Teacher beliefs and constraints in implementing a context-based approach in chemistry

Context-based chemistry is a new teaching approach which applies the concepts studied to contexts relevant to students. In Queensland a syllabus adopting a context-based approach to Years 11 and 12 Chemistry has been piloted over the last five years in selected classrooms. This article reports on a study evaluating the success of the pilot. The study offers significant support for the value of context-based chemistry in the senior secondary years, while also noting the challenges that the new approach presents for students, teachers and parents

Donna King and Spencer King, interviewed by Anna Mary Milam, Part 3

Donna King and Spencer King, interviewed by Anna Mary Milam, December 16, 1978, at their home. The Kings about their house in Veazie and Veazie history. Listen Part 1. mfc_na1225_c1750_01 Part 2. mfc_na1225_c1750_02 Part 3. mfc_na1225_t1317_01 Part 4. mfc_na1225_t1317_02https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mf064/1069/thumbnail.jp

Donna King and Spencer King, interviewed by Anna Mary Milam, Part 4

Donna King and Spencer King, interviewed by Anna Mary Milam, December 16, 1978, at their home. The Kings about their house in Veazie and Veazie history. Listen Part 1. mfc_na1225_c1750_01 Part 2. mfc_na1225_c1750_02 Part 3. mfc_na1225_t1317_01 Part 4. mfc_na1225_t1317_02https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mf064/1070/thumbnail.jp

I Decide when You Die: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Prior Reporting of Physical Violence for Intimate Partner Homicides by Heterosexual Spouses in Florida

It is generally believed that a victim of an intimate partner homicide, who faced ongoing physical violence prior to the killing, would have contacted authorities for assistance or protection some time prior to their death. However, the results of this study show that this notion that a victim of ongoing abuse will, more than likely, request help is a misconception. Through qualitative and quantitative methods analysis, this study reveals the dearth of prior reporting of physical violence to law enforcement or the court when an intimate partner homicide takes place between heterosexual spouses in Florida between 2006 and 2016. Additionally, coercive control, a term that is not nearly as recognizable as domestic violence or intimate partner violence but that should be understood and regulated, was conceptualized and operationalized using NVivo Pro 12, a qualitative social sciences software package. By constructing an original data set from secondary data from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Uniform Crime Report Supplemental Homicide Report, multiple law enforcement agencies from throughout the state of Florida, and many Florida county courthouses, variables of intimate partner homicide were analyzed in unique quantitative models using IBM SPSS, an advanced statistical software analysis program. Also, as part of the content analysis process, Petitions for Injunction for Protection against Domestic Violence were organized, coded, and analyzed to provide insight into the role coercive control takes prior to an intimate partner homicide. This study sheds light on the fact that the emphasis on physical violence in intimate partner abuse, rather than the non-violent tactics of coercive control, for lethality risk assessments for intimate partner violence victims is misplaced and warrants reconsideration

Donna King and Spencer King, interviewed by Anna Mary Milam, Part 1

Donna King and Spencer King, interviewed by Anna Mary Milam, December 16, 1978, at their home. The Kings about their house in Veazie and Veazie history. Listen Part 1. mfc_na1225_c1750_01 Part 2. mfc_na1225_c1750_02 Part 3. mfc_na1225_t1317_01 Part 4. mfc_na1225_t1317_02https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mf064/1067/thumbnail.jp

Donna King and Spencer King, interviewed by Anna Mary Milam, Part 2

Donna King and Spencer King, interviewed by Anna Mary Milam, December 16, 1978, at their home. The Kings about their house in Veazie and Veazie history. Listen Part 1. mfc_na1225_c1750_01 Part 2. mfc_na1225_c1750_02 Part 3. mfc_na1225_t1317_01 Part 4. mfc_na1225_t1317_02https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mf064/1068/thumbnail.jp

A Call for Limiting Absolute Privilege: How Victims of Domestic Violence, Suffering with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Are Discriminated Against by the U.S. Judicial System

The U.S. court system often traumatizes victims of domestic violence (“DV”) through institutional gender discrimination, which has plagued women throughout the United States since colonial American times. In many ways the court system becomes a participant in re-victimizing and continuing the abuse of the DV victim. Abusive power and control of women exposes them to DV in alarming numbers; this causes many DV victims to experience severe trauma that results in psychological injuries such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (“PTSD”). In the court system, the DV abuser enters the legal process with an advantage over his victim who suffers from PTSD. Absolute privilege and the innately adversarial nature of the family law court system harms the DV victim who is ill prepared mentally, physically, and emotionally to wage legal war against her abuser; thus, the abuser manipulates the court system as a weapon to inflict additional harms against his psychologically injured victim. As a result, the victim leaves the court with an unjust and unfair judicial outcome. Such a result runs afoul to the principles of the U.S. legal system. Reforms to the U.S. court system need to be enacted to protect injured DV victims who suffer from PTSD. The Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) requires public spaces to be changed to allow free and open use of public services for people with disabilities to exercise their legal rights. DV victims suffering from PTSD should have the same legal protection afforded by the ADA in order to modify absolute privilege, allowing for a just and fair legal outcome in cases with their abuser

Challenges in Minimizing Teacher Authority While Facilitating a Student-Owned Activism Project

Students who take critical sociology courses often report feeling discouraged about their ability to change large-scale social-structural problems. To redress this perceived lack of agency and control, we modified an upper-division sociology of popular culture course to include a studentowned activism project that would entail minimal teacher direction. In this paper we describe our efforts through two iterations of the activism project and reflect on the obstacles and suc- cesses of the project

COVID-19 and the mass incarceration of Indigenous peoples

Similar to experiences of Indigenous peoples globally, Māori in the nation-state known as New Zealand (NZ) have been subjected to mass incarceration by the colonial state. Places of detention are dangerous environments for the spread of COVID-19. We are deeply concerned about the potential for disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on Māori and other Indigenous peoples within these environments as many have health conditions and/or multiple comorbidities compounding the risks of severe illness and death from COVID-19. We call for the NZ government to honour te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations and uphold Indigenous rights contained within the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other international rights instruments. A whole-of-government commitment to an equitable public health approach is required to: 1) rapidly reduce the numbers of Māori in sites of detention; 2) implement effective, timely, evidenced informed measures to reduce the risk of COVID-19, in line with World Health Organization recommendations; 3) prevent the torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of detained Māori during COVID-19; and, 4) eliminate double-celling. Although focused on NZ, the themes we highlight are likely of relevance for Indigenous peoples across the globe in our collective resistance to the COVID-19 pandemic