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This article highlights the development and outcomes of a visual art educator community of practice (CoP) cultivated in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, known as the MOCA PD Lab. Participating researchers were interested in examining how to bring visual art teachers together outside of schools and districts to pursue their own collaborative professional development (PD) that could accommodate time, distance, and expense needs. The study focused on increasing the capacity of group members to design and facilitate PD through examining the impact of the CoP on participants' shared knowledge and reflective practices; exploring strategies to grow and sustain the CoP; and implementing organisational strategies for cultivating connections and empowering teachers to pursue ongoing professional learning (PL). Feedback from participants indicates the positive impact of this CoP on members' self-directed PL in: building community, collaborating with colleagues, developing instructional practice, and engaging in critical reflection. Now concluding its fifth year, the MOCA PD Lab continues to meet monthly to engage in visual art PL experiences to meet participants' individual learning goals. Our hope is that the MOCA PD Lab may serve as a model for educators and museums looking to create collaborative PL opportunities.

Teaching visual literacy provides students with tools for questioning and understanding the world while creating meaning through visual art. Wanting to know how students make meaning together while making art, this article centers the convergence of collaboration and visual literacy in early childhood artistic practice. Approximately 200 students in eight kindergarten, 1st-, and 2nd-grade classes from multiple schools participated in this experience. They practiced verbal and visual communication skills while working with a partner to create and contribute to several different collages. Ages ranged from 5 to 8 years old, and students worked with one partner from the same grade level in their classrooms. Students in these classes had prior experience viewing and interpreting a range of different types of art, although less for those in kindergarten due to fewer years of art instruction. [With contributions by Kerry Buchman.]

Near the end of February 2020, the Art Education Club officers at California State University, Northridge introduced members to a collaborative collage artmaking project, inspired by Marty McCutcheon's "Check It Out" project. Club members--preservice art education students, mentor art teachers, and higher education faculty--had recently voted to meet more than once a month for artmaking opportunities. These new events were organized around creating work together to promote individual and collaborative experiences while strengthening relationships and building leadership capacity. With 18 club members, partners, friends, and children in attendance at the February artmaking evening participants shared ideas and stories, creating a lively environment and excitement about exchanging projects. The plan was to leave with someone else's collage, adding to it over the month, bringing it to the next meeting scheduled for the end of March, viewing works in progress, and exchanging them for another collage to contribute to. This opportunity to make art together, although physically distanced, connected participants in unexpected ways during this time of isolation.

The article focuses on three collaborative research projects across multiple divisions in art education, which were showcased at the 2022 National Art Education Association Convention panel sponsored by the Professional Learning Through Research working group. Topics discussed include the evolution of collaborative research practices, and the way in which the online studio interaction of two higher education professors intersects with their collaborative research practice.

This research investigates medium‐scale disruptive events to understand how these events influence communication and coordination between two interdependent systems (i.e., the water system and the public health system). Medium‐scale events are events that are often overlooked as routine as they occur with more frequency than large‐scale events, yet they have the potential to provide important information about the state and vulnerability of systems, and, if not managed appropriately, can cascade into larger‐scale crises. A survey of US public drinking water systems (N = 471) shows that medium‐scale events promote coordination, especially when those events have a public dimension. Findings also reveal that several features of water systems including surface water sources, system size, and ownership types are associated with higher levels of interaction with the public health systems. Additionally, a network analysis identifies three distinct subnetworks that engage in emergency response activities. The strength of the working relationship was strongly associated with coordinated emergency responses, coordinated public responses, planning, and technical assistance. Findings have implications for both theory and crisis management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 20 years since its inception, robotic surgery has evolved greatly in its design and clinical use. Most recently, the approach to training and gaining proficiency in robotic surgery techniques has also matured. This article reviews the development of robotic surgery systems, the trajectory of their use for patients with benign and malignant gynecologic conditions, and the advances in novel technologies that are driving the applications of robotic surgery forward. (J GYNECOL SURG 39:204) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy entrepreneurs have traditionally been recognized for their ability to influence policymakers by framing policy problems and pairing them with preferred solutions. Does their influence extend to the public? We examine this question in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic in the United States. We analyze whether an individual's perception of a visible, national‐level policy entrepreneur, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Dr. Anthony Fauci, influences their perceived risk of contracting the virus and their uptake of recommended COVID‐19 risk mitigation behaviors. Findings indicate that approval of Dr. Fauci predicts individual risk perceptions and uptake of mask wearing practices, with his influence particularly strong among conservatives. However, Dr. Fauci's influence as a policy entrepreneur waned over time and was moderated by a host of factors such as an individual's worldview, perceptions of policy environment, and media consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of resilience is surging in popularity, but relevant discussions are often disconnected from one field to another. To prompt integration of disparate conversations on resilience, we examine the concept's origins etymologically, genealogically, and by analyzing the interdependencies of drinking water and public health systems in six academic disciplines and practice-oriented fields. These disciplines are engineering, social work, urban studies, political science, communication, and public health. While the disciplinary resilience literatures are relatively stove-piped from one another's contexts, they all theorize resilience at multiple levels of analysis. They also engage a range of understandings of how to build resilience in complex systems. This paper brings several conversations together, addressing gaps and resonances in disciplinary conceptualizations of resilience with nine propositions to cultivate interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary discussions and debates. We ground this creative inquiry in real-world examples of water system crises to highlight subthemes among the propositions and stimulate more diverse discussions moving forward. We examine dynamics of interfaces and interactions within and between systems through the Elk River Water chemical contamination in Charleston, West Virginia in 2014. We investigate tensions that arise in knowledge and practice through lead poisoning of public water systems in Washington, DC and Flint, MI. Finally, we consider how change and persistence shape learning through water infrastructure in Southern California. All together, these propositions offer a starting point and a provocation to strengthen theorizing around resilience for critical infrastructure systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Risk, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This project was designed for an undergraduate art education course to help students visually communicate ideas about contemporary issues through the use of cloth and embroidery. Students examined how historic embroidered visual narratives have been used to inform, advocate for, or protest local or global issues and events. Using peer feedback for developing visual literacy and dialogue to foster empathy, students explored and discussed the socially-responsive works of various artists while also learning to talk about their own work (and the work of their peers) critically to improve visual communication skills. Students researched local and global issues such as homelessness, food insecurity, mental health, COVID-19, the Black Lives Matter movement, and transgender rights, then designed visuals to inform, advocate for, or protest their chosen topics, embroidered in cloth. Outcomes from the project included responsive and empathetic dialogue with peers while building community, meaningful feedback noted in discussions and reflective writing, and improved visual communication skills evidenced in students' embroidered narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Risk, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article highlights the development and outcomes of a visual art educator community of practice (CoP) cultivated in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, known as the MOCA PD Lab. Participating researchers were interested in examining how to bring visual art teachers together outside of schools and districts to pursue their own collaborative professional development (PD) that could accommodate time, distance, and expense needs. The study focused on increasing the capacity of group members to design and facilitate PD through examining the impact of the CoP on participants' shared knowledge and reflective practices; exploring strategies to grow and sustain the CoP; and implementing organisational strategies for cultivating connections and empowering teachers to pursue ongoing professional learning (PL). Feedback from participants indicates the positive impact of this CoP on members' self-directed PL in: building community, collaborating with colleagues, developing instructional practice, and engaging in critical reflection. Now concluding its fifth year, the MOCA PD Lab continues to meet monthly to engage in visual art PL experiences to meet participants' individual learning goals. Our hope is that the MOCA PD Lab may serve as a model for educators and museums looking to create collaborative PL opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As climate change continues to increase both the frequency and intensity of environmental hazards and disasters, the need for a cohesive national mitigation policy grows. As the environmental federalism scholarship indicates, the inherent tension in federal, state, and local policy implementation highlights that despite a national need, environmental quality is a local public good. To complicate matters, there is disagreement about the optimal level of decision‐making regarding the adoption and implementation of environmental policy. This study addresses this gap by considering the role of policy ambiguity and conflict in policy implementation. The analysis relies on primary qualitative data collected from open‐ended interviews with 22 local government officials in 12 municipalities following Hurricane Harvey. Through the lens of policy ambiguity and conflict, we find confirmatory support for the idea that policies with less ambiguous goals are more likely to be implemented. Furthermore, we find that policy conflict arises when local governments perceive there is little for the community to gain by implementing the federal program. Thus, the level of protection afforded to citizens varies greatly between communities and is influenced heavily by politics. This research supports the Ambiguity‐Conflict Model of policy implementation, an oft‐cited but rarely tested theoretical framework for assessing the intergovernmental politics of policy implementation. It also demonstrates the barriers to local implementation of federal environmental policy in a nested system of government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Review of Policy Research is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Key Takeaways: Boil water notifications (BWNs) issued during 2021's Winter Storm Uri were typically followed, especially in households with children present and those with higher income. Cascading failure of interconnected systems (such as power and drinking water) inhibited some individuals from being able to follow boil water guidance. Of the people who boiled their water following BWNs, more than 92% reported boiling it for 2 minutes or more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors explore the significant role of communication in teaching collaborative collages and visual literacy to primary grade students. Topics discussed include the authors' use of a collaborative project for primary grade classes, requirements to learn about collaboration in a creative task, the use of constructivist experiences to develop social skills and scaffolding for collaborative art projects.

Art education curriculum that asks students to actively engage in the world around them is best when students work with issues or topics that will be fruitful in terms of students being able to personally relate on some level. The theme of food as a topic for higher education art curriculum is just such an example, particularly with recent studies of college campuses documenting issues of food insecurity among students). This article discusses related theoretical aspects and qualitative methods utilized in working with university students on the interdisciplinary and often social and politically charged theme of food, including subtopics such as food access, health, agricultural practices, labour and immigration, economics and global warming. Nuanced and related topics are discussed in the context of issues-based art curriculum and students' creative processes, including democratic participation, digital and technological literacy and how to understand the political in a world where facts are continuously in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study explores why state legislators think some issues are difficult and where they turn for help with these issues. Methods: We use content analysis of legislators' interview responses to identify sources of difficulty that arose during committee deliberations. Results: Many legislators say that issues are difficult because of committee and caucus politics, technical information, interest group pressure, jurisdictional competition, and budget constraints. We find few associations between sources of difficulty and legislator characteristics or institutional context. Mundane issues are often seen as difficult, with culture war issues rarely mentioned. Using cluster analysis, we identify five major categories of issue difficulty. We find that legislators grapple with these categories of difficulty by relying on interest groups, partisan staff, and committee members rather than on caucus leaders, the governor, or their voters. Conclusion: These findings contribute to our understanding of impediments to policy making that legislators navigate in legislative committees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does the state of American federalism explain responses to COVID-19? State-by-state variations to the COVID-19 pandemic illustrate the political dynamics of "kaleidoscopic federalism," under which there is no single prevailing principle of federalism. In the COVID-19 pandemic, features of kaleidoscopic federalism combined with shortcomings in the public health system under the Trump administration, leading to fragmented responses to the pandemic among the states. Federalism alone does not explain the shortcomings of the United States' response to the pandemic. Rather, the fragmented response was driven by state partisanship, which shaped state public health interventions and resulted in differences in public health outcomes. This has sobering implications for American federalism because state-level partisan differences yield different and unequal responses to the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]