Kenya Quaker Secondary School Peace Curriculum Pilot Project: Examining the Role of the Principal in the Successes and Challenges of the Implementation

This qualitative study examined the implementation of a peace curriculum for Kenyan Quaker secondary schools. Fourteen schools were selected for this study 1 year after school leaders attended specific training sessions. On site visits were made to 12 of the 14 schools selected for this study, and interviews conducted with the remaining principals. Schools were ranked on their level of implementation at low, medium, or high. Results indicated that 12 of the 14 schools implemented the curriculum at a medium or high level. Additional findings note the leadership of the principal was key in the overall peace curriculum implementation and addresses successes and challenges of implementing a new initiative in these schools. The development of the Curriculum for Peace and Conflict Management for the Quaker secondary schools in Kenya was a response to the effects of the 2007–2008 post-election violence. In the aftermath of the violence, more than 1,000 were killed and thousands of others displaced from their homes. Many people experienced neighbors turning violent on neighbors, even though living side by side for many years. The Quakers, also known as Friends, have been historically known for promoting peace and conflict resolution around the world. However, once the violence settled and order was restored within the country, these Kenyan Quakers realized they were ill-equipped to address the impact of the violence and create a culture of peace within their schools and communities. The first edition of the Curriculum for Peace and Conflict Management was a collaborative effort between George Fox University, a Quaker institution in the United States, and the Kenyan Quaker secondary schools leadership group. Completed in 2011, this curriculum for ninth and tenth graders contains 43 lessons comprised of eight major themes addressing specific Kenyan cultural needs involving peace in society. Those themes are: 1) Who am I? 2) Peace; 3) Virtues that promote peace; 4) Conflict and conflict management; 5) Life skills; 6) Human rights and responsibilities; 7) Peace and health; and 8) Peace and the environment. The primary concepts of the curriculum begin with the theme of Who Am I?, then develop into the themes of valuing one another; diversity as a strength; and the uniqueness and contributions of each individual to school and society. All together, the first edition consists of a Teachers’ Guide, Resource Guide, and Syllabus. An article describing the development of this project was first published in the 2012 Journal of Research on Christian Education, Volume 21, Issue 1

General phenomenology of ionization from aligned molecular ensembles

Single and multi-photon ionization of aligned molecular ensembles is examined, with a particular focus on the link between the molecular axis distribution and observable in various angle-integrated and angle-resolved measurements. To maintain generality the problem is treated geometrically, with the aligned ensemble cast in terms of axis distribution moments, and the response of observables in terms of couplings to these moments. Within this formalism the angular momentum coupling is treated analytically, allowing for general characteristics - independent of the details of the ionization dynamics of a specific molecule - to be determined. Limiting cases are explored in order to provide a phenomenology which should be readily applicable to a range of experimental measurements, and illustrate how observables can be sensitive to fine details of the alignment, i.e. higher-order moments of the axis distribution, which are often neglected in experimental studies. We hope that this detailed and comprehensive treatment will bridge the gap between existing theoretical and experimental works, and provide both quantitative physical insights and a useful general phenomenology for researchers working with aligned molecular ensembles.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures, 2 table

Angle-resolved RABBIT: theory and numerics

Angle-resolved (AR) RABBIT measurements offer a high information content measurement scheme, due to the presence of multiple, interfering, ionization channels combined with a phase-sensitive observable in the form of angle and time-resolved photoelectron interferograms. In order to explore the characteristics and potentials of AR-RABBIT, a perturbative 2-photon model is developed; based on this model, example AR-RABBIT results are computed for model and real systems, for a range of RABBIT schemes. These results indicate some of the phenomena to be expected in AR-RABBIT measurements, and suggest various applications of the technique in photoionization metrology

Musembe School: How One School and Surrounding Community was Transformed

The story of Eloise and John\u27s work in the Muliro Village area of rural Kenya perhaps best represents all of the tenets of cultural humility in play at the same time. Eloise and John had the unique opportunity to enter into a project that had not been on their radar, nor one they had envisioned or planned for. However, God had specific plansfor one small primary school known as Musembe, and the surrounding community of Muliro Village

When Women Faculty Write: The Power of Community in Scholarship

With the variety of teaching and leading roles placed on faculty members within higher education institutions, finding time to engage in scholarship can be very challenging and often problematic. One way to support scholarship requirements, is finding like-minded colleagues who can provide encouragement and assistance in such efforts. This article describes the formation of a women’s faculty writing group at one Christian higher education institution, and how the support from within that group, helped to facilitate and increase each member’s scholarship agenda and productivity

Cultural Humility: A Framework for Local and Global Engagement

Many institutions of higher education have implemented local and global engagement opportunities as a way to expose both students and faculty to different cultures and further their knowledge of those cultures. One of the primary goals of these cultural experiences is for students and faculty to become more culturally competent. However, it is possible that our current way of thinking and promoting cultural competency within education specifically may not go deep enough and could be considered limiting in the ways we partner, collaborate, and interact with people groups different than ourselves. Cultural humility, a construct currently accepted in some professional preparation programs in the medical field, may be the foundation from which to shift our thinking and practices about cultural competence within education and provide a deeper meaning and understanding to our work around the globe. This article describes the experiences and reflections, as well as personal and professional applications of three faculty members from George Fox University as we have participated extensively in global engagement experiences. Each faculty member addresses three questions that we considered which directly related to our experiences and learning journeys: (1) How have we changed our perceptions or assumptions as a result of our interactions within the context of these opportunities? (2) Have we changed our practices or thinking? (3) Are we more culturally competent as a result of these experiences than before we embarked on our global engagement initiatives

Learning Cultural Humility Through Stories and Global Service-Learning

Service-learning experiences are often utilized by nursing programs in efforts to increase the cultural competence of nursing students. Through the use of sharing story, the concepts of cultural competence and cultural humility can be explained for students preparing for upcoming intercultural experiences. This case study describes the experience of nursing students and university faculty on their first service-learning trip to rural Kenya and how the intercultural issues were navigated there as students developed characteristics of cultural humility. This story is now being shared in preparations for subsequent international trips with nursing students and can be a model for programs wanting to prepare for service-learning experiences