Creating Space for Personal Meaning in Schooling

This paper suggests possible ways for teachers to develop students’ personal meaning in public school classrooms. We discuss why schools should move beyond a focus on narrow performance standards and help students address the mysteries of life in our universe. We show how a personally meaningful curriculum is an integral one that emphasizes multiple dimensions of knowledge, enduring understandings, and the development of a moral imagination. We conclude that by using four educational keystones (gratitude, justice, imagination, and transcendence) we can educate for personal meaning without imposing our own worldview and belief system on our students

Error estimation and adaptive moment hierarchies for goal-oriented approximations of the Boltzmann equation

This paper presents an a-posteriori goal-oriented error analysis for a numerical approximation of the steady Boltzmann equation based on a moment-system approximation in velocity dependence and a discontinuous Galerkin finite-element (DGFE) approximation in position dependence. We derive computable error estimates and bounds for general target functionals of solutions of the steady Boltzmann equation based on the DGFE moment approximation. The a-posteriori error estimates and bounds are used to guide a model adaptive algorithm for optimal approximations of the goal functional in question. We present results for one-dimensional heat transfer and shock structure problems where the moment model order is refined locally in space for optimal approximation of the heat flux.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1602.0131

The Travels of Astronomical Tables within Medieval Islam: A Summary

This survey of the movements of astronomical tables within medieval Islam provides a backdrop for the remaining articles in this volume. We discuss the types of document that contained astronomical tables, and some of the analytical tools that have produced discoveries with respect to the transmission of tables from one author or subculture to another. We conclude with a summary of table transmission: from origins with the appropriation of traditions of astronomical tables taken from Greece and India, through the establishment of a Ptolemaic tradition in the 9th century and a uniquely Islamic expansion of methods and concepts starting in the 10th, to important sub-traditions in al- Andalus and the Maghrib

An Entropy Stable Discontinuous Galerkin Finite-Element Moment Method for the Boltzmann Equation

This paper presents a numerical approximation technique for the Boltzmann equation based on a moment system approximation in velocity dependence and a discontinuous Galerkin finite-element approximation in position dependence. The closure relation for the moment systems derives from minimization of a suitable {\phi}-divergence. This divergence-based closure yields a hierarchy of tractable symmetric hyperbolic moment systems that retain the fundamental structural properties of the Boltzmann equation. The resulting combined discontinuous Galerkin moment method corresponds to a Galerkin approximation of the Boltzmann equation in renormalized form. We present a new class of numerical flux functions, based on the underlying renormalized Boltzmann equation, that ensure entropy dissipation of the approximation scheme. Numerical results are presented for a one-dimensional test case.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1503.0518

Stirring Heart and Mind: Teaching for Biblical Values

This article was prepared in conjunction with the twelfth annual B. J. Haan Lecture Series held Spring 1995 at Dordt College

The Effects of Government Funding on Private Schools: Appraising the Perceptions of Long-term Principals and Teachers in British Columbia’s Christian Schools

An increasing proportion of Canadian parents enrol children in private schools. This study evaluates the changes long-term principals and teachers of the largest organization of Christian schools in British Columbia perceive to have occurred since partial public funding began in 1977. Funding has been a factor in salaries, resources, and program diversity. Some schools have implemented distinctive approaches based on a religious and educational vision; others have accepted government policies and public school programs with little critical analysis. The data suggest that a school may maintain its educational distinctiveness, but only as long as and to the extent that (1) its leaders continue to have a compelling educational mission shared by a cohesive supporting community, and (2) funding authorities continue to countenance the schools as true alternatives. De plus en plus de parents canadiens inscrivent leurs enfants dans des écoles privées. Cette étude évalue les changements que les directeurs d’école et les enseignants de longue date des principales écoles chrétiennes de la Colombie-Britannique ont remarqués depuis le début du financement partiel des écoles privés par le gouvernement en 1977. L’octroi de subventions a eu un effet sur les salaires, les ressources et la diversité des programmes. Certaines écoles ont mis en place des approches particulières fondées sur une vision religieuse et pédagogique; d’autres ont accepté les politiques gouvernementales et les programmes des écoles publiques en faisant peu d’analyse critique. Les données colligées donnent à penser qu’une école peut maintenir son caractère distinctif, mais seulement dans la mesure où (1) ses directeurs continuent à se donner une mission éducative claire, partagée par une communauté homogène et que (2) les instances assurant le financement continuent à accepter ces écoles comme des solutions de rechange valables.

The Effects of Government Funding on Private Schools: Appraising the Perceptions of Long-term Principals and Teachers in British Columbia’s Christian Schools

An increasing proportion of Canadian parents enrol children in private schools. This study evaluates the changes long-term principals and teachers of the largest organization of Christian schools in British Columbia perceive to have occurred since partial public funding began in 1977. Funding has been a factor in salaries, resources, and program diversity. Some schools have implemented distinctive approaches based on a religious and educational vision; others have accepted government policies and public school programs with little critical analysis. The data suggest that a school may maintain its educational distinctiveness, but only as long as and to the extent that (1) its leaders continue to have a compelling educational mission shared by a cohesive supporting community, and (2) funding authorities continue to countenance the schools as true alternatives. De plus en plus de parents canadiens inscrivent leurs enfants dans des écoles privées. Cette étude évalue les changements que les directeurs d’école et les enseignants de longue date des principales écoles chrétiennes de la Colombie-Britannique ont remarqués depuis le début du financement partiel des écoles privés par le gouvernement en 1977. L’octroi de subventions a eu un effet sur les salaires, les ressources et la diversité des programmes. Certaines écoles ont mis en place des approches particulières fondées sur une vision religieuse et pédagogique; d’autres ont accepté les politiques gouvernementales et les programmes des écoles publiques en faisant peu d’analyse critique. Les données colligées donnent à penser qu’une école peut maintenir son caractère distinctif, mais seulement dans la mesure où (1) ses directeurs continuent à se donner une mission éducative claire, partagée par une communauté homogène et que (2) les instances assurant le financement continuent à accepter ces écoles comme des solutions de rechange valables.