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The “New Paradigm” of disability and the International Classification of Function Disability and Health both describe an ecological model of disability that has significantly influenced policy and law, and this model is frequently cited as a background in published research. Given the central role of “the environment” in this ecological model, we asked, what is the status of research on the environment and disability? Specifically, is a scoping review warranted in this area of research?

We conducted a “rapid scan” of the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC) database for articles reporting studies of the environment – defined as the arranged or built environment. We also scanned Google Scholar to ascertain the frequency of articles that might report research into the environment.

NARIC archived 12,486 items published from January 2007 to June 2012; 530 (4.2%) of which contained the search term “environment.” Of the 530 items, 78 (14.7%) also included the terms architecture space, accessibility, and ICF. Over the same time period, Google Scholar returned 109,000 entries to search terms “disability and environment,” 349 (0.3%) of which also included the terms architecture space, accessibility, and ICF.

This application of a method for rapidly assessing the status of the literature suggests that research into some aspects of the environment and disability may be under-represented. A more complete review, requiring more resources, is warranted.

Recent developments in image recognition and “Big Data” offer a method for monitoring the physical accessibility of community environments over time. The stimulus characteristics of images showing access features in context are extremely complex, however, and defining access features that are recognizable by humans or machines is a challenging task. Carefully defining access features provides a basis for teaching both humans and machines to recognize those features and to rate the degree of accessibility.

We employed a stage-process to identify access features detectable in images presented by GSV. We created definitions of features, developed a protocol for conducting community observations, and used it to conduct assessments of access images of 14 towns and cities in 9 states and the District of Columbia.

Interobserver agreement averaged 84% on features and 93% on people observed. A combined access score across communities averaged 60%; ranging from 32% to 100%. A scaled “minimum access” score averaged .92; ranging from .59 to 1.0. We observed 158 people, 3 of whom used a mobility device and 13 of whom used other wheeled devices.

Equating these ratings to academic grades suggests that several communities fail to achieve standards of accessibility but do achieve minimal levels of access in their civic cores. Google Street View offers a data source for human observers to assess the accessibility of communities. Researchers should explore the feasibility of using supervised and unsupervised learning to establish machine recognition of access features.

Botanic gardens represent a significant educational resource often acting as major providers of a diverse range of formal and informal education programs for people of all ages and backgrounds. INQUIRE was a three-year project focusing on inquiry-based science education (IBSE) that involved 17 partners in 11 European countries that aimed to reinvigorate IBSE in the formal and Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) educational contexts in Europe. This chapter presents a case study of successful practices for embedding inquiry-based teaching and learning in botanic gardens. IBSE training courses were developed, piloted, and run. The study based on a qualitative evaluation strategy centers on the examination of the INQUIRE partners’ design, implementation and delivery of their IBSE teacher/educator training courses. The findings show that the courses had a positive impact on the participants who learned both theoretical and practical aspects of implementing IBSE in school and LOtC contexts (www.inquirebotany.org) and strong indications of good quality course provision across the project. A greater appreciation of botanic gardens as a learning resource was also noted. The project resulted in significant professional development outcomes and the key factors for success are discussed here. Consequently, this chapter presents evidence from IBSE in action in botany-related topics and provides a strong case for IBSE in botanic gardens.

Father involvement is a salient predictor of children’s development and recent studies suggest that African American fathers who are highly involved across infancy and toddlerhood have children who enter school better prepared to succeed. Little is known, however, about the specific dimensions of fathering (e.g., language stimulation) that contribute to the positive development of African American children during the early childhood period. Even less is known about psychological and contextual barriers to positive father involvement among African American men with very young children. The first part of this chapter briefly reviews empirical research that has delineated links between multiple dimensions of father involvement and child development in African American families. The second part of the chapter explores emerging evidence on the associations between fathers’ psychological functioning, father involvement and child development, and concludes with suggestions for future research, practice, and policy.

National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) are highly accomplished teachers who have learned to deprivatize their teaching practice, and hence provide a valuable model for teacher leadership. This chapter, which focuses on NBCTs as mentors of teacher candidates in a professional development school (PDS) setting, blends the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards’ Five Core Propositions, Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium Standards, and National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education PDS Standards to operationalize teacher leadership among four NBCTs. Utilizing multiple case-study research methods, data were gathered using prereflections, weekly e-mail prompts, and end-of-semester interviews. Six common threads focus on NBCTs serving as bridges from preservice to in-service teaching and creating distributed leadership opportunities.

Healthcare innovations for bottom-of-pyramid populations face considerable risks and few economic incentives. Can entrepreneurial innovators provide new solutions for global health? This chapter examines how a technology enterprise built a collaborative network and supportive ecosystem making it possible to steer an innovation for TB patients through discovery, development, and delivery. Ecosystem resources were mobilized and upstream and downstream co-innovation risks were mitigated to commercialize a new diagnostic test. Detailed evidence on this innovation for TB care uses ecosystem analysis to clarify core issues in the context of joint value creation. The case study shows how resources from private and public partners can be leveraged and combined by the focal firm to build joint value and to lower execution, co-innovation, and adoption risks in healthcare ecosystems combating diseases of poverty.