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The purpose of the study was to gain further understandings of undergraduate students' perspectives on employability skill development in the liberal arts programs, as well as the perceived influence of the identification of employability skills in course curricula on undergraduate students' self-efficacy. Building on the results of a prior study on faculty perspectives in the liberal arts on employability skills, we also explored the ways students' and faculty members' perspectives were in alignment. Purposive sampling was used to select the undergraduate courses from three different undergraduate programs at the research site. Three relatively high enrolment courses were selected based on two key criteria: must be a second or third level undergraduate course and must be in a non-professional program in the liberal arts. Non-professional programs were considered programs where the students do not graduate with a specific professional designation or applied program. Two methods were used to collect the data for this project: an employability skill inventory and a survey distributed to students (N = 131). Course syllabi were also obtained to map employability skills. The findings of this study provide further insights with respect to the ways that employability matters to students and the ways in which students expect their instructors and institution to play a role in their employability development. Conclusions of this study underscore the need to consider bridging the disconnect between expectations of the students, the institution, and the faculty regarding employability development.

Human anatomy is a key subject area within undergraduate kinesiology programs. However, literature detailing the course structures, available resources, and teaching approaches used to deliver anatomy education in kinesiology programs is lacking. The present study sought to address this deficit by surveying instructors in Canadian university and college kinesiology programs regarding the anatomy courses they offer. The median (IQR) reported enrollment across 48 courses (40% response rate) was 165 (155) students and the mean (±SD) student/instructor ratio was 20:1 (±9) for the laboratory/tutorial sessions. Systemic or regional approaches to teaching were utilized in 39.6% of courses each, while 20.8% used both. Weekly contact times for in-person lectures and laboratories were 2.7 (±0.5) hours and 1.9 (±0.8) hours, respectively. Written assessments accounted for 64% (±20) of students' final grades, while practical tests accounted for 29% (±18). Joints and the skeletal, muscular, and nervous systems were the most covered units (>85% of courses). The most common resources available to students were atlases, plastic models, skeletons, and interactive software; human cadaver dissection was used in 7% of courses. Primary instructors for 95.5% of courses were permanent faculty/staff, but student assistants were utilized in half the courses, mostly for marking and laboratory activities. Overall, these results add considerably to the literature from allied health disciplines and fill a deficit in studies on the teaching methods and resources used for human anatomy education within Canadian undergraduate kinesiology programs. Accordingly, these findings may be used to inform curriculum design and best practices in anatomy course delivery.

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Qualitative Methods in PER: A Critical Examination.] Epistemic beliefs about physics are most often investigated using quantitative instruments that reflect binary conceptualizations of those beliefs. This study reports from a qualitative study which used continua to represent the epistemic beliefs about physics knowledge of sixteen Western Canadian, high school physics teachers. Unlike other research, this study did not intend to compare epistemic beliefs to any specific epistemology of science. This article presents a novel, more nuanced means of analyzing interview data to construct profiles to describe epistemic beliefs. The epistemic belief profiles of the physics teachers in this study reflect each of four areas of a literature-derived theoretical framework regarding epistemic beliefs about physics knowledge. These four areas are individuals' beliefs about the (a) source, (b) content, (c) certainty, and (d) structure of physics knowledge. The use of thematic analysis research methods and reasons for the placement of participants along continua are discussed. Potential classroom applications of this research include prompting discussions about student epistemic beliefs and collecting more nuanced representations of students' epistemic beliefs to inform teaching.

This article focuses upon the milieu of single-sex schooling within an elite independent school in a Canadian urban centre. This research served as an exploratory and critical examination of single-sex schooling in a specific context, and considered its relevance, pedagogical effectiveness, and ability to meet its purported goals. Using an interpretative methodological framework, and employing a multi-methods case study design, the purpose of this research was to investigate the strengths, limitations, and possibilities of single-sex schooling in a particular educational context as informed by its students, parents of students, graduates, and teachers. We found little evidence to support the idea that single-sex schooling overwhelmingly impacted student academic or social development. Implications for practice at schools offering single-sex schooling are addressed and focus upon the importance of gender-inclusive schooling; the school as the key, rather than the school's single-sex classes; and addressing boys' behaviour.

This article reviews recent literature (2011-present) on the automated scoring (AS) of writing and speaking. Its purpose is to first survey the current research on automated scoring of language, then highlight how automated scoring impacts the present and future of assessment, teaching, and learning. The article begins by outlining the general background of AS issues in language assessment and testing. It then positions AS research with respect to technological advancements. Section two details the literature review search process and criteria for article inclusion. In section three, the three main themes emerging from the review are presented: automated scoring design considerations, the role of humans and artificial intelligence, and the accuracy of automated scoring with different groups. Two tables show how specific articles contributed to each of the themes. Following this, each of the three themes is presented in further detail, with a sequential focus on writing, speaking, and a short summary. Section four addresses AS implementation with respect to current assessment, teaching, and learning issues. Section five considers future research possibilities related to both the research and current uses of AS, with implications for the Canadian context in terms of the next steps for automated scoring.

Background: Active transportation (AT), described as self-powered modes of travel (eg, walking and cycling), is an important source of health-promoting physical activity. While AT behaviors have been measured on national health surveys in Canada for over 2 decades, historic prevalence has not been previously reported. We aimed to document the measures of AT on Canada's various national health surveys, examine AT over time, and interpret them within the context of evolving methods of assessment. Methods: We compiled and summarized the questions used to measure AT among Canadians on 4 national health surveys: National Population Health Survey (1994–1998), Canadian Community Health Survey (2000–2020), Canadian Health Measures Survey (2007–2019), and the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study (2010–2018). Among youth and adults (12+ y), we summarized over time: (1) the prevalence of AT participation and (2) time spent in AT (in hours per week) among those who report any AT participation. Where possible, we reported separate estimates of walking and cycling and produced an aggregate estimate of total AT. We stratified results by age group and sex. Results: Changes in AT survey questions over time and between surveys limit the interpretation and comparability of temporal trends. Nevertheless, a consistently higher proportion of females report walking, while a higher proportion of males report cycling. Irrespective of mode, males report spending more total time in AT. Participation in AT tends to decrease with age, with youth reporting the highest rates of AT and young adults often spending the most time in AT. Conclusions: Monitoring trends in AT can help assess patterns of behavior and identify whether promotion strategies are needed or whether population interventions are effective. Our evaluation of AT over time is limited by questions surveyed; however, consistent differences in AT by age and sex are evident over time. Moving forward, ensuring consistency of AT measurement over time is essential to monitoring this important behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of teaching-focused faculty (TFF) continues to increase, raising concerns about opportunities to engage in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) for academics who are hired to focus on teaching rather than research. Various names for these teaching-focused positions include, but are not limited to: instructional, limited-term faculty; permanent, but not eligible for tenure; equivalent to tenure-track (eligible for tenure); and casual teaching-focused. Regardless of title, TFF face a unique challenge: hired for excellence in teaching and committed to improving teaching and learning, they are often not granted support to engage in professional development or research related to teaching and learning. These and other challenges are associated with their academically marginalized positions. The authors are members of the Advocacy Committee of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL). This paper builds on a session we offered at the ISSOTL conference in Calgary in 2017 where we invited TFF to contribute narrative examples of institutional SoTL challenges and their strategies for overcoming them. We describe potential solutions to creating institutional cultures that are supportive of TFF engaging in SoTL. We finish by offering recommendations for creating a SoTL teaching-focused community within ISSOTL to provide social and professional support.

A mixed-methods study including 22 Sino-Nova Scotian school principals in China has established that preparation for leadership in that context requires the consideration of many salient factors. While many North American standards of leadership are an important foundation, effective communication within the multidimensional system is of paramount importance. It was also found that, in order to administer a successful program, principals needed to build stronger social support systems for their teachers and further create a community of practice that included cultural sensitivity and understanding.

Multiple choice results are inherently probabilistic outcomes, as correct responses reflect a combination of knowledge and guessing, while incorrect responses additionally reflect blunder, a confidently committed mistake. To objectively resolve knowledge from responses in an MC test structure, we evaluated probabilistic models that explicitly account for guessing, knowledge, and blunder using eight assessments (>9,000 responses) from an undergraduate biotechnology curriculum. A Bayesian implementation of the models, aimed at assessing their robustness to prior beliefs in examinee knowledge, showed that explicit estimators of knowledge are markedly sensitive to prior beliefs with scores as sole input. To overcome this limitation, we examined self-ranked confidence as a proxy knowledge indicator. For our test set, three levels of confidence resolved test performance. Responses rated as least confident were correct more frequently than expected from random selection, reflecting partial knowledge, but were balanced by blunder among the most confident responses. By translating evidence-based guessing and blunder rates to pass marks that statistically qualify a desired level of examinee knowledge, our approach finds practical utility in test analysis and design.

Acadia University, a small liberal arts institution, has for over 15 years, offered a unique practicum experience for its teacher interns enrolled in the preservice Bachelor of Education. Students travel to Shanghai, China for a period of four months to teach English as a Second Language in school classrooms ranging from grades kindergarten to six. This paper describes the preparation of interns and the inherent challenges they face as pedagogues in a distinctly different teaching context. This action research account seeks to used mixed methods to identify areas of improvement in the process of preparing beginning teachers for a career in international teaching.

In the context of a large first-year business course, we explore the value of student contributors, the former students from this course, working with faculty to improve the learning experience of the students enrolled in the course. By describing our study of the roles, impacts, benefits, and challenges of the student contributors' involvement in creating supplemental resources, such as videos and practice problems, intended to augment the teaching process of the faculty and the learning process of the student learners, we contribute to the understanding of this three-party experience. Our study included interviews, survey questions, and resource-engagement analytics. We found that because student contributors can provide unique perspectives, greater inclusivity, and diverse approaches to teaching, there are benefits to the instructors, the student contributors, and the student learners.

There are many potential educational goals for using digital technologies in health professional education programs. Previous studies have suggested that technology can be used in these settings to facilitate knowledge acquisition, improve clinical decision making, improve psychomotor skill coordination, and practice rare or critical scenarios. However, when using technology for educational purposes, many educators do not consider the resulting pedagogical implications of using these tools to teach course content. The purpose of this study was to explore this phenomenon in a sample of athletic therapy educators, by investigating their views and attitudes towards using digital technologies in athletic therapy specific courses. Researchers used a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach (via questionnaire and individual interviews) to explore this topic. It was found that the majority of athletic therapy educators in this sample (n = 21) did not in fact consider the pedagogical implications of technology integration and moreover used technology in rudimentary fashions (e.g., to deliver course content or to provide additional context to explain a topic). Conversely, those educators with higher levels of pedagogical and technological knowledge appeared to use technology in more constructive ways while considering the pedagogical impact of their technology integration decisions. Although this study focused on athletic therapy education, the findings are not unique to this discipline. Carefully designed, pedagogically-sound technologies have very specific and useful ways of empowering learning and have the potential to achieve many educational goals for any educator.

This study investigates how using a voice-based Asynchronous Technology-Mediated Communication framework (ATMC) can affect English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students' fluency, accuracy, and intelligibility. Research has highlighted the benefits of ATMC in improving various elements of spoken communication, but to date, its application to EAP contexts has been little studied. In EAP speaking/listening courses at a large Canadian university, a team of instructor-researchers developed a system to provide learners more speaking and listening practice opportunities and to give individualized video feedback (veedback) on speaking performance. The instructor-researchers used a practitioner enquiry research methodology to investigate the effectiveness of the voice-based ATMC for 14 participants, drawing upon qualitative data from student interviews and the instructor's qualitative and quantitative assessment of the students' responses to tasks. Findings indicate that the system resulted in overall gains in fluency, accuracy, and intelligibility due to a combination of the voice-based ATMC design, repetition and practice, and the veedback. Qualitative comments from participants indicate personalized feedback led to increased motivation. The framework described in this article, therefore, represents several important benefits for the application of voice-based ATMCs in EAP classrooms.

An instructional leadership program (ILP) has offered education and support to three cohorts of educational leaders in Nova Scotia, Canada, amounting to approximately 130 participants. Quantitative and qualitative feedback from a convenience sample (n = 90) suggests that the ILP offers an extremely useful practical program; in fact, 95 percent of the sample indicates advances in the categories of professional growth, improved instructional leadership, and tangible progress in administrative effectiveness. Systemic and school environment trends have dictated that educational leaders need a skill set that positions them to respond more aptly to issues of poverty, socioemotional health, and mental health while attending to improved community building both within the school and in the greater public. This study uses surveys, interviews, and focus groups to identify emerging and impending challenges

The Youth Strike for Climate raised important global attention to interconnected climate, energy and environmental issues -- it also compelled us to consider what we will do to address these pressing challenges. Developed through consideration of such dynamics, we propose critical energy literacy as an emerging theory that denotes understanding of the social, environmental, political and economic challenges, benefits and impacts of various energy sources, developments and technologies. Critical energy literacy is grounded in critical and decolonising approaches to STEM education; considerations for collaborative multi-, inter- and Trans disciplinary pedagogy; critical place-based inquiry and pedagogy; critical gender perspectives and critical media literacy and engagement. Enhancing societal critical energy literacy will assist with more equitable energy, transit, construction and environmental planning by and for communities, businesses and governments. In this theory-building commentary, we share insights related to and principles for our emerging theory of critical energy literacy which coalesced through personal experience with and previous studies into related initiatives and areas of inquiry, and recent reviews of literature as well as K-12, post-secondary and not-for-profit curricula in Canada with consideration for international contexts. A discussion of renewable energy development and education focused on the Canadian province of Alberta is presented as an illuminating exemplar.

Purpose: This paper reports on a study exploring a sustained coaching model of teacher professional development (PD). The study was undertaken with middle school teachers in a small rural school division in Alberta, Canada. The goal of the study was to theorize about the components of the sustained coaching model of PD that supported or was a barrier to teachers engaging in a year-long PD series. Design/methodology/approach: A grounded theory methodology was used to theorize about the components of a teacher PD model that participants viewed as being a support or barrier to their engagement in the PD. Data were collected from two individual participant interviews: one interview at the beginning of the year and one interview at the end of the year. Findings: Findings indicate that teacher PD should include a constant community, accountability to other participants in that community, and a balance of theoretical and practical support and be provided over multiple sessions. In addition, in order for the PD to be sustainable, barriers to engaging in the PD should be minimized. Originality/value: A recognition of the complexity of the factors influencing a teacher's interaction with PD provides a lens with which to consider the potential for a teacher's engagement with PD.

This article aims to explore how social studies teachers understand their role in the delivery of course content. Drawing on data from an interpretive study completed as part of a Master of Education degree, the article investigates how social studies teachers understand their personal ideology as it relates to their teaching, navigate the prescriptions of the curriculum outcome model, and justify their respective positions on the political, economic, and social issues examined in their classrooms. These considerations will seek to present a clear understanding of contemporary social studies pedagogy, the extent of ideological liberties taken by public school social studies teachers, their implications, and potential impacts on student learning and political, social, and economic understandings.

Historically it has been reported that deaf students do not achieve age-appropriate outcomes in reading, with this performance often being characterized in terms of a fourth grade ceiling. However, given the shifts in the field during the past 20 years (e.g., widespread implementation of newborn hearing screening, advances in hearing technologies), it would be timely to question whether this continues to serve as a meaningful benchmark. To this end, the purpose of this study was to investigate reading outcomes of a Canadian cohort of school-aged deaf learners (N = 70) who all used listening and spoken language as the primary mode of communication. Specifically, the goal was to establish whether their achievement approached that of their hearing age peers and to identify demographic factors influencing performance (i.e., gender, unilateral/bilateral hearing loss, personal amplification, level of auditory functioning, grade placement, additional disabilities, home language). Results indicate that participants obtained standard scores in the average range on both the Basic Reading and Reading Comprehension clusters of the "Woodcock Johnson III-Diagnostic Reading Battery" (Woodcock et al., 2004), surpassing the fourth grade reading achievement ceiling often reported for this population.

It has been widely asserted that general English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in postsecondary education has a limited future, given both the benefits of discipline-specific EAP, and the widespread use by universities of international standardized assessments for proof of English language proficiency (such as IELTS, PTE, TOEFL, etc.). The extra time and expense required for completion of EAP courses is a less appealing admission route than it is to "IELTS-out" (bypassing an EAP program by obtaining a standardized test score that enabling direct admission into a university program). This article investigates capacity of nine widely-used measures of English language proficiency to predict post-secondary student achievement (n = 1918) across multiple academic programs at a Canadian university, over a seven-year admission period. All standardized tests measuring English language proficiency for admission readiness (including IELTS and TOEFL) were insignificant and/or problematically weak predictors of achievement, in both first and final semester of study. In contrast, completion of pre-enrolment EAP programming proved to be a significant predictor of academic achievement, with significant, moderate association. With general EAP the only measure of language proficiency a significant predictor of student achievement, the study's findings question whether predictions about the demise of such programs are premature.

The population of people in federal custody in Canada is aging. Those in custody report experiencing poorer health and high rates of chronic health conditions. Two health concerns that are disproportionately higher among those in custody are mood disorders and pain. This cross-sectional study examined health indicators associated with pain and depressive symptoms among older people (50 years and above) from multiple facilities and security levels in federal custody in Canada. Participants were assessed using the interRAI Emergency Department Contact Assessment, which captures key health indicators. Chi square and logistic regression analyses were conducted to describe the population and identify health indicators associated with mood- and pain-related outcomes, respectively. Of the 1,422 participants in this study, the majority (55%) experienced pain and at least 1 out of 5 experienced depressive symptoms. Health indicators associated with depressive symptoms and/or pain were functional measures, including mobility, managing medication(s), and dyspnea. Depressive symptoms and pain are highly prevalent among older adults in federal custody. The relationship between functional health, depressive symptoms, and pain highlights the importance of interprofessional health care and biopsychosocial intervention(s). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report investigates the prediction of labor force status using observed variables, such as gender, age, and immigrant status, and more importantly, measured skill variables, including literacy proficiency and a categorical rating of educational attainment based on the 1994 International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), the 2003 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL), and the 2011 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) projects. We explored the regression relations in the past two decades for six trend countries and subnational regions that provide data for all assessments: the United States, Norway, the Netherlands, Italy, Canada's English-speaking region, and Canada's French-speaking region. Probit regression models with latent predictors were used in this cross-sectional study to investigate how those variables are structurally related to labor market outcomes. Results show the importance of literacy proficiency and education in determining individuals' labor force status across countries/regions, but with key differences among these countries/regions.

In this article I reflexively explore my recent experiences as a Métis environmental activist, educator, and academic with the historic rise of the New Democratic Party in Alberta, Canada which was quickly followed by the victory of the federal Liberal Party, toppling conservative dynasties at both levels. This autoethnograhic inquiry also considers activist educator burnout and insider/outsider dynamics through a lens informed by Marcuse's theory of repressive tolerance. This line of theoretical inquiry and reflection is significant due to the unprecedented shift in government that recently occurred in Alberta, a region under intense environmental scrutiny, which bears implications for the rest of Canada, North America, and the world.

Conditioned fear memories that are context-specific shortly after conditioning generalize over time. We exposed rats to a context reminder 30 d after conditioning, which served to reinstate context-specificity, and investigated how this reminder alters retrieval-induced activity in the hippocampus and anterior cingulate cortex (aCC) relative to a no reminder condition. c-Fos expression in dorsal CA1 was observed following retrieval in the original context, but not in a novel context, whether or not the memory was reactivated, suggesting that dCA1 retains the context-specific representation. c-Fos was highly expressed in aCC following remote memory testing in both contexts, regardless of reminder condition, indicating that aCC develops generalized representations that are insensitive to memory reactivation.

The comprehensive examination is a customary, yet relatively unexamined, requirement in North American doctoral education. This case study explored the purpose of a comprehensive examination as perceived by faculty members and students in a Faculty of Education program, at a Western Canadian University. We found that, in addition to the traditional gatekeeping function of the examination, other purposes emerged. Contrasting views about whether the examination was designed to assess content mastery necessary for teaching or designed to assess readiness for doctoral research were found. The use of the comprehensive examination as an opportunity to learn and as a means for identity formation, including introducing students to the pressures of academic life, also contrasted with its traditional assessment function. The purposes of the comprehensive examination remained ambiguous to students, even though they had been privy to discussions concerning the design and development of the examination. Moreover, faculty members did not always agree on the purposes of the comprehensive examination. The differences in perspective and how these affect the administration of the comprehensive examination have an impact on students' experience, including examination preparation. Implications for the implementation, preparation, and assessment of the examination are discussed.

The number of online programs in the higher education sector has increased dramatically in the last decade, and with it, an increase in attrition has become a recurring problem worldwide. Literature suggests that elements of culture, motivation, learning management systems and online pedagogy play a major role in attrition rates in the higher education sector. Using an interpretivist paradigm with qualitative case studies from six countries, the researcher explores online lecturers' successful engagement strategies on these four main thematic areas. Results provide a range of strategies that can be applied by lecturers to increase engagement and minimize online attrition.

Many first-year university courses are large and content-driven, which can contribute to low student engagement and difficulty involving students in the dynamic, cross-disciplinary nature of inquiry. Learning communities can address these goals, but their implementation often poses logistical challenges, especially in large courses. Here, we apply learning communities using a linked-course model to enhance student engagement and inquiry across three large, first-year biology courses. These three courses (Discovering Biodiversity, Molecular and Cell Biology, and Biological Concepts of Health) offer different contexts for biological inquiry, introduce key biological concepts, and are connected through jointly mapped learning outcomes, shared online skill workshops, and integrative learning communities composed of students from each course. Diverse modes of student learning are used across the three courses, and contemporary problems are explored within classes and small group seminars, which promote the development of skills necessary for inquiry. This course structure requires the coordinated scheduling of seminars and interdisciplinary projects but allows flexibility in the use of lecture periods and online content while offering increased resource efficiency. Collectively, these courses provide opportunities for integration, skill development, and problem solving. In contrast to many other forms of learning communities, this particular model promotes both a disciplinary foundation and cross-disciplinary applications for large numbers of students.

The role of English as a second language (ESL) teachers and instruction as factors in student social and psychological acculturation is widely acknowledged. However, the function of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) is less well known in this regard, because research has focused largely on academic acculturation. This qualitative study investigated the perceptions of curriculum alignment with undergraduate study by post-EAP learners (students who had successfully completed EAP and were registered in mainstream university programs). Semistructured interviews were conducted with 7 former EAP students from a range of faculties at a large Canadian university. Analysis of interview data highlighted social acculturation as a perceived need in EAP curriculum, as participants remarked on linguistic and cultural barriers faced while participating in university life post-EAP. The researchers argue that social acculturation is typically underrepresented in EAP curriculum, and may be inadvertently overlooked by instructors, curriculum planners, and program providers.

Student suicide is a serious issue facing intermediate/secondary schools. Teachers have the potential to play important roles in addressing such risk. This study utilized semi-structured interviews with six intermediate/secondary teachers in Newfoundland concerning their experiences of working with a student who had returned to the classroom after an attempted suicide. Coding was utilized to determine common themes among the data. Findings indicated teachers experienced shock, uncertainty, anxiety, and fear in terms of how to handle such situations. Participants also discussed various issues around access to student information and some noted limited knowledge of appropriate courses of action. They recommended proactive and inclusive policy/program development as well as teacher preparation in the area of preventing student suicide attempts. Study results are discussed in the context of the needs of teachers, along with a focus on teachers' perceptions of what they needed to support their students. The role of the wider school system in supporting teachers and students when it comes to suicide is also a major consideration.

The purpose of this study was to explore university students' expectations of confidentiality when they make disclosures to their university professors. A secondary purpose was to consider if students have a higher expectation of confidentiality when talking with Psychology professors versus professors in other disciplines. Students were asked to complete online survey scenarios assessing their expectations for confidentiality during various student-professor exchanges. Independent variables included professor discipline and disclosure location. Results suggested that students maintain a high degree of confidentiality expectations when making disclosures to their professors, especially when these disclosures happen in the professor's office. Implications for teaching and future research are discussed.

Demands are placed on undergraduate courses in chemistry to develop transferable skills, such as teamwork, alongside subject content and technical skills. Such skills can be developed by implementing pedagogies which involve students working together. Such pedagogies can, however, pose various challenges, including unfavourable student perceptions and experiences including the occurrence of dysfunctional student teams. This article presents a research-informed group project assignment delivered as part of an upper-year undergraduate chemistry course which has been found to overcome these challenges. The instructional activity is characterized by a high degree of structure and support for teamwork. Student perceptions, collected by survey and interview, and peer- and self-evaluations of contributions to the work of the groups reveal that students have experienced the activity positively. Many perceived disadvantages of working in a team to complete a project were either reportedly not experienced or could be overcome by the students, while perceived advantages were often reported to be experienced. Dysfunction within teams did not represent a significant issue.

In this article, I autoethnographically consider my experiences as a Métis scholar of mixed Indigenous and European ancestry based in Canada as an entry point for exploration of critical, interpretive, Indigenous and other traditional and contemporary research paradigms relevant to the field of Indigenous environmental education. Foundational scholarship, metaphorical models for the relationships between Western and Indigenous science and environmental knowledge systems, educators, and researchers, and current trends and tensions within the field are also discussed. In closing, I present future considerations and lingering questions for Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars alike.

Educators who introduce critical socio-ecological issues into learning contexts often experience formidable internal and external challenges. This is especially true when intersecting Indigenous and environmental issues are involved. Compounding such difficulties in Canada is an inadequate level of pre-service, curricular, resource, and research support in this area. As such, while an increasing number of bold educators are incorporating discussion of Indigenous environmental issues, activism, and related history, law, and policy into their teaching practice, many others are interested, but remain understandably reticent. This study explored the experiences of educators in a variety of contexts across Canada with attempting to incorporate critical consideration of Indigenous environmental issues into their teaching practice. Findings include discussion of challenges encountered, successful strategies employed, the societal significance of these considerations, and future research possibilities.

Context: Developing an understanding of the signature pedagogies in athletic therapy education may help to promote greater pedagogical development opportunities and encourage meaningful reflection for educators. Objective: To gain an understanding of the perceived level of pedagogical knowledge in Canadian athletic therapy educators and how they developed such knowledge. Design: Sequential explanatory mixed-methods. Setting: Seven undergraduate Canadian Athletic Therapists Association--accredited institutions Patients or Other Participants: Twenty-one athletic therapy educators (16 women, 5 men) responded to the initial questionnaire; 15 athletic therapy educators (11 women, 4 men) participated in individual phone interviews. Main Outcome Measure(s): An initial questionnaire was designed to explore general pedagogical knowledge in athletic therapy educators and how familiar participants were with different teaching strategies. Emergent trends from these questionnaires were used to design a specific interview schedule. Phone interviews further explored the institutional, personal, student, and cultural factors that affected the selection of different pedagogical approaches. Findings from the questionnaires and interviews were combined to identify participants' pedagogical approaches to teaching in an athletic therapy setting. Results: A pedagogical distinction was observed, dividing the sample into 2 groups. One group used a traditional, passive lecturing format, and the other, more innovative pedagogies. Educators who followed traditional teaching practices were less likely to know about different pedagogies or understand how these strategies could contribute to more effective instruction. The other group of educators appreciated the use of different pedagogies and explained how different teaching strategies could be incorporated to enhance learning in the athletic therapy curriculum. Conclusions: On the basis of these findings, Canadian athletic therapy educators would benefit from more formalized pedagogical training and/or development. These formalized opportunities could familiarize educators with innovative pedagogical strategies while also preparing them with the necessary skills required to self-evaluate their own teaching approaches.

Turnover is a significant problem in the school system, but little is known about turnover and turnover intention among school counsellors. Previous studies point to several aspects of school counsellors' roles which may relate to turnover intention, and given the important role school counsellors play for students, parents, and other teachers, it is important to understand what factors contribute to turnover intention in this population. In this study we examined workplace stress, employee self-esteem, organisational identification, and organisational commitment as possible predictors of turnover intention among 98 school counsellors in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Tenure as a school counsellor, work-stress effort, and in-group ties predicted turnover intention. Implications and future research priorities are discussed with a focus on school counselling.

This article examines the dynamic between educational leadership in terms of school administration and social studies education pedagogy. The article examines the tension between the mandate for school principals in an age of increased school accountability, and the essence and delivery of social studies pedagogy. The data compiled examine the extent to which the personal political ideology of the teacher influences pedagogy. Utilising an interpretive approach incorporating case study analysis, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven active and recently retired social studies teachers in Nova Scotia, Canada. The findings reveal that social studies teachers hold a variety of negative opinions regarding outcomes-based models of instruction and, subsequently, take liberties with content outcomes--creating a dilemma with significant administrative implications. This article discusses these findings and offers recommendations for administrators when dealing with teachers who take curricular liberties in the social studies arena.

Phenotypic susceptibility testing of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) isolate requires culture growth, which can delay rapid detection of resistant cases. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) and data analysis pipelines can assist in predicting resistance to antimicrobials used in the treatment of tuberculosis (TB). This study compared phenotypic susceptibility testing results and WGS-based predictions of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to four first-line antimicrobials—isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide—for MTBC isolates tested between the years 2018–2022. For this 5-year retrospective analysis, the WGS sensitivity for predicting resistance for isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide using Mykrobe was 86.7%, 100.0%, 100.0%, and 47.8%, respectively, and the specificity was 99.4%, 99.5%, 98.7%, and 99.9%, respectively. The predictive values improved slightly using Mykrobe corrections applied using TB Profiler, i.e., the WGS sensitivity for isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide was 92.31%, 100%, 100%, and 57.78%, respectively, and the specificity was 99.63%. 99.45%, 98.93%, and 99.93%, respectively. The utilization of WGS-based testing addresses concerns regarding test turnaround time and enables analysis for MTBC member identification, antimicrobial resistance prediction, detection of mixed cultures, and strain genotyping, all through a single laboratory test. WGS enables rapid resistance detection compared to traditional phenotypic susceptibility testing methods using the WHO TB mutation catalog, providing an insight into lesser-known mutations, which should be added to prediction databases as high-confidence mutations are recognized. The WGS-based methods can support TB elimination efforts in Canada and globally by ensuring the early start of appropriate treatment, rapidly limiting the spread of TB outbreaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: As a large number of people live with HIV, it is worthwhile to examine the integration of this group in the workplace. OBJECTIVE: To investigate how the operationalization of GIPA/MEPA supports workplace policies and practices for PLHIV. The study aims to explore what is being offered to support PLHIV in community-based agencies and what can be done to enhance the offerings. METHODS: For this community-based research, 2 bilingual online surveys were sent to 150 Canadian organizations that work closely with PLHIV or offer support to them. One of the surveys was for Executive Directors of these organizations while the other was sent to peers; i.e. PLHIV whose job is to offer services to PLHIV. Questions in the surveys varied between open-ended, binary, and Likert. RESULTS: GIPA/MEPA are implemented in most organizations and Executive Directors affirmed that PLHIV and their impacts on the workplace are valued. There is a consensus among Executive Directors that formal support is provided but most respondents argued that this support is not specific for PLHIV. More than half of respondents were either unaware or uncertain about the existence of informal support. Peer-employees claimed that one of the challenges of disclosing HIV to receive peer support is that they may face stigma. CONCLUSION: The application of GIPA/MEPA results in positive outcomes in the workplace. The study emphasizes the need to facilitate access to informal support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite progress in the management of assessed fish populations, many countries lag behind international commitments to restore overexploited stocks to healthy abundances. Here we use a mixed‐methods positive deviance approach, also known as 'bright spot' analysis, to understand what drives the successful governance of exploited species by learning from positive outliers, or 'deviants'. We use Canada as a case study, identifying factors driving the abundance of 230 commercially exploited fish and invertebrate populations, of which only 28% were classified at healthy abundance in 2022. We first applied a generalized linear model to test how diverse socio‐ecological fishery attributes relate to stock health. We found healthier stocks are positively and significantly correlated with certain management regions, more selective gears, eco‐certification, and high fishery value. Counterintuitively, healthier stocks were also associated with high inherent fishing vulnerability and the absence of reference points. We then used fishery expert surveys and interviews to investigate the social and institutional characteristics of stocks healthier than expected, given their circumstances. We found that fisheries targeting these positive outliers have lower conflict among users, balanced stakeholder involvement in data collection and decision‐making, and improved accounting of mortality sources. Lessons from these positive deviants can be applied to improve underperforming management systems that are struggling to reverse overexploitation in Canada and elsewhere. More generally, we suggest that a positive deviance approach, already used in public health, could be a promising tool to learn about successful fisheries management interventions, and the diverse actors responsible for ensuring these interventions are successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD, Streptococcus pneumoniae) has been a nationally notifiable disease in Canada since 2000. The use of conjugate vaccines has caused a shift in the distribution of serotypes over time. This report is a summary of the demographics, serotypes and antimicrobial resistance of IPD isolates collected in Canada in 2021 and 2022. Methods: The National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) of the Public Health Agency of Canada in Winnipeg, Manitoba collaborates with provincial and territorial public health laboratories to conduct national surveillance of IPD. There were 1,999 isolates reported in 2021 and 3,775 isolates in 2022. Serotype was determined by the Quellung reaction or whole-genome sequencing (WGS). Antimicrobial susceptibilities were determined by WGS methods, broth microdilution, or data shared by collaborators in the Canadian Antimicrobial Resistance Alliance program at the University of Manitoba. Population-based IPD incidence rates were obtained through the Canadian Notifiable Disease Surveillance System. Results: The incidence of IPD in Canada was 5.62 cases per 100,000 population in 2021, decreasing from the peak of 10.86 cases per 100,000 population in 2018. Serotypes with increasing trends (p<0.05) between 2018 and 2022 included: 4 (6.1%–12.4%), 9V (1.0%–5.1%) and 12F (4.8%–5.4%). The overall prevalence of PCV13 serotypes increased over the same period (31.2%−41.5%, p<0.05) while the prevalence of non-vaccine types decreased significantly (27.3%–21.5%, p<0.0001). The highest rates of antimicrobial resistance in 2021 and 2022 were seen with clarithromycin (21%, 2021; 24%, 2022) and erythromycin (22%, 2021; 24%, 2022). Multidrug-resistant IPD continued to increase from 2018 to 2022 (6.7%–12.6%, p<0.05). Conclusion: The number of cases of IPD continued to decrease in 2021 in comparison to previous years, however, 2022 saw a return to pre-COVID-19 levels. Disease due to PCV13 serotypes 3, 4, 9V and 19F, as well as non-PCV13 serotypes 12F and 20, is increasing in prevalence. Surveillance of IPD to monitor changing serotype distribution and antimicrobial resistance is essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Invasive group A streptococcal (iGAS, Streptococcus pyogenes) disease has been a nationally notifiable disease in Canada since 2000. This report summarizes the demographics, emm types, and antimicrobial resistance of iGAS isolates collected in Canada in 2021 and 2022. Methods: The Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory collaborates with provincial and territorial public health laboratories to conduct national surveillance of invasive S. pyogenes. Emm typing was performed using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emm sequencing protocol or extracted from whole-genome sequencing data. Antimicrobial susceptibilities were determined using Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines or predicted from whole-genome sequencing data based on the presence of resistance determinants. Results: Overall, the incidence of iGAS disease in Canada was 5.56 cases per 100,000 population in 2021, decreasing from the peak of 8.6 cases per 100,000 population in 2018. A total of 2,630 iGAS isolates were collected during 2022, representing an increase from 2021 (n=2,179). In particular, there was a large increase in isolates collected from October to December 2022. The most predominant emm type overall in 2021 and 2022 was emm49, at 21.5% (n=468) and 16.9% (n=444), respectively, representing a significant increase in prevalence since 2018 (p<0.0001). The former most prevalent type, emm1, increased from 0.5% (n=10) in 2021 to 4.8% (n=125) in 2022; similarly, emm12 increased from 1.0% (n=22) in 2021 to 5.8% (n=151) in 2022. These two types together accounted for almost 25% of isolates collected in late 2022 (October to December). Antimicrobial resistance rates in 2021 and 2022 included: 14.9%/14.1% erythromycin resistance, 4.8%/3.0% clindamycin resistance, and <1% chloramphenicol resistance. Conclusion: The increase of iGAS isolates collected in Canada is an important public health concern. Continued surveillance of iGAS is critical to monitor expanding emm types and antimicrobial resistance patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to manage harvest under great uncertainty is a fundamental question for many wildlife managers, particularly when resources necessary to estimate abundance or population trends are limited. The large Newfoundland and Labrador murre hunt is the only licensed harvest of seabirds in Canada. Though harvest of thick‐billed murres (Uria lomvia) and common murres (Uria aalge) has declined considerably since the 1960−1970s from >500,000 birds taken annually to approximately 100,000 annually in recent years, potential murre colony declines across the North Atlantic have again triggered concerns over the sustainability of murre harvest in Canada. The effect of current harvest is difficult to assess because there is considerable uncertainty in recent population size, trend, demographic rates, licensed harvest, fisheries bycatch, and illegal harvest. To assess the situation, we simulated the population size necessary to sustain current levels of approximated anthropogenic mortality using a potential biological removal approach, which simplifies and constrains population processes to a few key variables. Based on these simulations, the Canadian licensed harvest of thick‐billed murre is consistent with conservation management objectives, as is common murre licensed harvest and fisheries bycatch. Adding estimated illegal harvest resulted in unstainable mortality levels in both species. While wildlife managers will need to formally assess the relative costs and benefits of reducing uncertainty in this system through improved harvest and population monitoring, illegal harvest and commercialization need to be addressed to manage Canadian murre populations. Potential biological removal approaches can be a useful framework to assess harvest management decisions for marine birds and other data‐limited species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives We drew on fundamental cause theory and the weathering hypothesis to examine how discrimination influences aging for midlife and older adults in Canada. Methods Using nationally representative data, we assessed the associations between discrimination and pain and functional limitations among adults aged 45 years and older. Discrimination was measured using a modified version of the Everyday Discrimination Scale. Chi-square tests were performed to check for baseline differences in the dependent and key predictor variables by race. Logistic regression was used to estimate the associations of discrimination, race, and sense of belonging with pain and functional limitations, net of sociodemographic characteristics, and socioeconomic status. Results Indigenous respondents showed a clear health disadvantage , with higher rates of pain and functional limitations compared to Whites and Asians. Self-reported discrimination was also higher for Indigenous midlife and older adults than for their White and Asian age counterparts. Discrimination had a direct and robust association with pain (odds ratio [OR] 1.56, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.31–1.87) and functional limitations (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.29–1.87). However, race moderated the impact of discrimination on functional limitations for Blacks. Finally, a strong sense of belonging to one's local community was protective against pain and functional limitations for all racial groups. Discussion Future research needs to further examine the impact of discrimination on Indigenous peoples' aging process. High rates of discrimination coupled with a greater burden of pain mean that Indigenous midlife and older adults may require additional and targeted health and social service resources to age successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada's Aboriginal people connect history to their loss of identity, grounded in Nation based languages and beliefs. Recovering from colonization requires healing wounds that festered during residential school and the 60's scoop. Treating family violence and addictions is more than an individual reality for many of today's Aboriginals. It is a prerequisite for entire Nations to recover their individual and group identities as survivors of Western trauma.

First-year undergraduate physics laboratories are important physics learning environments. However, there is a lack of empirically informed literature regarding how students perceive their overall laboratory learning experiences. Recipe formats persist as the dominant form of instructional design in these sites, and these formats do not adequately support the development of students' inquiry processes. There may be valid reasons for the lack of research into students' views of their undergraduate physics laboratory learning environments, but work should be done to address these issues so that such research can occur. This paper describes the development and validation of a 23-item instrument, the UPLLES (Undergraduate Physics Laboratory Learning Environment Survey) that was undertaken as part of a multi-year project aimed to develop guided-inquiry oriented Physics laboratories for first-year students at the University of Alberta. The UPLLES was developed and validated through factor analysis using 476 student responses. The five sub-scales of the UPLLES are, Inquiry Orientation, Integration, Material Environment, Student Community, and Instructor Support. The value of the UPLLES within a battery of measures for evaluating reform efforts in undergraduate physics laboratories is discussed.

The purpose of this study is to examine the complexities of recruiting overweight and obese adolescent boys for qualitative research, discuss specific recruitment considerations for this population, and offer guidance to researchers interested in recruiting overweight adolescent boys. Three overweight adolescent boys and six community professionals participated in this study. Data collection methods included fieldwork observations (60 hours) and person-centered interviews (N = 9). Emergent themes revealed that establishing trust, understanding the sensitivities of discussing obesity, and considering adolescent boys' fears of sharing personal information may have enhanced recruitment success. Researchers should consider the importance of building relationships with professionals who can recruit vulnerable adolescents, as well as the time required to establish trust with both overweight adolescent boys and their parents. (Contains 1 table.)

Planning, conducting, and reporting leading-edge research requires professionals who are capable of highly skilled reading. This study reports the development of an empirically informed computer-based learning environment designed to foster the acquisition of reading comprehension strategies that mediate expertise in the social sciences. Empirical data were gathered in a mixed-methods explanatory sequential design that examined the reading comprehension strategies used by an expert social scientist while reading a professional-level text. Process data were collected through a concurrent think-aloud protocol and coded according to reading comprehension processes. We combined both quantitative and qualitative analyses to identify, describe, and explain patterns in the expert's use of reading strategies. Our findings indicate that highly-skilled reading is characterized by critiquing text information, relating information to prior knowledge, and evaluating one's own understanding of text information. Findings are used to inform the design of worked-examples and a pedagogical agent embedded within the Highly-Skilled Reading Tutor. (Contains 4 tables, 2 footnotes and 3 figures.)

Teacher stress is a significant issue facing the teaching profession. The current paper explores individual stress management as a viable option to address stress in this profession. Specifically, Canadian teacher education programs are examined to identify the prevalence of pre-service teacher education courses focused on individual stress management. In light of the study findings, the author presents a curriculum framework for the development of a course focused on individual stress management for pre-service teachers as a means to facilitate increased availability of such coursework in Canadian teacher preparation programs. Potential areas of future research are also presented. (Contains 4 footnotes.)