The new standards for K-12 science education suggest that student learning should be more integrated and should focus on crosscutting concepts and core ideas from the areas of physical science, life science, Earth/space science, and engineering/technology. This paper describes large-scale, urban elementary-focused science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) collaboration between a large urban school district, various STEM-focused community stakeholders, and a research-focused private university. The collaboration includes the development of an integrated STEM curriculum for grade K-5 with accompanying teacher professional development. This mixed-methodology study describes findings from focus group interviews and a survey of teachers from Title I elementary schools. Findings suggest the importance of the following critical features of professional development: (a) coherence, (b) content focus, (c) active learning, (d) collective participation, and (e) duration to the success of large-scale STEM urban elementary school reform

The current threat of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the transition to distance (online) education in all educational institutions of the country, including universities. A sudden forced change in the form and structure of education has psychological consequences for all the participants in the educational process. The objective of the study presented was to examine the severity of anxiety, career maladjustment, stress levels, and coping strategies among university teachers during the transition to distance (online) education. The sample comprised 169 individual participants (95 women, 74 men) aged 25 to 70 years: 119 university teachers of the Rostov region (mean age = 45 years) and 40 sales specialists as the control group (mean age = 35 years). The study was conducted online from 04.24.2020 to 06.15.2020. The results indicate a general tendency to increasing stress levels and severity of career maladjustment. university teachers have a higher level of professional motivation and less often complain of feeling unwell and of a decrease in cognitive functions. Less adaptive in terms of stable personality parameters respondents are more likely to experience stress and more prone to manifest unmotivated anxiety. They demonstrate a higher level of career maladjustment and subjective discomfort when using the Internet. The preferred coping strategy is to openly complain about work or general negative feelings. Changes in the dynamic personality characteristics of university teachers during distance education are determined by their stable personality characteristics rather than by their age, which is often mentioned as the main factor for adaptation difficulties.

The paper presents the results of a study of dynamic changes in the severity of depression, it’s somatic manifestations, basic beliefs and dysfunctional attitudes in the course of treatment which included rational psychotherapy. The study sample consisted of 48 men and women with different forms of prediagnosed neurotic disorder aged 25-44 years (M = 32.6, SD = 5.3 (43.7% men)). Methods: Beck Depression Inventory (BDI, N.V. Tarabrina, 2001), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI, N.V. Tarabrina, 2001), Janoff-Bulman The World Assumptions Questionnaire (M.A. Padun, A.V. Kotelnikova, 2007), A. Beck, A. Weissman Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale (DAS, M.L. Zakharova, 2013). Statistical analysis included Kruskal-Wallis H-test and one-way ANOVA with post-hoc analysis. As a result of the study, it was possible to identify gender differences in the dynamics of cognitive-affective manifestations of depression, somatic manifestations of depression and dysfunctional relationships. It has been found that women demonstrate greater progress in stabilizing their emotional state and developing the skills to recognize their dysfunctional thoughts. At the same time, men are distinguished by a more pronounced dynamics of change in beliefs about their own value, the ability to manage events and luck.

The article is devoted to the study of the association of genotypes of genes of monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) with emotional intelligence and personality traits of young people, such as extraversion-introversion, empathy, and alexithymia. The work was attended by students-psychologists, in the amount of 100 people. The following methods were used: Test of emotional intelligence (D.V. Lyusin); Emotional Empathy Questionnaire (A. Mehrabian, N. Epstein); «Big five» test; Toronto Alexithymia Scale. For statistical processing of the results obtained, we used multivariate analysis of variance ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc analysis for non-equilibrium sample sizes. As a result, it was found that the genes of the monoaminergic system COMT and MAOA are associated with the general level of emotional intelligence. Women, in general, showed a lower level of emotional intelligence. The Met/Met genotype of the COMT gene is associated with a higher level of emotional intelligence and high extraversion. The Val/Met genotype of the COMT gene in women is associated with low emotional intelligence and low empathy. The Val/Val genotype of the COMT gene in men is associated with extraversion. In the work, no associations were found between the genotypes of the MAOA, COMT genes, and the level of alexithymia.

It is generally accepted that the use of the most informative areas of the input image significantly optimizes visual processing. Several authors agree that, the areas of spatial heterogeneity are the most interesting for the visual system and the degree of difference between those areas and their surroundings determine the saliency. The purpose of our study was to test the hy-pothesis that the most informative are the areas of the image of largest increase in total luminance contrast, and information from these areas is used in the process of categorization facial expressions. Using our own program that was developed to imitate the work of second-order visual mechanisms, we created stimuli from the initial photographic images of faces with 6 basic emotions and a neutral expression. These images consisted only of areas of highest increase in total luminance contrast. Initially, we determined the spatial frequency ranges in which the selected areas contain the most useful information for the recognition of each of the expressions. We then compared the expressions recognition accuracy in images of real faces and those synthe-sized from the areas of highest contrast increase. The obtained results indicate that the recognition of expressions in synthe-sized images is somewhat worse than in real ones (73% versus 83%). At the same time, the partial loss of information that oc-curs due to the replacing real and synthesized images does not disrupt the overall logic of the recognition. Possible ways to make up for the missing information in the synthesized images are suggested.