This issue of a newsletter from the American Bar Association emphasizes teaching about crime and punishment. The first article offers an overview of the diversity and common assumptions that underpin the teaching of criminology. Student interest in crime and criminology creates an opportunity for instructors interested in challenging students'…

Warns that methods of molding "good students" (e.g., teacher-dominated decision making, lack of student participation/response, and solitary classwork) ensure conformity, docility, passivity, and dependence. Recommends coaching, rather than lecturing, for skill development; Socratic dialogue; environments that reduce fear of failure; and learning…

Analyzes how traditional and liberal discourses treat the intersection of culture, power, and knowledge in fashioning a view of teaching and learning. Argues that both traditions fail as modes of critical pedagogy and that it is necessary to develop a critical discourse that embraces pedagogy as a form of cultural politics. (Author/GC)

Explores a set of pedagogic practices in a 'progressivist' classroom as practices of covert institutional regulation. The article attempts to show how the instructional potential of the pedagogic act is subordinated to the regulative rules of the institutional context of the classroom, so that following classroom rules becomes the main focus of…

An eduator's self-analysis of changing beliefs about classroom relationships over the last 20 years are presented in this paper, with attention given to the philosophical and political issues of caring and controlling. Three phases of experience--student teaching, graduate school, and university teaching--are highlighted. The educator's approaches…

Background: Although much has been written about the ways in which new technology might transform educational practice, particularly in the area of literacy learning, there is relatively little empirical work that explores the possibilities and problems--or even what such a transformation might look like in the classroom. 3D virtual worlds offer a…

On Wednesday, April 18, 1906, an earthquake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter magnitude scale and lasting 48 seconds, erupted along the San Andreas fault with a flash point originating in the San Francisco Bay area. The force of the earthquake tore apart buildings and roads, causing water and gas mains to twist and break. The resulting effects of the…

Although multiple perspectives of democracy are reflected among the diverse people that make up the United States, two crucial elements of democracy are the creation of a public space for a continuous conversation promoting freedom of expression and tolerance, and the importance of compassion. Yet, one of the most basic conflicts in any system, be…

Effects of the positioning of the child in the family and community were studied for 80 Portuguese students, ages 10 to 12 years, of differing race, social class, and gender. Positioning is considered to be a factor that reflects power and control relations in family hierarchical structures, and one that is particularly influenced by family…

Educational reform efforts to date in the United States have not been germane or responsive to the social problems of African American children. The reform efforts advanced to date have only been exercises in tinkering around the educational edges. Our educational focus, the origin of which is outlined, must shift in at least two major ways.…

This guide provides information and teaching strategies for adults to support young people who want to make choices and resolve conflicts using alternatives to violence. Although the material is primarily designed for teachers and counselors, the guide is designed to help assist all adults, especially parents. The premise of the book is that…

The recent drug scare has intensified some programs' social control functions. Through drug abuse prevention programs in particular, schools have encouraged the accumulation of social skills as a means to ensure success, and they have increasingly applied authoritarian sanctions along with psychological manipulations in an attempt to regulate…

As the global economy becomes more integrated, incorporating international experiences into college curricula becomes increasingly desirable for American students and their counterparts abroad. This paper describes one model for creating an international, Web-based, distance-learning classroom that can be used as a guide for those who might wish…