Teaching in a Total Institution: Toward a Pedagogy of Care in Prison Classrooms

This paper argues that a pedagogy of care can help reduce some of the human damage caused by incarceration. Rather than casting incarcerated men and women outside of the moral community and turning prisoners into a “them,” a pedagogy of care promotes inclusion and the creation of human connections. Recognizing prisoners’ humanity helps to dissolve some of the effects of institutionalization and may foster rehabilitation. Instead of limiting teachers to providers of information, as a traditional classroom expects, a pedagogy of care elevates teachers to human constituents of a learning community. This paper outlines a pedagogy of care in the teaching of college mathematics in medium and maximum-security prisons. It is based upon knowledge gained through 15 years of teaching in traditional college classrooms and seven years in prisons. The basic components of the pedagogy of care covered in this paper include communicating to students that learning matters, fostering high expectations, creating a welcoming space, and engaging student interest

String and M-theory: answering the critics

Using as a springboard a three-way debate between theoretical physicist Lee Smolin, philosopher of science Nancy Cartwright and myself, I address in layman's terms the issues of why we need a unified theory of the fundamental interactions and why, in my opinion, string and M-theory currently offer the best hope. The focus will be on responding more generally to the various criticisms. I also describe the diverse application of string/M-theory techniques to other branches of physics and mathematics which render the whole enterprise worthwhile whether or not "a theory of everything" is forthcoming.Comment: Update on EPSRC. (Contribution to the Special Issue of Foundations of Physics: "Forty Years Of String Theory: Reflecting On the Foundations", edited by Gerard 't Hooft, Erik Verlinde, Dennis Dieks and Sebastian de Haro. 22 pages latex

Mirror Symmetry and Other Miracles in Superstring Theory

The dominance of string theory in the research landscape of quantum gravity physics (despite any direct experimental evidence) can, I think, be justified in a variety of ways. Here I focus on an argument from mathematical fertility, broadly similar to Hilary Putnam's 'no miracles argument' that, I argue, many string theorists in fact espouse. String theory leads to many surprising, useful, and well-confirmed mathematical 'predictions' - here I focus on mirror symmetry. These predictions are made on the basis of general physical principles entering into string theory. The success of the mathematical predictions are then seen as evidence for framework that generated them. I attempt to defend this argument, but there are nonetheless some serious objections to be faced. These objections can only be evaded at a high (philosophical) price.Comment: For submission to a Foundations of Physics special issue on "Forty Years Of String Theory: Reflecting On the Foundations" (edited by G. `t Hooft, E. Verlinde, D. Dieks and S. de Haro)

Spartan Daily, February 6, 1942

Volume 30, Issue 81https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/3401/thumbnail.jp

An Evening Spent with Bill van Zwet

Willem Rutger van Zwet was born in Leiden, the Netherlands, on March 31, 1934. He received his high school education at the Gymnasium Haganum in The Hague and obtained his Masters degree in Mathematics at the University of Leiden in 1959. After serving in the army for almost two years, he obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Amsterdam in 1964, with Jan Hemelrijk as advisor. In 1965, he was appointed Associate Professor of Statistics at the University of Leiden and promoted to Full Professor in 1968. He remained in Leiden until his retirement in 1999, while also serving as Associate Professor at the University of Oregon (1965), William Newman Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1990--1996), frequent visitor and Miller Professor (1997) at the University of California at Berkeley, director of the Thomas Stieltjes Institute of Mathematics in the Netherlands (1992--1999), and founding director of the European research institute EURANDOM (1997--2000). At Leiden, he was Dean of the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (1982--1984). He served as chair of the scientific council and member of the board of the Mathematics Centre at Amsterdam (1983--1996) and the Leiden University Fund (1993--2005).Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/08-STS261 the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Spartan Daily, October 17, 1941

Volume 30, Issue 17https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/3337/thumbnail.jp

THE ROLE OF A SINGLE FATHER IN DEVELOPING AMERICAN FAMILY VALUES REFLECTED IN “JERSEY GIRL” MOVIE BY KEVIN SMITH

Keluarga merupakan suatu lembaga sosial yang terdiri dari beberapa individu yang berinteraksi satu sama lain dan memiliki peran sosial seperti suami, istri, adik, dan kakak. Di Amerika, terdapat berbagai tipe keluarga seperti nuclear family, extended family, dan keluarga orang tua tunggal.Hal ini dapat diteliti dalam film Jersey Girl. Untuk mendapatkan hasil analisis yang baik , digunakan dua metode penelitian yaitu metode penelitian dengan studi kepustakaan dan juga metode pendekatan secara historis dan eksponensial. Dalam film tersebut digambarkan dengan jelas kehidupan sebuah keluarga ayah tunggal di Amerika yang berusaha menjalankan perannya dalam mengembangkan nilai-nilai keluarga. Dan nilai kekeluargaan tersebut juga mempengaruhi hubungan antara anggota keluarga dan kondisi kehidupan sosial keluarga ayah tunggal di Amerika tersebut

Spartan Daily, February 6, 1942

Volume 30, Issue 81https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/3401/thumbnail.jp