This project explored the phenomena of school based mental health practitioners' experience with animal assisted therapy. The purpose of this study was to begin to identify and understand the existing gap between a promising practice and a profession that could be aided by its use. Analysis of qualitative data gathered from semi-structured…

To introduce and provide equine-related activities to military personnel and their families, Utah State University Equine Extension created and implemented an effective program called Ride Utah! Equine-related activities have been shown to improve mental health and build strong family relationships in participating individuals. Ride Utah!…

Despite increasing animal prevalence in public spaces, few districts have proactively developed policies to integrate assistance, therapy, service, and emotional support animals that are both legally sound and support the needs of individual students. Federal legislation defines a variety of animals that could accompany students, but only those…

Science is full of amazing facts, but at times it may be difficult to fully appreciate their significance without an understanding of the scientific practices that gave them meaning. The teaching of evolution may be an example of this situation; there are many interesting facts to consider, but it is equally important for students to learn where…

Perspective taking has been identified as a critical skill in the development of scientifically literate citizenry. Despite the importance of the construct, operationalising and identifying effective pedagogical strategies to promote effective perspective taking have proven challenging. This study provides empirical evidence to support the…

At the end of the nineteenth century, biology as an academic discipline was as young as its corresponding school subject. Now nature itself was analysed as a complex (eco)system consisting of animals, plants, and man. The dramatic conceptual shift and subsequent development of school curricula called for teaching aids representing the new…

Vean is a tool used to catch fish in traditional way in Ohoi Disuk, Kei Island, in Southeast Maluku. This study aims to examine vean tradition as a local wisdom of customary people that has been inherited from generation to generation. This research uses qualitative method applying descriptive analytical approach. The number of respondents is 10…

The empowerment of metacognitive skills has an important role in increasing the capacity of critical thinking and active control of students' cognitive processes in learning. Metacognitive skills can be enhanced through the implementation of learning strategies involving higher-order thinking. The RQA, ADI, RQA integrated with ADI are…

In this study children's learning of the concept, stability, during some building activities were investigated. It was also examined how a story can create meaning, having the children build for some animals in the story. Two preschool teachers and 10 children participated. Data consisted of video-recordings from activities with the children and…

It is proposed that young children may develop a felt sense of God through an attachment to nature that parallels their attachment to significant people in their lives. Children learn through their senses and young children experience a sense of awe and wonder when immersed in nature. Research supports the argument that children who are exposed to…

The topic of human-animal studies (HAS) remains largely ignored within the sociology classroom. While a few sociologists have encouraged teaching about animals, none has assessed whether incorporating nonhuman animals into the curriculum is effective. In this study, three instructors at two universities incorporated animal-related materials in…

This manuscript is a published account of the 2019 Distinguished Lecture of the American Association of Agricultural Education (AAAE) Annual Meeting. The theme of this lecture is regenerative agriculture which the author considers to be one of the most important agricultural movements occurring today. The author speaks to fellow Agricultural…

One goal of Extension is to provide practical information that makes a difference to producers. Cow Herd Appraisal Performance Software (CHAPS) has provided beef producers with production benchmarks for 30 years, creating a large historical data set. Many such large data sets contain useful information but are underutilized. Our goal was to create…

Conditioned taste aversion (CTA) is an intensively studied single-trial learning paradigm whereby animals are trained to avoid a taste that has been paired with malaise. Many factors influence the strength of aversion learning; prominently studied among these is taste novelty--the fact that preexposure to the taste conditioned stimulus (CS)…

The factors influencing resiliency to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) remain to be elucidated. Clinical studies associate PTSD with polymorphisms of the FK506 binding protein 5 (FKBP5). However, it is unclear whether changes in FKBP5 expression alone could produce resiliency or susceptibility to PTSD-like symptoms. In this…