Inclusion: Academic Vs. Social Success

There is quite a bit of research that focuses on improving teaching strategies for students with learning disabilities, physical disabilities, behavioral issues and more. However, there is very little coverage or mention on which specific environment is the most beneficial for the combined academic and social success of special education students (Story, 2018). The spectrum of learning disabilities is so vast, that there is no one perfect method or model for the academic and social success of the student. Proper accommodations and modifications are vital to the success of students with learning disabilities. This is a perfect example of why inclusion in general education is not the ultimate answer. Every single student—learning disabled or not—is completely unique from another, which is why they each thrive in their own unique set of circumstances. Academically, all learning-disabled students have different needs and there are different methods on how to meet those needs for each one. Special education requires an individualized approach and works to bridge the gap between them and their peers. Socially, when learning disabled students are placed among their peers without learning disabilities, it promotes a better sense of community, involvement, and social awareness throughout the general education environment. Special educators and general educators use their combined professional expertise every day to ensure the success of each and every one of their students. They work to provide and maintain a safe, responsive, and inclusive classroom environment, that can benefit all students academically, while significantly benefiting all students socially

What Kind of Teacher for Our Citizens? A Book Review of \u3cem\u3eWhat Kind of Citizen? Educating Our Children for the Common Good\u3c/em\u3e

Westheimer’s central argument in What Kind of Citizen? Educating our Children for the Common Good is that the current climate around public education—marked, in general, by standardization in our schools—is not conducive to the development of thoughtful and critically engaged public citizens. Westheimer demonstrated convincingly that schools—in response to recent education reform and, in some cases, pressure from parents and other education stakeholders—have increasingly emphasized individual goals at the expense of educating children for the common good. Furthermore and related, in this age of standardized testing, school curricula have become more narrowly focused on achievement in math and literacy at the expense of the broader (and less testable) aims of citizenship education. Westheimer’s goal in this book was to chart a corrective course for our schools by focusing our attention on important questions about the kind of society we imagine, the kind of citizens we want our children to be, and the kind of educational programs required to develop such citizens. This is a sympathetic review that seeks to extend Westheimer’s thinking more explicitly to teacher education by asking what kind of teacher education programs we need in order to develop thinking, engaged citizen teachers

When, How, and Why Did the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Retreat in the Ross Sea Since the Last Glacial Maximum Using Foraminiferal And Porewater Geochemistry

The Antarctic Ice Sheets (AIS) began to retreat from their Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) position sometime after 19,000 years ago. However, the corrosive waters circulating around Antarctica has prevented the recovery of radiocarbon-dateable material, hindering the development of deglacial chronologies. During Expedition NBP1502B to the eastern Ross Sea, an unprecedented quantity of fossil foraminifera and bivalves were recovered. Radiocarbon-dated specimens have been used to constrain the timing of West-AIS retreat from Whales Deep basin and Ross Bank. Whales Deep samples show that the WAIS retreated from its LGM position on the continental shelf edge by 14,700 ± 400 calibrated radiocarbon years ago (cal yr BP). Additional ages, seafloor geomorphology and core sedimentology show that the WAIS paused several times before rapidly retreating south of the modern Ross Ice Shelf 11,500 ± 300 cal yr BP. These retreat events are concomitant with Meltwater Pulse -1a and -1b suggesting these two rapid sea-level rise events played a primary role. This finding potentially resolves a point of contention amongst Antarctic scientists. An additional factor influencing ice sheet retreat includes subglacial meltwater hydrology. Subglacial meltwater generation and drainage may have significantly influenced retreat of Antarctic ice streams in the past and at present. Oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O) from porewater recovered from Whales Deep Basin sediment cores are characteristic of modern Ross Sea waters indicating that fresh meltwater was not preserved in subglacial or glaciomarine sediment. This suggests that subglacial meltwater hydrology did not significantly affect the early stages of WAIS retreat in the Whales Deep Basin. Ross Bank – a seamount rising to 174 meters below sea level – is covered with a thin layer of pelagic sediment. A box core recovered an abundance of calcareous fossils. Radiocarbon ages indicate that the Ross Ice Shelf was grounded on Ross Bank until ~600 cal yr BP when it retreated to its present position. This is significant because it suggests that three topographic features acted to buttress the Ross Ice Shelf up until the last few centuries. Since unpinning, there are only two features, Roosevelt Island and Ross Island, that stabilize the modern Ross Ice Shelf calving front

The Nature of Sex: Sacred or Profane?

The Catholic Church is obviously uncomfortable with the level of blatant sexuality that characterizes American culture. In fact, Catholic leaders often claim that this constant presence of sexuality that bombards Americans desacralizes the act. This essay asks if it is possible, however, that the Catholic Church is also involved in desacralizing sexuality? DeCesare states that the emphasis that the Church places on conception as the only reason for sex, and the ease with which the Church condemns any sexual act outside of the bonds of a Church-sanctioned marriage, overlook the sexual act as one which also unites people, and exposes them to the love of God. Following the scholarship of Charles Curran, this essay posits that the Catholic Church should consider reevaluating its strict view of sexuality, particularly as it pertains to natural law, in order to empower its believers to live a healthier sexual lifestyle, and view that lifestyle as a means through which they can come to a fuller understanding of God