In this chapter, we the three authors take a hard look at higher education, and propose an analytic framework of the three-fold relationality by which we both account for the failure of higher education and point towards its redress. Our framework posits three-fold human relationality: self-to-self; self-to-human other; self-to-Nature.
Rates of participation in early childhood education (ECE) programs are on the rise globally, including in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet little evidence exists on the quality of these programs and on the role of classroom quality in predicting learning for young children across diverse contexts. This study uses data from the Greater Accra Region of Ghana (N = 3,407; M[subscript age] = 5.8 years; 49.5% female) to examine how changes in four culturally validated dimensions of ECE classroom quality predict children's growth in early academic and social-emotional skills from the beginning to the end of one academic year. We find that improvements in domains of classroom instructional quality are related to small, positive gains in children's early academic and social-emotional outcomes over the school year, and that these improvements are generally larger for children and classrooms with higher baseline proficiency and quality levels. Associations between changes in social-emotional aspects of classroom quality and child outcomes were mixed. These results extend the knowledge base on ECE quality to a new and underrepresented context while also providing important information regarding the contexts and children for whom teacher training and other quality-focused improvement efforts may be most needed.
This chapter argues that the major role of the nervous system involves initiating actions in response to challenges in the environment. In humans, the most important system for control of activity of the skeletal muscles starts in the motor area of the cerebral cortex, which in humans lies just in front of the central sulcus. A large fiber tract, called the cortico-spinal tract, connects the motor cortex with the spinal cord. The primary motor cortex is the source of most of the cortico-spinal axons, but its activity is strongly influenced by the pallidum, striatum, cerebellum, and many other cortical regions, including the somato-sensory area of the cortex. The brain translates these high-level plans into the initiation of contraction of dozens of muscles needed to carry out the required movements. All motor control systems act through alpha motor neurons, which are the final pathway to muscles. These motor neurons in the ventral horn of the spinal cord activate the skeletal muscles of the limbs and trunk.
Compared to the general population, youth in foster care experience multiple psychosocial difficulties due to exceptionally high rates of maltreatment. Many youth in care receive psychological and/or psychotropic treatment but not all require or are willing to accept that level of intervention. For many, a “mental health” approach feels pathologizing. Nevertheless, these youth have suffered maltreatment and interventions to improve their ability to cope with past trauma and their often uncertain present are clearly needed. Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT) provides an alternative perspective on suffering and can be framed as a wellness intervention that is appropriate for all humans. The present study examined whether a 6-week CBCT intervention would improve psychosocial functioning among adolescents in foster care. Seventy adolescents were randomized to CBCT (twice weekly) or a wait-list condition. Youth were assessed at baseline and after 6 weeks. Groups did not differ on measures of psychosocial functioning following training; however practice frequency was associated with increased hopefulness and a trend for a decrease in generalized anxiety. Qualitative results indicated that participants found CBCT useful for dealing with daily life stressors. Adolescents in care were willing to engage in CBCT. The majority reported CBCT was very helpful and almost all reported they would recommend CBCT to a friend. Participants reported specific instances of using CBCT strategies to regulate emotion, manage stress, or to respond more compassionately towards others. Standardized self-report measures were not sensitive to qualitative reports of improved functioning, suggesting the need for measures more sensitive to the positive changes noted or longer training periods to demonstrate effects. Practical issues surrounding implementation of such programs in high-risk youth populations are identified. Recommendations are provided for further development.
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The ability to accurately infer others’ mental states from facial expressions is important for optimal social functioning and is fundamentally impaired in social cognitive disorders such as autism. While pharmacologic interventions have shown promise for enhancing empathic accuracy, little is known about the effects of behavioral interventions on empathic accuracy and related brain activity. This study employed a randomized, controlled and longitudinal design to investigate the effect of a secularized analytical compassion meditation program, cognitive-based compassion training (CBCT), on empathic accuracy. Twenty-one healthy participants received functional MRI scans while completing an empathic accuracy task, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), both prior to and after completion of either CBCT or a health discussion control group. Upon completion of the study interventions, participants randomized to CBCT and were significantly more likely than control subjects to have increased scores on the RMET and increased neural activity in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC). Moreover, changes in dmPFC and IFG activity from baseline to the post-intervention assessment were associated with changes in empathic accuracy. These findings suggest that CBCT may hold promise as a behavioral intervention for enhancing empathic accuracy and the neurobiology supporting it.
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"Connecting With Others" for grades 9 through 12 is a proactive program helps high school students learn skills in self-advocacy, communication, interpersonal behaviors, and problem solving. It includes 40 learning activities that take into consideration cultural, ethnic, and gender diversity. The activities are divided into the following skill areas: Awareness of Self and Others, Communication, Responsibility, Conflict Resolution, Cooperation, Love and Empathy, Personal Growth, Preparing for Adulthood.
A wide-ranging consideration of the emerging field of contemplative education.Contemplative approaches to higher education have been gaining in popularity and application across a wide range of disciplines. Spurring conferences, a growing body of literature, and several academic programs or centers, these approaches promise to contribute significantly to higher education in the years to come. This volume provides an overview of the current landscape of contemplative instruction, pedagogy, philosophy, and curriculum from the perspectives of leading researchers and scholar-practitioners. Contributors come from a variety of disciplines, including education, management and leadership studies, humanities, social sciences, the arts, and information science. Drawing on diverse contexts, the essays reveal the applicability of contemplative studies as a watershed field, capable of informing, enriching, and sustaining the many disciplines and instructional contexts that comprise higher education. Chapters discuss the theoretical aspects of the field; the details, experiences, and challenges of contemplative approaches; and the hopes and concerns for the future of this field.
Contemplative approaches to higher education have been gaining in popularity and application across a wide range of disciplines. Spurring conferences, a growing body of literature, and several academic programs or centers, these approaches promise to contribute significantly to higher education in the years to come. This volume provides an overview of the current landscape of contemplative instruction, pedagogy, philosophy, and curriculum from the perspectives of leading researchers and scholar-practitioners. Contributors come from a variety of disciplines, including education, management and leadership studies, humanities, social sciences, the arts, and information science. Drawing on diverse contexts, the essays reveal the applicability of contemplative studies as a watershed field, capable of informing, enriching, and sustaining the many disciplines and instructional contexts that comprise higher education. Chapters discuss the theoretical aspects of the field; the details, experiences, and challenges of contemplative approaches; and the hopes and concerns for the future of this field.
The prevailing conception and practice of education perpetuates a civilization saturated with a deep sense of ontological disconnect and axiological crisis in all dimensions of human life. We examine the disconnect from body, senses, and world in the practice of education. We explore the possibilities in the burgeoning contemplative education movement for reconnection offered by holistic, experiential approaches to learning, in particular, contemplative practices that manifest the arts of somatic, sensuous, relational, and contextual awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; La conception et la pratique dominantes en education perpetuent tine civilisation saturee d'un profond sentiment de detachement ontologique et tine crise axiologique dans toutes les dimensions de Ia vie humaine. Nous nous penchons sur la pratique pedagogique pour y examiner le detachenzent du corps, des sens et du monde. Nous etudions les possibilites offertes par le mouvement conteniplatifqui prend de l'ampleur dans le milieu de l'education et qui vise tine reconnexion par le biais d'approches holistiques et experimen tales a l'enseignement, notamment des pratiques contemplatives reposant stir les arts de la sensibilisation somatique, sensuelle, relationnelle et contextuelle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Alberta Journal of Educational Research is the property of Alberta Journal of Educational Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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Presents the idea of "contemplative reading" and suggests that certain nonfiction works evoke an experience of contemplative response that is familiar to innumerable teachers and other readers. Notes that by looking at the big picture, good contemplative writing can balance the tendency toward overemphasis on negative, problem-based works in some literature programs.
Presents the idea of "contemplative reading" and suggests that certain nonfiction works evoke an experience of contemplative response that is familiar to innumerable teachers and other readers. Notes that by looking at the big picture, good contemplative writing can balance the tendency toward overemphasis on negative, problem-based works in some literature programs.
<p>The study of the rise and institutions of the Tibetan empire of the seventh to ninth centuries, and of the continuing development of Tibetan civilization during the obscure period that followed, have aroused growing interest among scholars of Inner Asia in recent decades. The six contributions presented here represent refinements in substance and method characterizing current work in this area. A chapter by Brandon Dotson provides a new perspective on law and divination under the empire, while the post-imperial international relations of the Tsong kha kingdom are analyzed by Bianca Horlemann. In "The History of the Cycle of Birth and Death," Yoshiro Imaeda's investigation of a Dunhuang narrative appears in a revised edition, in English for the first time. The problem of oral transmission in relation to the Tibetan Dunhuang texts is then taken up in the contribution of Sam van Schaik. In the final section, Matthew Kapstein and Carmen Meinert consider aspects of Chinese Buddhism in their relation to religious developments in Tibet.</p>
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