The Environmental Theology of Aimee Semple McPherson (Chapter 4 of Blood Cries Out : Pentecostals, Ecology, and the Groans of Creation)

Excerpt: My initial investigation into Aimee Semple McPherson—founder of The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel—and ecology was bleak: every word search returned a spiritual metaphor. “Garbage” came back as “garbage can of Satan,” “pollution” came back as “pollution of the soul,” “plants” came back as “plants of faith,” and “dumping” came back as “dumping ground for gossip.” But eventually, persistence paid off. Popular pastor and author Rick McKinley writes, “Margins are those clear spaces along the edge of a page that keep the words from spilling off. Every book has them. You might jot notes in the margins, but for the most part they go unnoticed. They don’t represent the book, and they don’t define its message. They’re simply there.”McKinley’s analogy describes McPherson’s engagement with nature. McPherson made comments, not commentaries, about nature. She had strong opinions—some radical by today’s standards—yet most remained underdeveloped. Moreover, her theology was largely anthropocentric. People, not the environment, occupied the center of her doctrine.While nature, theologically, occupied the margins for McPherson, politically, it took center stage, especially during her anti-war expositions. Thus, environmental concern ultimately found expression in her patriotism

Sprachförderung im Mathematikunterricht - Ein Überblick zu vernetzten Entwicklungsforschungsstudien

Sprache muss auch im Mathematikunterricht gefördert werden, aber welche Sprachmittel genau? Und wie? Der Kurzbeitrag gibt einen Überblick über Entwicklungsforschungsstudien aus dem Dortmunder MuM-Projekt, in denen für unterschiedliche mathematische Themen spezifiziert wird, welche Sprachmittel tatsächlich benötigt werden und mit welchen sprach- und fachdidaktischen Designprinzipien diese erarbeitet werden können

Konzeptwechsel in der Bruchrechnung

Ein Symposium zu Fehleranalysen in der Bruchrechnung, ist das aus konstruktivistischer Sicht überhaupt noch angemessen, wenn Kompetenz- statt Defizitorientierung groß geschrieben wird? Ja, denn auch aus konstruktivistischer Sicht lohnt sich die Analyse von individuellen Vorstellungen (gerade wenn diese von den intendierten fachlichen Vorstellungen abweichen), um mögliche Lernpfade zur Weiterentwicklung auszumachen und ressourcenorientiert geeignete Lernanlässe zu entwickeln. Ein angemessener Umgang mit Fehlern geht also über die Schaffung einer angstfreien Atmosphäre und das gezielte Thematisieren von Fehlern deutlich hinaus, die oft allein im Zentrum einer neuen Fehlerkultur stehen. In diesem Kurzbeitrag werden zwei dafür zentrale Forschungstraditionen zusammengebracht (vgl. Prediger 2007 für eine ausführlichere Darstellung vieler Aspekte)

Theorizing in Design Research: Methodological reflections on developing and connecting theory elements for language-responsive mathematics classrooms

Topic-specific Didactical Design Research is a research methodology with two aims, 1) designing and improving teaching-learning arrangements and 2) generating theoretical contributions for understanding the initiated teaching-learning processes for a certain topic. The article provides methodological reflections and examples for elaborating the meaning of theorizing within this methodology. Starting from a distinction of categorial, descriptive, explanatory, normative and predictive theory elements with their functions and logical structures, the examples show that theorizing in Design Research studies can be conceived as a process of successively developing and connecting theory elements, for the how-questions (the rationales for the arrangements) and the what-questions (the structuring of the learning content). The considerations are illustrated for the case of topic specific Didactical Design Research for language-responsive classrooms, particularly in relation to language learners’ conceptual understanding of fractions, variables, and percentages

How does income inequality affect cooperation and punishment in public good settings?

In the frame of decentralization reforms in Namibia, local water point associations evolved that have to collect water fees from community members to cover maintenance costs. Enforcement, however, is weak and water point associations have to rely on moral pleas. Partly as a consequence, several users refuse to pay. I test the impact of informal sanction mechanisms on cooperation among water point users in groups with equal and unequal incomes. Interestingly, and in contrast to the vast majority of related studies, cooperation does not increase under the threat of punishment, though the punishment option was frequently used. At individual level I show that while punishments do not affect cooperative behaviour, they provoke counter-punishment. This suggests that peer-sanctioning mechanisms as a means to enforce norm-compliance are not accepted among water point association members. Contribution levels were higher in heterogeneous groups compared with homogenous ones, and both pro-social and anti-social punishments occurred more frequently in homogenous groups. A comparison between different income types further reveals that the poor contribute larger shares of their income than those endowed with higher incomes and that they use punishment as frequently and as vehemently as the better-off, despite higher opportunity costs

Saving creation: nature and faith in the life of Holmes Rolston III [Review]

Preston engagingly tells the story of Rolston, from his childhood in the Shenandoah Mountains, to his long and distinguished career as a philosopher at Colorado State University. As the story of a human life, it is an interesting read, but along the way, Preston also adroitly interweaves the story of the rise and development of environmental ethics as an academic discipline. This is an impressive work overall. If you are interested in natural science and Christian theology, this is a book for you. If you are interested in environmental ethics, this is a book for you. Or, if you are just interested in a fascinating human story, well told, this is a book for you