<p>Charting his journey from hippie to monk to lay practitioner, teacher, and interpreter of Buddhist thought, Batchelor reconstructs the historical Buddha's life, locating him within the social and political context of his world. In examining the ancient texts of the Pali Canon, the earliest record of the Buddha's life and teachings, Batchelor argues that the Buddha was a man who looked at human life in a radically new way for his time, more interested in the question of how human beings should live in this world than in notions of karma and the afterlife. According to Batchelor, the outlook of the Buddha was far removed from the piety and religiosity that has come to define much of Buddhism as we know it today.</p>
Zotero Collections:
This paper argues for the existence of a universal and genetically-encodedhuman yearning to connect and unite with nature or, writ large, creation.
In human society, this yearning is often revealed through the vehicles of
science and religion. This is a weak genetic tendency, however, that
through the human genius of culture and free will produces widely different versions of science and religion. Nevertheless, this yearning being
an expression of biology and the product of human evolution is ultimately
bound by its functional and adaptive expression. This perspective implies
that not all individual and cultural constructions of science and religion are
equally legitimate, some proving dysfunctional and destructive over time.
This perspective also advances an ethic for the care and conservation of
nature based on a broad understanding of human self-interest.
In the educational psychology literature, self-regulated learning is associated with empowerment, agency, and democratic participation. Therefore, researchers are dedicated to developing and improving self-regulated learning pedagogy in order to make it widespread. However, drawing from the educational philosophy of Paulo Freire, teaching students to regulate their learning can be tied to a curriculum of obedience, subordination, and oppression. Using Freire's discussion of concepts such as adaptation, prescription, and dependence, I suggest that self-regulated learning: (1) targets individual psychological changes that render individuals adaptable to existing social orders; (2) is guided by a logic to prescribe a certain kind of self; and (3) produces a relationship of dependence as learners depend on teachers for learning the necessary scripts to regulate their learning. This analysis points to ethical complexities related to teaching students to academically self-regulate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Studies in Philosophy & Education is the property of Springer Nature 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.)
<p>The article is a review by Stephen L. Mikesell of Robert I. Levy's <em>Mesocosm, Hinduism, and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal</em>. It is a critique of Levi's theory of the urban mesocosm.</p>
This study examines the agreement across informant pairs of teachers, parents, and students regarding the students' social-emotional learning (SEL) competencies. Two student subsamples representative of the social skills improvement system (SSIS) SEL edition rating forms national standardization sample were examined: first, 168 students (3rd to 12th grades) with ratings by three informants (a teacher, a parent, and the student him/herself) and a second group of 164 students who had ratings by two raters in a similar role--two parents or two teachers. To assess interrater agreements, two methods were employed: calculation of q correlations among pairs of raters and effect size indices to capture the extant rater pairs differed in their assessments of social-emotional skills. The empirical results indicated that pairs of different types of informants exhibited greater than chance levels of agreement as indexed by significant interrater correlations; teacher-parent informants showed higher correlations than teacher-student or parent-student pairs across all SEL competency domains assessed, and pairs of similar informants exhibited significantly higher correlations than pairs of dissimilar informants. Study limitations are identified and future research needs outlined.
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is a critical aspect of schooling. While a theoretical model put forward by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has defined five well-accepted components of SEL, few assessments claim to measure these SEL components. This study examined the initial validation of scores for a new universal screening measure called the Social Emotional Learning Screening Assessment (SELA). The SELA's content and internal structure were based on the CASEL five model and the existing SSIS Performance Screening Guide. As part of a larger project, experienced Australian teachers of 268 children from prep through year 3 provided initial user and psychometric evidence for the SELA. The results indicated the teacher-completed SELA is well aligned with the CASEL model and offers educators a time-efficient, sensitive, and reliable measure that effectively identifies students at-risk socially and academically. Although preliminary but promising, further research with the SELA is required to replicate and extend these findings to educators in US schools and to test its application with larger, more diverse samples of students.
We conducted online field experiments in large real-world social networks in order to decompose prosocial giving into three components: (1) baseline altruism toward randomly selected strangers, (2) directed altruism that favors friends over random strangers, and (3) giving motivated by the prospect of future interaction. Directed altruism increases giving to friends by 52% relative to random strangers, whereas future interaction effects increase giving by an additional 24% when giving is socially efficient. This finding suggests that future interaction affects giving through a repeated game mechanism where agents can be rewarded for granting efficiency-enhancing favors. We also find that subjects with higher baseline altruism have friends with higher baseline altruism.
A growing body of evidence suggests that mindfulness meditation is associated with a number of physiological and psychological benefits in both adult and juvenile populations. Research on mindfulness-based interventions among at-risk and incarcerated youth populations has also shown feasibility as a means of enhancing self-regulation and well-being. This randomized controlled trial examined an 8- to 12-week program in which participants received individual and group psychotherapy. Participants in the experimental condition received formal mindfulness training alongside psychotherapy, while those in the control condition received psychotherapy without mindfulness training. All participants received the group intervention. Participants were recruited from a court-mandated substance abuse group treatment program at a juvenile detention camp in the San Francisco Bay Area. Participants were 35 incarcerated youth (100 % male; 70 % Hispanic; mean age = 16.45). Of these, 27 provided complete pre- and post-treatment assessment data. Measures of mindfulness, locus of control, decision-making, self-esteem, and attitude toward drugs were administered before and after the intervention. Detention camp staff provided behavioral rating points for each participant in the week prior to beginning the study treatment and in the week after completing the intervention. Significant increases in self-esteem (p < 0.05) and decision-making skills (p < 0.01) were observed among the entire study sample. Between-group analyses found significantly greater increases in self-esteem (p < 0.05) and staff ratings of good behavior (p < 0.05) in the mindfulness treatment group, consistent with prior research. These results suggest a potentially important role for mindfulness-based interventions in improving well-being and decreasing recidivism among this at-risk population.
Dysuria and bladder pain are two symptoms that commonly call attention to the lower urinary tract.
OBJECTIVES: Emerging research is revealing that direct physical contact of the human body with the surface of the earth (grounding or earthing) has intriguing effects on human physiology and health, including beneficial effects on various cardiovascular risk factors. This study examined effects of 2 hours of grounding on the electrical charge (zeta potential) on red blood cells (RBCs) and the effects on the extent of RBC clumping.DESIGN/INTERVENTIONS: SUBJECTS were grounded with conductive patches on the soles of their feet and palms of their hands. Wires connected the patches to a stainless-steel rod inserted in the earth outdoors. Small fingertip pinprick blood samples were placed on microscope slides and an electric field was applied to them. Electrophoretic mobility of the RBCs was determined by measuring terminal velocities of the cells in video recordings taken through a microscope. RBC aggregation was measured by counting the numbers of clustered cells in each sample.
SETTINGS/LOCATION: Each subject sat in a comfortable reclining chair in a soundproof experiment room with the lights dimmed or off.
SUBJECTS: Ten (10) healthy adult subjects were recruited by word-of-mouth.
RESULTS: Earthing or grounding increased zeta potentials in all samples by an average of 2.70 and significantly reduced RBC aggregation.
CONCLUSIONS: Grounding increases the surface charge on RBCs and thereby reduces blood viscosity and clumping. GrSounding appears to be one of the simplest and yet most profound interventions for helping reduce cardiovascular risk and cardiovascular events.
Environmental medicine generally addresses environmental factors with a negative impact on human health. However, emerging scientific research has revealed a surprisingly positive and overlooked environmental factor on health: direct physical contact with the vast supply of electrons on the surface of the Earth. Modern lifestyle separates humans from such contact. The research suggests that this disconnect may be a major contributor to physiological dysfunction and unwellness. Reconnection with the Earth's electrons has been found to promote intriguing physiological changes and subjective reports of well-being. Earthing (or grounding) refers to the discovery of benefits—including better sleep and reduced pain—from walking barefoot outside or sitting, working, or sleeping indoors connected to conductive systems that transfer the Earth's electrons from the ground into the body. This paper reviews the earthing research and the potential of earthing as a simple and easily accessed global modality of significant clinical importance.
<p>Consistent with the aims of this special issue, we present a systems perspective on self/identity, predicated on William James's classic distinction between I and Me, and use this perspective to explore conceptual relations between self/identity, motivation to learn, and self-regulated learning. We define the I self functionally in terms of the capacity for the conscious shifting and sustaining of awareness. The I is conceived of as that aspect of the self-system that affords the potential for the conscious and willful, rather than the non-conscious and automatic, motivation and regulation of behavior. We introduce contemplative education as a set of pedagogical practices designed to cultivate conscious awareness in an ethical-relational context in which the values of personal growth, learning, moral living, and caring for others are nurtured. We discuss the implications of contemplative education for the cultivation of conscious and willful forms of learning and living among students and educators alike.</p>
Zotero Collections:
Consistent with the aims of this special issue, we present a systems perspective on self/identity, predicated on William James’s classic distinction between I and Me, and use this perspective to explore conceptual relations between self/identity, motivation to learn, and self-regulated learning. We define the I self functionally in terms of the capacity for the conscious shifting and sustaining of awareness. The I is conceived of as that aspect of the self-system that affords the potential for the conscious and willful, rather than the non-conscious and automatic, motivation and regulation of behavior. We introduce contemplative education as a set of pedagogical practices designed to cultivate conscious awareness in an ethical-relational context in which the values of personal growth, learning, moral living, and caring for others are nurtured. We discuss the implications of contemplative education for the cultivation of conscious and willful forms of learning and living among students and educators alike.
Consistent with the aims of this special issue, we present a systems perspective on self/identity, predicated on William James’s classic distinction between I and Me, and use this perspective to explore conceptual relations between self/identity, motivation to learn, and self-regulated learning. We define the I self functionally in terms of the capacity for the conscious shifting and sustaining of awareness. The I is conceived of as that aspect of the self-system that affords the potential for the conscious and willful, rather than the non-conscious and automatic, motivation and regulation of behavior. We introduce contemplative education as a set of pedagogical practices designed to cultivate conscious awareness in an ethical-relational context in which the values of personal growth, learning, moral living, and caring for others are nurtured. We discuss the implications of contemplative education for the cultivation of conscious and willful forms of learning and living among students and educators alike.
This study evaluated the effects of Progressive Self-focus Meditation with 42 volunteers (M age = 46.0 yr., SD = 14.1) allocated to two groups: one that had weekly 1-hr. training sessions in the practice for 5 wk. and one waiting-list group. Participants were evaluated before and after 5 wk. on the Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, the Digit Symbol subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale. After 5 wk., a significant reduction in scores on depression was found in the Meditation group as well as an increase in attention in comparison with the waiting-list Control group.
Meditation is the third most commonly requested complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapy reported in a US survey. Those who suffer from chronic pain are those who most frequently use CAM therapies. This review aims to evaluate whether meditation-based interventions can help the treatment of fibromyalgia. A PubMed search was conducted using the terms "fibromyalgia" and "meditation", or "mindfulness", or "mantra" or "relaxation response". We selected articles which clearly described a meditation intervention being used in the treatment of fibromyalgia. Only four articles were classified with score 3 in the Jadad scale. Another seven articles were included in this review. Most of the results indicate improvement in fibromyalgia-related symptoms in patients who participated in a meditation-based intervention. Considering only 4 of the 13 studies achieved a score of 3 on the Jadad scale, researchers of meditation interventions should discuss the best methodologic control for these studies.
The goal of this study was to evaluate potential mental health benefits of yoga for adolescents in secondary school. Students were randomly assigned to either regular physical education classes or to 11 weeks of yoga sessions based upon the Yoga Ed program over a single semester. Students completed baseline and end-program self-report measures of mood, anxiety, perceived stress, resilience, and other mental health variables. Independent evaluation of individual outcome measures revealed that yoga participants showed statistically significant differences over time relative to controls on measures of anger control and fatigue/inertia. Most outcome measures exhibited a pattern of worsening in the control group over time, whereas changes in the yoga group over time were either minimal or showed slight improvements. These preliminary results suggest that implementation of yoga is acceptable and feasible in a secondary school setting and has the potential of playing a protective or preventive role in maintaining mental health.
Zotero Collections:
'A history of animated nature must itself be animated,' Thoreau recorded in his Journal in 1850, implying that such histories must animate the imagination of their readers if they are to make any impression on them. Yet, scholars claim that Thoreau ultimately grew disenchanted with figurative modes of representing nature and became more concerned with describing it with painstaking accuracy. I contend otherwise. This essay examines 'Autumnal Tints,' written toward the end of his life, as Thoreau's version of the kind of animated history that could inspire his readers to join him in his lifelong quest 'to find God in nature.'
The world's religions affirm it to be so and recent research across a number of disciplines tell us that "Helping others not only benefits those we assist but is good for us as well." The recent and astonishingly generous outpouring of help and donations in response to the earthquake in Haiti is a clear demonstration of this phenomenon, but what if we could be convinced to make helping others a way of life, even when times are hard?
Using data for 25,780 species categorized on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, we present an assessment of the status of the world’s vertebrates. One-fifth of species are classified as Threatened, and we show that this figure is increasing: On average, 52 species of mammals, birds, and amphibians move one category closer to extinction each year. However, this overall pattern conceals the impact of conservation successes, and we show that the rate of deterioration would have been at least one-fifth again as much in the absence of these. Nonetheless, current conservation efforts remain insufficient to offset the main drivers of biodiversity loss in these groups: agricultural expansion, logging, overexploitation, and invasive alien species.Though the threat of extinction is increasing, overall declines would have been worse in the absence of conservation.
Though the threat of extinction is increasing, overall declines would have been worse in the absence of conservation.
There is a significant drive in education to provide mental health supports in schools. One of the key approaches for this is through effective universal supports for students by implementing social and emotional learning (SEL). However, there has been little investigation of effective implementation accounting for the diversity of school environments. Through a secondary data analysis of an efficacy study for the Second Step curriculum, the current study assesses the role of environmental factors and the impact of student-teacher racial mismatch in implementation. The analysis uses a hierarchical linear modeling approach to assess both classroom and school level factors impact on effective implementation. The results demonstrate that environmental factors played little role in the effective implementation. Although mismatch did not impact the delivery of the curriculum, the results indicate significant difference in teachers' perception of students' engagement with the curriculum. Further analysis revealed interactional relationships with school level variables. Discussion of the implications of these findings along with future directions for research conclude this dissertation.
Pages |