Social justice ed and diversity and equity in science education

I recently ran across a very useful volume in the Multicultural Education Series (Teachers College Press) - "Is everyone really equal?: An introduction to key concepts in social justice education", Sensoy, Ozlem and Robin DiAngelo, 2012.

The appendix alone is worth the price of the volume.  The appendix is entitled "How to Engage Constructively in Courses that Take a Critical Social Justice Approach" and it stresses the importance of developing a perspective informed by the research (and not just personal opinions, personal experience, and anectdote).  This is a lesson it behooves all of us to remember as we progress in our teaching careers; we really need to consult and use and incorporate the research on learning and teaching science - and not just rely on summaries of that research as found in introductory textbooks.

There is a telling vignette that uses the example of Pluto being reclassified down from its former planetary status - a vignette that will resonate with science teachers, and may be useful for consideration by those of us who may teach Biology and someday have to deal with such issues as teaching evolution, or those of us who teach Earth Science and have to deal with related issues (age of Earth, evolution of life through time as evidenced by the fossil record, etc.).

Another volume in that series (which I have not obtained, but can be accessed in part by "Look Inside" on Amazon)) is "Diversity and equity in science education: Research, Policy and Practice by Lee, Okhee and Cory A. Buxton (2010).

When Teachers are Bullys

I recentlly read this article about the bullying of students by teachers. While this doesn't involve cyberbullying, I do think this is alarming and goes hand-in-hand with bullying in other mediums.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/23/stuart-chaifetz-father-wire-son-records-teacher-abuse_n_1447330.html

Bully (2011)

Since this weeks topic has seemed to create quite a bit of discussion I'd like to recommend a movie that released just over a month ago.

The IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1682181/
The movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzhVdc7aQv8

As a small independent documentary, I believe that it's already out of theaters, but I recommend looking for it when it comes to DVD. It's incredibly heart-wrenching and reminds you how serious bullying can be.

There was initially given an R rating in a controversial decision by the MPAA, it is now rated PG-13 allowing for it to be accessed by the kids who will probably benefit and relate to it most. Hopefully some schools will be able to show it and use it as a resource.

From the comments on the trailer:

"I remember not wanting to go to school. Throwing up in the bathroom because they were waiting outside for me. Just because I was held back a grade that made stupid. I will never forget the girls names who hit me, who called me names. Even some teachers said I would make nothing of myself."

Title IX and cyberbullying

Wendy J. Murphy, in "Federal Law Requires Schools to Protect Children from Cyberbullying" ,
(in Cyberbullying, Louise I Gerdes, ed., p. 67-70) argues that Title IX can be used in cases where the cyberbullying is of a sexual nature:  "...the more compelling purpose of Title IX is the prevention of gender discrimination, including sexual harrassment, sexual violence and bullying "based on" gender."

"Title IX applies so long as there is a "nexus" between the harassment and the school environment.  Thus, even if the harmful conduct occurs in a cyber-venue such as Facebook, school officials must step in.  The test is not where did the speech originate, but rather, where did the harmful effects land?  If one students' off campus harassment interferes with another student's on-campus education, schools have the right and the DUTY to do something "effective" about it.

Whether this will work, or not is anyone's guess.  But it may be one way around the free speech issue.

The governing Supreme Court case that has apparently led to students succeeding on free-speech grounds is Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community District (1969).  "Under Tinker, school officials can restrict or respond to student speech if that speech has caused or foreseebly will cause a substantial disruption at school or interference with the rights of students to be secure." (p. 72, Nancy Willard, Schools Have the Right to Punish Cyberbullies, p. 72-78 in Cyberbullying, cited above).

For the bullies...

A lot of our discussion has centered on protecting students from bullies. But how can we help the bullies themselves? I would like to know more about successful interventions for students that exhibit this behavior. I haven't seen much that goes beyond the standards outlined in a basic Ed Psychology textbook.

Movie On Bullying

I had seen the trailer for this documentary a while back and it looks very good. Here is the link to the trailer: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/bully/

I currently help out at Blacksburg High School, and the teacher I assist with has shown a movie in the past about bullying to her students. I can't remember the movie's name on top of my head, however I remember it being a successful adult talking to a group of students about his troubled past with bullying. It was definitely interesting, but I'm not sure if the students in the BHS class really took much from it. I was wondering what your guys opinions were on how effective showing movies on bullying and having class discussions could be?

cyberbullying on personal sites

Just as Lagrange88 brought up the legal issues with cyberbullying, I am thinking of cyberbullying cases happening at places outside of class blog or class blackboard. For example, individual students can set up their own blog or group blog with bullying content; individual students can send personal emails to attack other students; students can post mean comments on Facebook, twitter, or other social network. It will be difficult for teachers to monitor these online behaviors if the blogs are not for class use purpose. As Lagrange88 has pointed out in the article, schools can be sued for violating students’ free speech right if schools try to discipline the students. 

Therefore teachers need to model for students how to respect and tolerate each other, stop bullying immediately when spotting any bullying behavior. Most importantly, teachers need to lecture and discuss openly about bullying/ cyberbullying behaviors, as well as creating a contract with students regarding the responsible use of technology.