Measuring Income Inequality in a General Education or Calculus Mathematics Classroom

Abstract

Income inequality is a central social justice concern, and hence excellent motivation for real-world applications in mathematics classrooms at every level. We describe the Mathematics for Social Justice course at Saint Michael’s College, giving a specific example of one of the typical social justice projects for the course, and showing how projects can be adapted to other courses such as Calculus. The projects described focus on the Gini coefficient, a commonly used measure of income inequality. The original lesson used the trapezoid rule and Microsoft Excel to estimate the Gini coefficient for a country, while the project developed for a Calculus I course uses Maple to fit a power function to data and then integration to calculate the Gini coefficient. We also include readings on the Gini coefficient’s role in policy formulation and advocacy.     

Risk factors for the perpetration of child sexual abuse: a review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES: Since the late 1980s, there has been a strong theoretical focus on psychological and social influences of perpetration of child sexual abuse. This paper presents the results of a review and meta-analysis of studies examining risk factors for perpetration of child sexual abuse published since 1990. METHOD: Eighty-nine studies published between 1990 and April of 2003 were reviewed. Risk factors were classified into one of the following six broad categories: family factors, externalizing behaviors, internalizing behaviors, social deficits, sexual problems, and attitudes/beliefs. Sex offenders against children (SOC) were compared to three comparison groups identified within the 89 studies: sex offenders who perpetrated against adults (SOA), non-sex offenders, and non-offenders with no history of criminal or sexual behavior problems. RESULTS: Results for the six major categories showed that SOC were not different from SOA (all d between -.02 and .14) other than showing lower externalizing behaviors (d=-.25). Sex offenders against children were somewhat different from non-sex offenders, especially with regard to sexual problems and attitudes (d=.83 and .51). Sex offenders against children showed substantial differences from non-offenders with medium sized effects in all six major categories (d's range from .39 to .58). CONCLUSION: Child sex offenders are different from non-sex offenders and non-offenders but not from sex offenders against adults. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: This study suggests that the presence of general risk factors may lead to a variety of negative behavioral outcomes, including the perpetration of child sexual offending. Family factors were strongly related to the perpetration of child sex offending (vs. non-sexual offending or non-offending) and may be valuable intervention points for interrupting the development of child sex offending, as well as other negative behaviors. Other potential points for intervention may focus on the development of appropriate social and emotional skills that contribute to sexual offending.     

Seeking support: researching first‐year students’ experiences of coping with academic life

Students’ transition to academia comes with a number of challenges which, if inadequately addressed, may negatively affect their academic performance and psychological well‐being. Hence, the question of support becomes critical and has been reflected in the variety of practical measures to provide support with learning and facilitate newcomers’ integration into higher education. However, while forms of institutional aid have increased and diversified in recent years, the kind of support the students actually need and prefer to use – from the pool of available resources – remains insufficiently understood in current research. To address this gap, this paper advocates a social network approach to first‐year students’ experiences of coping with academic life and suggests an agenda for further investigation, which would contrast support ‘from above’ and support ‘from below.’     

Mediating Peer Teaching for Learning Games: An Action Research Intervention Across Three Consecutive Sport Education Seasons

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to provide an integrated analysis of a teacher’s peer-teaching mediation strategies, the student-coaches’ instruction, and the students’ gameplay development across 3 consecutive seasons of sport education. Method: Twenty-six 7th-grade students participated in 3 consecutive sport education seasons of invasion games (basketball, handball, and soccer). The research involved 3 action research cycles, 1 per season, and each cycle included the processes of planning, acting and monitoring, reflecting, and fact finding. Data collection consisted of videotape and audiotape records of all 47 lessons, a reflective field diary kept by the first author in the role of teacher-researcher, and a total of 24 semistructured focus-group interviews. Trustworthiness criteria for assuring the quality of qualitative research included extensive data triangulation, stakeholders’ crosschecking, and collaborative interpretational analysis. Results: Through the application of systematic preparation strategies, student-coaches were able to successfully conduct team instruction that resulted in students’ tactical development and improved performance. Aspects such as the study of predominant configurations of players’ gameplay and similar tactical principles across games within the same category prevented a setback in the complexity of the learning content addressed at the beginning of each season. Players also showed an increasing ability to adapt gameplay to game conditions. Conclusions: While sport education has the capacity to develop competent players, different levels of teacher guidance and learners’ instructional responsibility are necessary when teaching tactics.     

Insight into performance improvement in action: Inspiration from mobile apps

Mobile apps are a potentially powerful medium for performance technologists. In this piece we analyze four selected apps‐Coach's Eye, for amateur athletes; EpicMix, for skiers; Cloth, a wardrobe manager; and FLPR, a home‐theatre management tool‐to show the connection between app design and performance support. With user ratings and anecdotal feedback built into the review of the apps, training professionals have a front‐row seat on this expanding arena of problem‐solving products.     

Closing the feedback loop: physics undergraduates’ use of feedback comments on laboratory coursework

The laboratory notebooks of physics undergraduates taking two second-year practical courses were audited to discover whether they had used feedback comments in their subsequent coursework. Ninety-five per cent of the 37 students on the first course and 100% of the 14 students on the second course whose work was audited had used feedback. The marker’s comments were classified into two groups based on whether they addressed simple (mastery) or complex (developmental) learning outcomes. Mastery comments were more likely to be acted on than developmental comments which aimed to extend students’ skills and understanding to higher levels. This has implications for the use of feedback audit as a quality control process, since the feedback which is most commonly applied by students is not the most valuable for the development of higher order skills. Following reflection on the results for the first course, students taking the second course were given responsibility for checking their peers’ notebooks against preset criteria. Peer checking improved students’ marks but did not eliminate the need for mastery feedback. It is argued that a direct audit of students’ use of feedback is particularly valuable when undertaken by the teacher who provides the feedback.     

Head Start and child care providers’ motivators,barriers and facilitators to practicing family-style meal service

This paper presents a qualitative investigation of the motivators, barriers, and facilitators for practicing family-style meal service (FSMS) from the perspective of 18 child care providers serving preschool children in Head Start (HS), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) funded, and non-CACFP child-care centers. Providers were selected based on maximum variation purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews were conducted until saturation was reached. Provider responses were systematically coded using thematic analysis. HS and CACFP providers reported being motivated to practice FSMS because it created pleasant mealtimes, opportunities to role model healthy eating, and healthful child development. CACFP and non-CACFP providers reported not using FSMS because it was resource intensive, messy, and seemed to violate CACFP policy. HS and CACFP providers offered suggestions to overcome these barriers. They suggested that FSMS eventually becomes easier with practice, children can self-regulate their energy intake, and teaching children self-help skills during play time can avoid messes during mealtimes. Findings from this study have implications for programming, policy, and research.     

Storytime Using iPods: Using Technology to Reach all Learners

Many educators would agree that one way to enhance reading fluency is by being read to by fluent readers. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of providing students with audio books via an iPod Shuffle during silent reading time at school. For six weeks, Kindergarten participants spent time either silent reading or listening to a recorded story on an iPod Shuffle during daily dedicated silent reading time. Results show that there was no impact of using the iPod Shuffle on reading fluency; however, students exhibited greater motivation to read, greater engagement in the process, and sustained interest in stories “read.” The benefits to student self-esteem and study skills warrant the use of this strategy for students who may not have opportunities to be read to by a fluent reader on a consistent basis.