Education Commons^™

The Mechanics Of Scientific Belief, Michael Cook

UReCA: The NCHC Journal of Undergraduate Research & Creative Activity

In "Science: Conjectures and Refutations," Karl Popper establishes a criterion for the scientific character or status of a theory: its falsifiability. And in one move, he turns a host of common scientific postulates—like the Ideal Gas Law, the Law of Conservation of Mass, Newton's First Law, and the Theory of Evolution—into "metaphysical research programs" whose nature renders them impossible to disprove though observable experiment ("Natural Selection and the Emergence of Mind"). According to Popper, the nature of such postulates transcend the physical world; making them just as unfalsifiable as a spiritual power, or a god. In this way, they concern …

The Aesthetic Experience, Flow, And Smart Technology: Viewing Art In A Virtual Environment, Carol Ikard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Smart technology can support art educators and museum professionals in mediating the aesthetic experience. It can also increase museum attendance, enrich the viewer's delight and engagement with artworks and art collections, and provide an avenue for extending art on a global level. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which a mobile art app with text-based narrative influences scores on an aesthetic experience questionnaire. This quantitative research measured the difference in pretest and posttest human-computer interaction scores on the Aesthetic Experience Questionnaire Form after participants used two versions of a mobile art app. Csikszentmihalyi's flow was …

Rewriting, Recapturing, Reenvisioning: Writing Assessment Revisited In The Hermeneutic Sphere, Judith Ann Fourzan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation explores the use of hermeneutics in reconsidering the role of writing assessment in composition. The traditional view of writing assessment is negative. In order to change this traditional view and enable composition faculty to utilize writing assessment and a valuable and necessary tool, a hermeneutic sphere offers the best framework upon which to recast writing assessment as part of composition and writing. A hermeneutic sphere is an interpretive methodology that allows for the investigation of any and all aspects of the subject at hand - in this case, writing assessment. The hermeneutic sphere works much like a heuristic …

Animal Mourning: Précis Of How Animals Grieve (King 2013), Barbara J. King

Animal Sentience

Abstract: When an animal dies, that individual’s mate, relatives, or friends may express grief. Changes in the survivor’s patterns of social behavior, eating, sleeping, and/or of expression of affect are the key criteria for defining grief. Based on this understanding of grief, it is not only big-brained mammals like elephants, apes, and cetaceans who can be said to mourn, but also a wide variety of other animals, including domestic companions like cats, dogs, and rabbits; horses and farm animals; and some birds. With keen attention placed on seeking where grief is found to occur and where it is absent …

Is Intellectual Character Growth A Realistic Educational Aim?, Jason Baehr

Philosophy Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Black And White Multiracial Adult Womens' Experience Of Their Physical Appearance: A Qualitative Descriptive Phenomenological Analysis, Vanessa Geissler

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

According to the 2010 United States Census 1.8 million people self-identified as multiracial Black, and of that 1.8 million, 45% self-identified as Black and White. Multiracial individuals are a growing population in the United States, and by year 2050 an estimated 21% of the entire population will be multiracial. Irrespective of these statistics, research among this population is limited. Further research is warranted because existing literature has identified an increased emphasis on multiracial individual’s physical appearance. Questions such as, “What are you?” or labels such as exotic, beautiful, fascinating, or other, are a few examples of how this population is …

Engaging Practice In Communication Education: Institutional Politics, Knowledge Economy, And State Power, Wincharles Coker

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

A grave concern in communication education scholarship is that research in practice plays second fiddle to theory. Little is known about the phenomenology of practice in communication pedagogy, and how it shapes and is shaped by programmatic assessment in particular. This dissertation attempts to explore the complexity of practice in communication education in a non-Western culture. The project demonstrates that the organizational culture that gives rise to the work of communication program administrators is always filtered and enacted through the interplay of institutional politics, the global knowledge economy, and state power. Using two public universities in Ghana, I argue, based …

[Review] Patricia Sumerling. Elephants And Egotists: In Search Of Samorn Of The Adelaide Zoo. Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 2016, Christine Townend

Animal Studies Journal

This book, as the sub-title suggests, largely concerns the history of an elephant, Samorn, who, as a gift to Australia from the king of Siam, resided at the Adelaide Zoo from 1956 until her death in 1994. The book may appeal to readers who are interested in the way that a zoo works, or in the history of zoos. In places the book offers a great deal of detail, for example long descriptions of the disagreements between ‘egotists’ on the board of the Adelaide Zoo, or about the negotiations to procure Samorn. However, it provides an interesting glimpse into the …

Animal Studies Journal 2016 5 (2): Cover Page, Table Of Contents, Notes On Contributors And Editorial, Melissa Boyde

Animal Studies Journal

Cover page, table of contents, contributor biographies and editorial for Animal Studies Journal Vol. 5 No.2, 2016.

[Provocations From The Field] Epistemology Of Ignorance And Human Privilege, Ralph Acampora

Animal Studies Journal

The article below introduces epistemology of ignorance to animal studies, unearthing various ideologies that legitimate practices of animal exploitation. Factory farming, the slaughterhouse, circuses and zoos, as well as scientific animal research are all investigated for the operation of ideological narratives and images. It is seen that the tropes of Old MacDonald’s farm, Noah’s ark, and the temple of science play pseudo-justifying roles in regards to these institutions. The article concludes that such ideologies of human privilege must be exposed and analyzed for progress to be made in overcoming animal oppression.

Empathy And Moral Laziness, Kathie Jenni

Animal Studies Journal

In The Empathy Exams Leslie Jamison offers an unusual perspective: ‘Empathy isn’t just something that happens to us – a meteor shower of synapses firing across the brain – it’s also a choice we make: to pay attention, to extend ourselves. It’s made of exertion, that dowdier cousin of impulse’ (23). This essay is dedicated to elaborating that crucial observation. A vast amount of recent research concerns empathy – in evolutionary biology, neurobiology, moral psychology, and ethics. I want to extend these investigations by exploring the degree to which individuals can control our empathy: for whom and what we feel …

Killing And Feeling Bad: Animal Experimentation And Moral Stress, Mike R. King

Animal Studies Journal

This paper is prompted by the introspective account of animal experimentation provided by Marks in his paper ‘Killing Schrödinger’s Feral Cat’ in this journal. I offer an ethical interpretation of Marks' paper, and add personal reflections based on my own experiences of being involved in animal experimentation. Identifying the emotional and cognitive experiences of Marks and myself with Rollin’s concept of ‘moral stress’ I explore this effect that conducting animal experimentation can have on the people involved. I argue, based partly on personal anecdotal experience, that this stress varies depending on the organisational structure of animal experimentation, and one’s position …

Someone Not Something: Dismantling The Prejudicial Barrier In Knowing Animals (And The Grief Which Follows), Teya Brooks Pribac

Animal Studies Journal

Humans’ ideologically informed species segregation in their choice of corporeal comestibles leaves certain animals particularly vulnerable to depersonalisation and devaluation of their individual and social features and competencies. This reflects in the lack of attentional focus on these species in scientific inquiries as well as in the attitude of the general public towards these species, both of which determine political (in)action. With an emphasis on land animals bred and raised to satisfy the feeding and clothing demands of a large part of the human population, this essay explores the motivations and capacities of human rescuers and caregivers to know and …

100% Pure Pigs: New Zealand And The Cultivation Of Pure Auckland Island Pigs For Xenotransplantation, Rachel Carr

Animal Studies Journal

In 2008, the New Zealand based company Living Cell Technologies (LCT) was granted approval for human clinical trials of animal-to-human transplantation (xenotransplantation) in New Zealand. This was one of the first human clinical trials to go ahead globally following regulatory tightening in the 1990s due to concerns over disease transmission. In response to these disease concerns LCT is using special pigs, isolated on Auckland Island for 200 years and deemed to be the cleanest in the world. This article explores the way that LCT leverages off New Zealand national narratives of purity to market the Auckland Island pigs as safe …

[Review] Animal Horror Cinema: Genre, History And Criticism, Katarina Gregersdotter, Johan Höglund And Nicklas HålléN (Eds). Basingstoke And New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015., Kirsty Dunn

Animal Studies Journal

Animal Horror Cinema: Genre, History and Criticism is the first anthology of academic writing on the animal horror genre. It provides both an historical overview of animal horror cinema as well as a selection of in-depth essays on particularly potent and provocative examples of the genre. The collection as a whole offers a large and varied range of critical analyses and interpretations on the significance of the animal in modern horror film and is a valuable text for critical animal studies and cinema scholars as well as fans of horror film.

Cultivating Well-Being And Contemplative Ways Of Knowing Through Connection: One Woman's Journey From Monastic Living To Mainstream Academia, Krista Hamel

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines how different types of connection – intimacy, community, and compassion – can positively impact the cultivation of well-being and ways of knowing. Using Scholarly Personal Narrative methodology (narrative storytelling supported by scholarship) I describe my journey from the 15-years I lived as a monastic yogic nun, followed by a period of heartbreak, to my recent experience as a tip-toeing Buddhist and mid-life graduate student who yearned for community, a place to belong, and an opportunity to be heard, seen and valued. I explore how the pain and suffering of loneliness, grief, loss, and change, when met by …

Perceptions Of Business School Students About Character Development And Ethical Reasoning, Larkey Mays Iii

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Character development in higher education is essential for enhancing ethical awareness and moral reasoning. However, inconsistent perspectives exist concerning the impact of ethics education on students' ethical awareness and moral reasoning. This phenomenological study examined the perceptions of senior-level undergraduate business students on their own ethical belief systems and changes in ethical awareness. Astin's student development theory on the environmental effects on learning formed the conceptual framework. The research questions explored how the 4-year undergraduate business school experience changed the students' ability to recognize and evaluate ethical concerns in relation to the ethical aspects of coursework. Thirteen undergraduate seniors pursuing …

Consent, Culpability, And The Law Of Rape, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article explores the relationship between consent and culpability. The goal is to present a thorough exposition of the tradeoffs at play when the law adopts different conceptions of consent. After describing the relationship between culpability, wrongdoing, permissibility, and consent, I argue that the best conception of consent—one that reflects what consent really is—is the conception of willed acquiescence. I then contend that to the extent that affirmative consent standards are aimed at protecting defendants, this can be better achieved through mens rea provisions. I then turn to the current victim-protecting impetus for affirmative expression standards, specifically, requirements that the …

The Interaction Of Music And Dance In Africa, Dan Rager

Dan Rager