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In New York State (NYS), Earth science teachers use the "National Science Education Standards" (NSES), the NYS "Learning Standards for Mathematics, Science and Technology" (NYS Standards), and the "Physical Setting/Earth Science Core Curriculum" (Core Curriculum) to create local curricula and daily lessons. In this study, a purposeful sample of experienced and innovative teachers provided insight on how NYS Earth science teachers organize their scope and sequences, align their lessons with the State standards-based documents, establish internal lesson coherence, and prepare their students for the state assessment, the Physical Setting/Earth Science Regents Examination (Regents Exam). Teachers provided responses to a questionnaire regarding their scope and sequence and typical lessons they teach for each unit. These data were then reviewed by the first author as well as by a team of Earth science education experts. Teachers' scope and sequences were well aligned with the Core Curriculum and Regents, but misalignment was found between their lessons and the Core Curriculum as well as between the stated objectives for their students and evaluation of those objectives. The insights gained from this analysis of the NYS system could be helpful to other states as they move toward increased standards-based Earth science curricula. Among other suggestions, it is recommended that the Core Curriculum be revised to emphasize alignment principles and more opportunity be provided for teacher professional development focused on alignment issues relative to the state standards and enhanced internal lesson coherence.

This study assessed the merits of introducing a novel, online interactive training module designed to positively engage dental students and teach them to recognize and report signs of child abuse and neglect. The study aimed to determine if the online training module educated the students equivalently or better than a lecture presentation of the same content. Seventy-two students from Columbia University College of Dental Medicine's class of 2015 (90 percent of the class) agreed to participate and were randomly assigned to either a traditional lecture-based presentation or the online training module. Study participants were given a twenty-question multiple-choice pretest on their knowledge of child abuse recognition and reporting prior to the start of the study. The same instrument was administered as a posttest. At the end of the training, questionnaires were also given to both groups to assess students' perceptions of the two educational methodologies. The results showed that the interactive online training module was more effective than the lecture-based method. Results of the posttest comparison of the two groups were statistically significant (p<0.05) in favor of the online training group. Additionally, the students reported that the interactive online training module was engaging and a helpful resource, but on average they did not prefer it as a total replacement for the lecture-based approach.

The aim of this study was to examine student perceptions of the educational value of a comprehensive, multidisciplinary objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). The examination is administered after the second year of the curriculum, prior to the beginning of clinical training at the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine. The quantitative component of the study consisted of a survey administered to students who had taken the OSCE (N=78). Due to the ordinal level of data produced by the Likert-scale survey, statistical analysis was performed through calculation of the median and interquartile range (IQR). Overall, student perceptions of the educational value of the OSCE, as measured using a five-point scale (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree) were positive, demonstrating students' agreement that the exam required the ability to think critically and problem-solve (median=4, IQR=1), assessed clinically relevant skills (median=5, IQR=1), and was a learning experience (median=5, IQR=1). A statistically significant chi-square value (p<0.001) was found for all questions. The qualitative component consisted of phenomenological examination of student focus group interviews (N=15). Four main themes were identified including that the OSCE was an authentic assessment that required integration and application of knowledge.

Moss communities are commonly found in temperate forests and form a nearly continuous understory in some high latitude forests. However, little is known about the microbial component of these communities, especially the non-testate amoeboid protists. Fifty morphospecies of naked amoebae were identified in samples collected at eight sites in a northeastern North American forest. The mean number (+/-SE) of morphospecies found per sample site based on laboratory cultures was 17+/-2.1. The density of amoebae expressed as number/g dry weight of moss ranged from 3.5+/-0.04 x 10(3) to 4.3+/-0.2 x 10(4) and was positively correlated with the moss moisture content (r=0.9, P<0.001, df=26). Densities of gymnamoebae in the moss are generally higher than found in the surrounding soil, but this may be due in part to the greater weight of soil per unit volume compared with moss. The percentage of encysted forms was inversely related to the moisture content of the moss sample.