Empathy as a Christian Calling

This essay focuses on the recent study of care in my teaching, and the role empathy plays in enacting an ethic of care. Using current research in empathy, along with reflections on my own teaching practice, the ACTS model offers some practical ways to foster and model empathy in teaching. Several case studies exemplify this approach within a variety of educational settings. Current brain research is also explored in the discussion of the model in this essay

Exploring High School Seniors\u27 Lived Experience of Teacher Empathy: A Phenomenological Study

This qualitative phenomenological study sought to explore the lived experiences of four high school seniors. Through the utilization of personal interviews, students offered their unique perspectives on the phenomenon of empathy and specifically empathy from a teacher. The study used questions inviting a retrospective analysis of students’ K-12 experience, and students’ stories provided rich details on the times they felt empathy from teachers. Three significant themes were identified through content analysis in this study and are known as The Trajectory of Empathy. These three themes were : (a) Creation of Personal Connection: teachers used a combination of humor, initiating conversations, personal stories, and universal treatment of all students to create personal connections with students; (b) Moments of Empathy: personal connection with teachers allowed moments of empathy to occur, primarily in one-on-one interactions, and either the teacher or student could initiate the moments of empathy; (c) Lasting Impact of Empathy: following the moments of empathy, students felt a stronger connection to their teacher, and in many cases still have lasting impacts from that experience. Implications for this study suggest a need for schools to move beyond a sole focus on academic curriculum to incorporate times for personal connection, a need for educators to advocate for changes in their schedules to have time to connect with students and engage in empathy, and a suggestion for administrators to prioritize students’ emotional well-being in addition to academics. This study challenges others to continue seeking the student perspective regarding this much-needed topic

The Perceptions of African American Female High-needs Students Regarding the Impact of the Disciplinary System in Low-performing Schools in Arkansas

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate why African American female students are being “pushed out” of learning environments in public schools. This study attempted to answer the central question: According to the “lived experiences” of African – American female students in Arkansas, what are the perceived factors contributing to the disproportionate number of African American female students receiving serious disciplinary consequences in public schools? Eleven African American female students associated with three school districts in Eastern Arkansas fit the following criteria: student in grades 10-12; a female student; self – identified as being African-American; received education in a traditional and nontraditional school setting; had experienced out-of-school suspension, in-school suspension, and expulsion. The semi-structured questions were conducted face-to-face in with in-depth dialogue. Five major themes emerged from the conversations. The first theme was the Impact of a Rough Living Environment. The second theme was Traumatic Experiences. The third theme was Home Support, which is broken down into two subthemes, Lack of Home Support and Consistent, Positive Home Support. The fourth theme that emerged was Racial Resistance to Leaders / Teachers. The fifth theme emerging from the interviews was Use of Disciplinary Action which is broken into three subthemes: Minor Nonviolent Infractions, Minor Violent, and Weapon Infractions, and Major Violent and Weapons Infractions. The conclusions derived from the study were: 1) Living conditions and the level of support for high needs African American female students in low performing schools xii foster a sense of hopelessness regarding the importance of their educational pathways; 2) High-needs African American female students understand racism is prevalent, but they do not accept failure as an option for they have developed and embraced a renowned fight to prove society wrong despite all the reforms and laws created for “permission to fail”; and 3) High needs African American female students recognize there must be consequences for their infractions, but do not accept being overly disciplined to cause more harmful lived experiences, but instead demand schools have people who have an ear to listen and a voice that is slow to speak

Game-Based Teaching Methodology and Empathy in Ethics Education

This article describes the experience of a group of educators participating in a graduate course in ethics. Playing role playing games and the work accompanying that play were the predominate methodology employed in the course. An accompanying research study investigated the lived experiences of the course participants. Themes that emerged from interview data included student engagement, participants’ applications, empathy development, and reactions to professor modeling

Artificially generated turbulence: A review of phycological nanocosm, microcosm, and mesocosm experiments

Building on a summary of how turbulence influences biological systems, we reviewed key phytoplankton-turbulence laboratory experiments (after Peters and Redondo in Scientia Marina: Lectures on plankton and turbulence, International Centre for Coastal Resources, Barcelona, 1997) and Peters and Marrase (Marine Ecology Progress Series 205:291-306, 2000) to provide a current overview of artificial turbulence generation methods and quantification techniques. This review found that most phytoplankton studies using artificial turbulence feature some form of quantification of turbulence; it is recommended to use turbulent dissipation rates (epsilon) for consistency with physical oceanographic and limnological observations. Grid-generated turbulence is the dominant method used to generate artificial turbulence with most experiments providing quantified epsilon values. Couette cylinders are also commonly used due to the ease of quantification, albeit as shear rates not epsilon. Dinoflagellates were the primary phytoplanktonic group studied due to their propensity for forming harmful algal blooms (HAB) as well as their apparent sensitivity to turbulence. This study found that a majority of experimental setups are made from acrylate plastics that could emit toxins as these materials degrade under UV light. Furthermore, most cosm systems studied were not sufficiently large to accommodate the full range of turbulent length scales, omitting larger vertical overturns. Recognising that phytoplankton-turbulence interactions are extremely complex, the continued promotion of more interdisciplinary studies is recommended

Developing optimism : a cognitive-behavioural intervention to reduce stress

Optimistic explanatory style refers to the way in which individual’s routinely attribute cause to the events in their lives (Ambramson et al., 1978) and can be successfully enhanced through the use of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) group-based workshops (Buchanan et al., 1999; Seligman et al., 2007). It has been successfully measured via the self-report Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ: Peterson et al., 1982) and has been associated with better performance and lower levels of state anxiety following negative feedback (Martin-Krumm et al., 2003), a lower incidence of stress-related physical illness (Jackson et al., 2002; Buchanan et al., 1999), and lower levels of job-related emotional distress (Hershberger et al., 2000). In 2005, teaching was identified as the second most stressful job undertaken within the UK (Johnson et al., 2005) and two independent reviews of the teacher-stress literature both concluded that further research is required to develop effective stress-management interventions (Kyriacou, 2000; Jarvis, 2002). Furthermore, Jarvis (2002) specifically highlights CBT-based interventions as an avenue which requires research within the teacher-stress domain. In 2005, Bryant (unpublished MSc thesis) highlighted a link between optimistic explanatory style and lower levels of stress in student Physical Education (PE) teachers who were undergoing the practicum element of their one-year postgraduate diploma of education. The current thesis explored the effectiveness of a CBT-based optimism training programme in developing optimism and reducing stress in student and neophyte PE teachers. A longitudinal, repeated-measures, mixed methods design was employed in a naturalistic setting. Using a pre-test, intervention, post-test design, the effects of CBT-based training were shown to enhance optimism and positive affectivity, and reduce cognitive stress in student teachers during the practicum element of their professional training. To strengthen causal links, a dose-response design was used to provide enhanced training to a sub-group of student teachers. Although differences in optimism and perceived cognitive stress were present in the results, they were not significant. Finally, a qualitative interview based follow-up study identified that participants who had received the prolonged CBT-based optimism training exhibited higher levels of optimistic explanatory style, lower levels of stress and more dispositional optimism than participants who received either the initial or no optimism training. Theoretical and practical implications of the current findings and directions for future research are discussed

Parents’ and Teachers’ Perspectives on Quality Communication in a Head Start Program

AbstractResearchers have suggested that active communication between teachers and parents is positively associated with student success in school, specifically in terms of student attendance, performance, and behavior. The problem that inspired this basic qualitative study was the quality of parent-teacher communication in Head Start programs that serve low socioeconomic status (SES) students. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to examine the quality of parent-teacher communication in a Head Start program that serves low SES students in the northeastern United States and explore how quality of parent-teacher communication might be improved. Ecological systems theory and the communication component of Epstein’s model of parental involvement served as the conceptual framework. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 16 Head Start program participants (eight teachers and eight parents). Data were analyzed using thematic analysis to determine the emerging themes relevant to the study. The findings revealed that parents and teachers perceived there are barriers to the quality of communication between them, and barriers might be overcome by developing a mutual understanding of goals, trust, respect, confidence, and cooperation. The subthemes were that quality communication can be improved by (a) having language interpreters and (b) adapting new modes of communication such as utilizing technology. The findings of this study can lead to positive social change because high quality parent-teacher communication in Head Start programs positively influences children’s attendance, performance, and social and emotional well-being

Educating Correctional Health Care Providers and Inmates About Drug-Drug Interactions: HIV-Medications and Illicit Drugs

Educating Correctional Health Care Providers and Inmates About Drug-Drug Interactions: HIV-Medications and Illicit Drug

COVID-19: Impact on Business Students\u27 Transition from Face-to-Face to Online Instructional Delivery

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the world to its proverbial core with institutions for higher learning caught in the crosshairs. Consequently, every facet of higher education has been indelibly affected. Traditional classroom instruction immediately changed, and a nontraditional delivery method emerged inclusive of both hybrid and online instruction. This delivery method was new to many students as all instruction shifted from face-to-face to virtual. To mitigate the spread of the virus, immediate action was required and campuses had to determine the probability of closing. This was a challenge for many reasons, some students did not have the resources to attend classes virtually. Many students had housing on campus that had been paid for the entire semester and were not prepared to suddenly switch to a new way of instruction and learning. Students depended on work-study on campus and library and computer resources to facilitate their course success. Administrators and educators realized that change is the constant we live within, and understood the need for strategies that were adaptive, agile, and would continue to meet the needs of all students. This change also signaled the need for innovative, contingent, and servant leadership strategies by administrators, faculty, and staff that reduced uncertainty and promoted care and stability for the students. This research paper aims to identify and share the experiences of business students enrolled in two institutions of higher education in meeting this challenge. It will also reveal how students dealt with the sudden transition from traditional learning environments to fully online and hybrid instruction. The complexity was intensified by the need to ensure that faculty members were prepared to give instruction virtually. Many were thrust into e-learning training which by most standards is a great way to demonstrate continuous improvement efforts, a major accreditation mandate for business schools. A Likert-scale survey was administered seeking responses to the processes of curriculum delivery; impact, problems, and issues experienced to the immediate shift to online instruction. Perceptions of support from faculty, advisors, administrators, and methods utilized to establish a sense of urgency to meet the educational needs of the students during COVID 19 were also assessed. Two-hundred and seventy-four students consented to complete the survey. Survey results provide benchmark experiences and challenges that business students encountered while completing their academic semesters. The results will assist business schools in developing best practices for virtual instruction, communication, and student engagement plans and strategies for facilitating student and faculty success during current waves of the pandemic and new pandemics of the future

Game-Based Teaching Methodology and Empathy (Chapter in How Shall We Then Care? : A Christian Educator’s Guide to Caring for Self, Learners, Colleagues, and Community)

Excerpt: While ethics instruction in initial teacher education and advanced preparation in education fields is fairly common,1 less common is the particular curriculum and teaching methodology described herein. Professional educators make many daily decisions regarding curriculum, instruction, and assessment.2 A number of those decisions reflect a need for and commitment to ethical frameworks that inform professional decisionmaking. Indeed, as Shapiro and Gross point out, “The most difficult decisions to solve are ethical ones that require dealing with paradoxes and complexities.”3 Often, educators find themselves at decision points in which ethical systems seem to clash