A pedagogy of emotion in teaching about social movement learning

This article explores the role of emotion in teaching about social issues in higher education. We draw and expand upon Boler's notion of a ‘Pedagogy of Discomfort’, Goodman's and Curry-Steven's concept of a ‘Pedagogy for the Privileged', and on Freire's idea of a ‘Pedagogy of Hope', in reflecting on our own experiences in teaching a graduate-level course on social movement learning. We argue for the importance of further sociological theorisation of the role of emotion in teaching and learning in higher education, and acknowledge the challenges a Pedagogy of Emotion present to those teaching in the social sciences at the post-secondary level.     

The sand/water table as a learning center

The sand/water table, an old standby in nursery and day care classrooms, has long been popular with children. It has remained a fixture despite the nuisance of sand on the floor as teachers acknowledge its social benefits and the calming influence it can have on children who are upset or unhappy.Judith Dighe is a teacher specialist, Head Start, Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD.     

The dance of advocacy

A childbirth educator asks how she can continue to use best evidence and prepare women adequately for birth within the constraints of a hospital practice that pressures educators not to "rock the boat." This column discusses the challenge of advocating for normal birth and the dangers inherent in the advocacy role. Advocacy requires the childbirth educator to "dance" with many partners, including physicians and hospitals. Strategies for inviting colleagues and class participants onto the dance floor and teaching them the steps of the dance are explored. Guidelines for reducing risk and engaging women are discussed.     

An Ordinal Pattern Analysis of Four Hypotheses Describing the Interactions between Drug-addicted, Chronically Disadvantaged, and Middle-Class Mother-Infant Dyads

This study investigated mother-infant interactions in 18 dyads. All participants were African American and enrolled in an early intervention program because the infants (2–26 months of age) had developmental disabilities or were at high risk for developmental disability. Some mothers had used drugs during their pregnancy, and all mothers were of low or middle socioeconomic status. Dyads were videotaped interacting at 4 different times, separated by at least 5 months in time. Videotapes were rated in terms of infant involvement and maternal responsivity in the interaction. 4 hypotheses concerning the pattern of maternal interaction across time were tested using ordinal pattern analysis. The hypothesis that mothers would become less responsive to infants over time (H_D) as a function of drug addiction, poverty, or serious developmental delay was supported for only 4 of the 18 dyads. There was support for the hypothesis (H_j) that mothers naturally increase their responsivity over time ( N = 6) and support for the hypothesis (H_T) that mothers' interactive sensitivity fluctuates in relation to infants' involvement in the interaction over time ( N = 7). Ordinal pattern analysis has advantages in determining how well competing hypotheses describe individuals within populations relative to approaches that identify differences that apply to entire populations.     

Defense department payments for ‘company-financed’ R&D

The US Department of Defense funds a significant fraction of the in-house R&D of its defense contractors through its Independent Research and Development (IR&D) program. These IR&D funds, however, are reported as company-financed R&D in statistics compiled by the National Science Foundation. The program is most important in the aircraft industry, where we estimate that IR&D payments were 20% of the R&D reported as company-financed in 1973. Because special regulations govern the IR&D program, it would be more appropriate for most purposes to treat IR&D as part of federally-financed, not company-financed, R&D.     

Healthcare needs of older adults: in their own words

Community-based health and human services professionals can play an important role in bolstering wellness through offering education to elderly residents and healthcare providers on how to address the unique needs of this population. The purpose of this study was to examine the healthcare needs of the elderly living in two metropolitan counties in Georgia that have experienced an increase in the number of elderly residents. Utilizing qualitative data garnered through focus groups, two main themes were identified: the role of exercise as a means of personal power and feelings of powerlessness. Participants’ narratives reflected opportunities and situations fostering good health through exerting their personal power to alter or improve individual health. On the other hand, negative pathways leading away from optimal health were realized when participants felt powerless to change their health status. For health and human services professionals working with the elderly, these findings should be considered as population, personal well-being, and power changes overtime.     

Teacher Professional Development, Technology, and Communities of Practice: Are We Putting the Cart Before the Horse?

Over the past decade, education reform and teacher training projects have spent a great deal of effort to create and support sustainable, scalable online communities of education professionals. For the most part, those communities have been created in isolation from the existing local professional communities within which the teachers practice. We argue that focusing on online technology solely as a mechanism to deliver training and/or create online networks places the cart before the horse by ignoring the Internet's even greater potential to help support and strengthen local communities of practice within which teachers work. In this article we seek guideposts to help education technologists understand the nature of local K-12 education communities of practice--specifically their reciprocal relationship with teacher professional development and instructional improvement interventions--as a prerequisite to designing online sociotechnical infrastructure that supports the professional growth of education professionals.