua Teijeiro por los profesores de enseñanza media

Maternal periodontal disease in rats decreases insulin sensitivity and insulin signaling in adult offspring

Background: Periodontal disease during pregnancy has been recognized as one of the causes of preterm and lowbirth- weight (PLBW) babies. Several studies have demonstrated that PLBW babies are prone to developing insulin resistance as adults. Although there is controversy over the association between periodontal disease and PLBW, the phenomenon known as programming can translate any stimulus or aggression experienced during intrauterine growth into physiologic and metabolic alterations in adulthood. The purpose of the present study is to investigate whether the offspring of rats with periodontal disease develop insulin resistance in adulthood. Methods: Ten female Wistar rats were divided into periodontal disease (PED) and control (CN) groups. All rats were mated at 7 days after induction of periodontal disease. Male offspring were divided into two groups: 1) periodontal disease offspring (PEDO; n = 24); and 2) control offspring (CNO; n = 24). Offspring body weight was measured from birth until 75 days. When the offspring reached 75 days old, the following parameters were measured: 1) plasma concentrations of glucose, insulin, fructosamine, lipase, amylase, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α); 2) insulin sensitivity (IS); and 3) insulin signal transduction (IST) in insulin-sensitive tissues. Results: Low birth weight was not detected in the PEDO group. However, plasma concentrations of glucose, insulin, fructosamine, lipase, amylase, and TNF-α were increased and IS and IST were reduced (P <0.05) in the PEDO group compared with the CNO group. Conclusion: Maternal periodontal disease may induce insulin resistance and reduce IST in adult offspring, but such alterations are not attributable to low birth weight.

Effects of harvesting callianassid (ghost) shrimps on subtropical benthic communities

The effects of harvesting of callianassid shrimp (Trypaea australiensis) on the abundance and composition of macrobenthic assemblages in unvegetated sediments of a subtropical coastal embayment in Queensland, Australia were examined using a combination of sampling and manipulative experiments. First, the abundance and composition of the benthic infauna in an area regularly used for the collection of shrimp for bait by recreational anglers was compared with multiple reference areas. Second, a BACI design, with multiple reference areas, was used to examine the short-term effects of harvesting on the benthic assemblages from an intensive commercialised fishing competition. Third, a large-scale, controlled manipulative experiment, where shrimp were harvested from 10,000 m(2) plots at intensities commensurate with those from recreational and commercial operators, was done to determine the impacts on different components of the infaunal assemblage. Only a few benthic taxa showed significant declines in abundance in response to the removal of ghost shrimp from the unvegetated sediments. There was evidence, however, of more subtle effects with changes in the degree of spatial variation (patchiness) of several taxa as a result of harvesting.. Groups such as capitellid polychaetes, gammarid amphipods and some bivalves were significantly more patchy in their distribution in areas subjected to harvesting than reference areas, at a scale of tens of metres. This scale corresponds to the patterns of movement and activity of recreational harvesters working in these areas. In contrast, patchiness in the abundance of ghost shrimp decreased significantly under harvesting at scales of hundreds of metres, in response to harvesters focussing their efforts on areas with greater numbers of burrow entrances, leading to a more even distribution of the animals. Controlled experimental harvesting caused declines in the abundance of soldier crabs (Mictyris longicarpus), polychaetes and amphipods and an increase in the spatial patchiness of polychaetes. Populations of ghost shrimp were, however, resilient to harvesting over extended periods of time. In conclusion, harvesting of ghost shrimp for bait by recreational and commercial fishers causes significant but localised impacts on a limited range of benthic fauna in unvegetated sediments, including changes in the degree of spatial patchiness in their distribution. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.