The Humans that We Are: Prison Poetry Tour Narrative (Part 2)

Caits Meissner continues sharing from her reimagined book tour, where she brings poetry workshops and collaborative readings to prisons, jails and reentry programs around the country.     

The Humans That We Are: Prison Poetry Tour Narrative

Poet Caits Meissner shares her reimagined book tour, bringing free writing and collaborative reading workshops to spaces of incarceration around the country.     

Higher Education Supported by New Technologies at the Technical University of Dresden—Problems and Initiatives

This article summarizes the technical efforts and scientific experience that have been recognized as essential for the introduction of multimedia technologies for innovative teaching and learning at the Technical University of Dresden. Beginning with conventional standards, the most important media types are discussed. Important criteria for the development of multimedia tools are investigated. Finally, the first results of a pilot project of teleteaching are reported. This article emphasizes that new didactic and psychological studies are of the same level of importance for learning success as is technological development. Therefore, the strategy envisaged does not aim at developing the virtual university in its purest form but at the enrichment of the contemporary university by innovative elements that preserve the living contact between teachers and students.     

Science teaching based on cognitive load theory: Engaged students,but cognitive deficiencies

To improve science learning under demanding conditions, we designed an out-of-school lesson in compliance with cognitive load theory (CLT). We extracted student clusters based on individual effectiveness, and compared instructional efficiency, mental effort, and persistence of learning. The present study analyses students’ engagement. 50.0% of our sample (n = 250, 5th–8th graders) showed satisfying results, 11.2% were not motivated; 38.8% had difficulties to cope with the learning situation. Presumably, most of them had problems in identifying relevant contents, some were precarious about their capabilities. We suppose that those students may have improved performance with extended active support. We may advance future research on guidance in CLT, and its integration in the field of science education.     

Cognitive conflicts in mathematics learning

The paper describes research results on how students’ conceptions conflict and change in the process of learning mathematics. There are conflicts within the learner which can be explained as developmental conflicts. Some of them seem to be age-dependent (U-shaped behavioral growth: a global view gets destroyed into a chaos and grows up again as a structured view), and others seem to be fundamental as gaps between two types of concepts (spontaneous versus scientific in the sense of Vygotsky). A third kind of conflict appears when the learner expands the boundaries or exceeds the limits of a concept which was successful till then in the limited version. Conflicts between the learner’s concept and an outside concept originate from communication problems. Both the learner and the teacher may have correct concepts but there is a mismatch of understanding because of thinking in different frames.     

Against accumulation: lifestyle minimalism,de-growth and the present post-ecological condition

The post-2008 financial crisis era has seen an upsurge in popular cultural narratives that implicitly challenge principles of economic productivity, consumption and growth by lamenting a so-called ‘world of too much,’ advocating ethics of minimalism, and renouncing everyday busyness. Narratives range from lifestyle advice on simplicity and de-cluttering private homes, to quests for the reduction of individual labor, communication, social contacts and distraction. This article questions these narratives in terms of eco-politics. Using Kate Soper’s concept of ‘alternative hedonism,’ the article analyzes a selection of five self-help books and one blog that promote lifestyle minimalism in order to interrogate their potential in stimulating de-growth eco-politics through popular culture. Drawing on post-ecological theory, it argues that narratives of lifestyle minimalism are paradoxical in that they resist yet at the same time promote capitalist cultures of growth. To overcome this limitation, it is crucial to understand and transform the narrative premises of lifestyle minimalism in ways that contextualize problems of ‘excess,’ ‘clutter’ and ‘a world of too much’ as intrinsic to the current system of capital accumulation. The article concludes by reflecting on the potential of an eco-movement that joins the alternative culture of minimalist hedonism with the eco-political agenda of de-growth.     

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Questionnaire and Adult Attachment Interview (AAI): Implications for parent child relationships

Although Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are linked to increased health problems and risk behaviors in adulthood, there are no studies on the association between ACEs and adults’ states of mind regarding their early childhood attachments, loss, and trauma experiences. To validate the ACEs questions, we analyzed the association between ACEs and emotional support indicators and Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) classifications in terms of unresolved mourning regarding past loss or trauma and discordant states of mind in cannot classify (U/CC) interviews. Seventy-five urban women (41 clinical and 34 community) completed a questionnaire on ACEs, which included 10 categories of abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction, in addition to emotional support. Internal psychological processes or states of mind concerning attachment were assessed using the AAI. ACE responses were internally consistent (Cronbach's α = .88). In the clinical sample, 84% reported ≥ 4 ACEs compared to 27% among the community sample. AAIs judged U/CC occurred in 76% of the clinical sample compared to 9% in the community sample. When ACEs were ≥ 4, 65% of AAIs were classified U/CC. Absence of emotional support in the ACEs questionnaire was associated with 72% of AAIs being classified U/CC. As the number of ACEs and the lack of emotional support increases so too does the probability of AAIs being classified as U/CC. Findings provide rationale for including ACEs questions in pediatric screening protocols to identify and offer treatment reducing the intergenerational transmission of risk associated with problematic parenting.