The challenge to make schools safe: Preparing education personnel to curb student aggression and violence

Abstract

The incidence of aggression and violence in schools is approaching epidemic proportions. Unfortunately, few teacher education programs offer coursework designed to prepare school personnel to face the mounting challenge of student aggression. Drawing upon the accumulated literature, changes are discussed in the content of teacher education programs that would prepare teachers to effectively address student violence. Assertions are made that colleges of education must assume leadership roles in redefining professional boundaries to prepare all school personnel to combat student aggression. Lastly, arguments are presented for strengthening university and public school collaboration to promote programs designed to curb the rising tide of student aggression and violence.     

The Kantian Ethic as a Principle of Moral Conduct in Sport

The 2008 Guidelines for Physical Activity for Americans and the National Physical Activity Plan are recently available tools for use by practitioners and scholars in developing and evaluating programs and interventions to increase physical activity across all populations. With the lowest rates of health-benefiting physical activity according to national statistics, targeted communities are often low-income and ethnic minority populations experiencing a chronic disease burden. The aims of this paper are to raise issues about the need for greater sociocultural critique of evidence-basis and other scientific parameters, to comment on the need for the inclusion of sociocultural analysis in physical activity assessment and intervention, and to raise some issues related to the need for kinesiology to deepen its relationship to the physical activity public health sector.     

Small Robot Projects: Before You Start

Working with robots is an attractive possibility for educators at many levels. The price and availability of robotic hardware are favorable, there are often examples in the media of school groups doing robotic projects, and the projects support group design and co-operative activity. Still, these projects cannot be organized without considerable effort. In this article, we look at some of the opportunities and pitfalls that are encountered when working with robots in an educational setting, illustrating them with anecdotes from our experience with eight small robot-building projects, with participants ranging in age from nine to adult, and duration ranging from a single day to a full semester. We suggest some of the benefits of these projects and outline the problems organizers and participants will be likely to face.