Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons^™

The Beauty Within Us, Areli C. Hernandez

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This piece of prose, inspired by Chapter 23 of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, tells the story of a simple, yet vivacious get-together of migrant Latino workers, exploring the beauty within us--members of the migrant farm worker community.

Immersions In Global Equality And Social Justice: A Model Of Change, Kevin Guerrieri, Sandra Sgoutas-Emch

Engaging Pedagogies in Catholic Higher Education (EPiCHE)

In the work for global equality and social justice, how should “change” be understood? Who determines what must change or be changed? In the efforts to carry out social change, what is the academy’s relationship with the community, society at large, and the broader world? This article parts from these and other key questions and then proposes a model of change that can be used as a lens for examining any project, program, or organization with the aim of creating positive change that is meaningful, sustainable, and holistic. The article provides both an explanation of the underlying interdisciplinary theoretical framework …

The Spirituality Of Immersion: Solidarity, Compassion, Relationship, Michael E. Lovette-Colyer

Engaging Pedagogies in Catholic Higher Education (EPiCHE)

While the term spirituality can be problematic, obscuring as much as revealing, immersion experiences cannot be understood fully without exploring the contours of what can only be described as spirituality. To the extent that they work, immersions effect change when they speak to the deepest longings of the heart. While manifesting in many different ways, the spirituality of immersion revolves around three major components: solidarity, compassion, and relationship. The spirituality of immersion is a developed relationality, a desire to enter into richer, wider, more expansive relationships with others, which naturally leads into deeper relationship with God.

When Meaningful Writing Reflects Vincentian Values, Michele Eodice, Anne Ellen Geller, Neal Lerner

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

In The Meaningful Writing Project – our study of over 700 seniors at three universities – students describe how education values are embodied in writing projects in and out of school. In brief, our results show that students find meaning when they are invited to tap into the power of personal connection, see what they are writing as applicable and relevant to the real world, imagine their future selves, immerse themselves in what they are thinking and writing about, and experience research for learning. In many cases, the experiences students reported are aligned with Vincentian values for higher education, namely …

Summary Report Of A Faculty Colloquium Held On The Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ Of The Holy Father Francis On Care For Our Common Home, Mark C. Kiley

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

The Papal Encyclical, issued in summer of 2015, elicited the attention of ten faculty members in St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. All but two of the participants were faculty members based primarily in Staten Island. What follows is a collection of highlights from the formal presentations.

Development Of A Mission-Aligned Campus-Community Partnership Model: The Urban Institute Flu Vaccine Initiative For The Indigent Of Nyc, John M. Conry

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

Despite its position as a powerful country which offers the opportunity for state-of-the-art high-quality patient-centered care, many people within the U.S. do not have access to or cannot afford health care. The Urban Institute of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at St. John’s University was successful in developing a community outreach initiative that provided free flu vaccines to an underserved indigent patient population in New York City in an effort to decrease their risk for flu-related morbidity and mortality.

English Language Instruction, Student Engagement, And Sustainable Practices In Rural Ecuador, Pablo J. Sanchez, Morgan R. Zajkowski

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

St. John’s University’s Vincentian Institute for Social Action aims to develop student commitment to social justice through required coursework, international travel, and community service. A strong theoretical foundation ensures that administrators and students are consistently reflecting on the dynamics of power and engaging with community members in an ethical manner. Our framework should continue conversations with the community about the value of foreign language education in their particular regional and global context and encourage students to see themselves as part of a sustainable process. Where many universities and organizations provide volunteer experiences similar in theory, we hope to improve on …

From Mission To Scholarship: Welcome To Jovsa, Deanne A. Southwell, John M. Conry

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

St. Vincent de Paul’s devotion to addressing the needs of the poor is rooted in the foundation of a Vincentian education. As a Catholic and Vincentian institution, the University provides a distinctive, value-based education to its students. In addition to this proud tradition, the University continues to enhance its resources to address the needs of a transforming world. In 2008, the University created a new unit to highlight and strengthen the distinctiveness of its mission. The Vincentian Institute for Social Action was created as part of the University’s strategic plan, with a goal of broadening the Catholic and Vincentian mission …

Table Of Contents

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

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Editors & Editorial Board

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

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Cover Page

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

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To Build A Better Textbook: Developing A Literature Curriculum For Today’S Christian Schooling, Abby L. Cockrell

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis explores the educational philosophy and the creative process behind the creation of a new textbook and curriculum. The goal of this new textbook and curriculum is to help persuade high school students to view literature as an avenue of life-long learning. The plan to develop this textbook and curriculum is built on five objectives: a recognition of the need for holistic education, the implementation of differentiated teaching methods, the cultivation of student interest, the reflection of diversity within classrooms, and the integration of modern technology. This plan will be proposed in the creation of a textbook for use …

The Effect Of Gender On The Attitudes Of Undergraduates Toward Young-Earth Creationism After Enrollment In An Origins Course, Sean Vinaja

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Many Christian students graduate from secondary schools and enter Christian colleges with worldviews that are unbiblical or contain unbiblical components, many of which stem from their beliefs regarding origins. Little research has been done to study the effect of gender on the role of a young-earth creationist (YEC) origins course in shaping students’ worldview. Research has shown that males and females respond differently to science and religion instruction; because the origins discussion is an intersection of science and religion, the study of gender’s effect in developing a Bible-based worldview is important so that Christian colleges might more effectively guide their …

Inclusive Pedagogy: Beyond Simple Content, Sheila Lintott, Lissa Skitolsky

Faculty Journal Articles

We have learned from feminist philosophy and critical theory that neutrality is a myth; this applies also to the seemingly neutral ways we structure our courses, design our assignments, and assess student achievement and mastery of material. Despite efforts to diversify the content of philosophy classes by ensuring that philosophy written by a diverse and representative selection of philosophers is studied, students still may be alienated when required to participate in a discourse that is not their own. We explore and argue the need for decentering playfulness in philosophy classrooms.

The Effects Of Simulations On Global Empathy, Chad Raymond, Stephanie Jacques, Alisia Medeiros

Faculty and Staff - Articles & Papers

The learning outcomes for college curricula typically emphasize the development of a greater understanding of and empathy for people who come from diverse cultural backgrounds. In this research project the Alexandrian Inventory, a pretest/posttest survey instrument, was administered to undergraduate students to examine which simulations used in two courses were associated with the greatest changes in students’ global empathy. An analysis of the data did not reveal a clear, statistically significant association between the simulations and empathy indicators.

Promoting Global Empathy And Engagement Through Real-Time Problem-Based Simulations: Outcomes From A Policymaking Simulation Set In Post-Earthquake Haiti, Chad Raymond, Tina Zappile, Daniel J. Beers

Faculty and Staff - Articles & Papers

We introduce a real-time problem-based simulation in which students are tasked with drafting policy to address the challenge of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in post-earthquake Haiti from a variety of stakeholder perspectives. Students who participated in the simulation completed a quantitative survey as a pretest/posttest on global empathy, political awareness, and civic engagement, and provided qualitative data through post-simulation focus groups. The simulation was run in four courses across three campuses in a variety of instructional settings from 2013 to 2015. An analysis of the data reveals that scores on several survey items measuring global empathy and political/civic engagement increased …

(Im)Migrant And Ethnic Minority Literature In Education Curricula In Slovenia, Marijanca Ajša Vižintin

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "(Im)migrant and Ethnic Minority Literature in Education Curricula in Slovenia" Marijanca Ajša Vižintin argues that there is a need to develop in the educational system of Slovenia a comprehensive theoretical and applied approach for the inclusion of (im)migrant and ethnic minority students: in addition to writers who represent the Slovenian majority population, school curricula should include members of Slovenian (im)migrant and ethnic minority members of the country irrespective of the language in which they write. In accordance with this objective and recommendation, the reading and study of the cultural production of (im)migrant and ethnic minority texts ought …

Post Critical Again, Charlie Cannon

Articles

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Making Futures, Pelle Ehn

Articles

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Double Or Nothing: Reflections On Bridge Design, Hillary Brown

Articles

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Positive Sum Design And The Economics Of Sharing, Ian Gonsher

Articles

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Model Lessons About Geography And Teaching With Primary Sources, Mary Arnold, Tabitha M. Richards, Helen Peynado, Licinia Stoian, Emily Pahlke, Alison Norton, Melanie A. Mays, Deidre Pribula, Deborah Jones, Mason Mahaffie, Emily Veale, Kerry Zambrano, Scott Bailon, Elena Kavanaugh, Stephanie Burns, Delia Wallis

Instructional Materials

Model Lessons for Teaching with Primary Sources to use with The Student Atlas of Oregon.

“I Can’T Relate”: Refusing Identification Demands In Teaching And Learning, Ian Barnard

English Faculty Articles and Research

In literature, composition, and other areas of English Studies, relateability can be an important tool to inscribe marginalized subjects as academic citizens. However, its larger arc reproduces ethnocentric and individualistic ideologies at the national and personal levels that foreclose the true understanding of and engagement with Otherness that defines learning. What are the particular intellectual and other challenges, pleasures, and rewards of refusing the pedagogical imperative to engage and understand through identification? I conclude the article by deploying theorists of difference to ask what it means to understand difference as difference, how this understanding might be facilitated, and what the …

Reconsidering Virtue, John M. Duffy

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Re-appropriating the Aristotelian concept of virtue in composition classes could become the means of transforming the polarized state of public discourse in America.

Being There: Mindfulness As Ethical Classroom Practice, Paula Mathieu

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Incorporating mindfulness practices in teacher training for writing programs is supported by disciplinary scholarship in composition, spiritual writing, and research in neuroscience.

Jaepl, Vol. 21, Winter 2015-2016, Joonna Smitherman Trapp, Brad Peters

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Essays

Fond Farewells: Judy Halden-Sullivan and Helen Walker

SPECIAL SECTION: RHETORIC AND ETHICS

John M. Duffy - Reconsidering Virtue

Lois Agnew - Why Rhetoric and Ethics? Revisiting History/Revising Pedagogy

Paula Mathieu - Being There: Mindfulness as Ethical Classroom Practice

Scott Wagar - Composition as a Spiritual Discipline

Erec Smith - Buddhism’s Pedagogical Contribution to Mindfulness

Peter H. Khost - “Alas, Not Yours to Have”: Problems with Audience in High-Stakes Writing Tests and the Promise of Felt Sense

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Sheri Rysdam & Lisa Johnson-Shull - Introducing Feedforward: Renaming and Reframing Our Repertoire for Written Response

Mark Noe - Autoethnography …

Buddhism’S Pedagogical Contribution To Mindfulness, Erec S. Smith

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Considering the rhetorical elements in the Buddhist text “The True Aspect of All Phenomena” opens the possibility of teaching students a more mindful approach to writing.

Why Rhetoric And Ethics? Revisiting History/Revising Pedagogy, Lois Agnew

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Coupling rhetoric and ethics has helped create a coherent undergraduate writing major in one of the nation’s first free-standing composition programs.

Front Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

No abstract provided.

Composition As A Spiritual Discipline, Scott Wagar

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Analyzing a widely-read history of composition yields clear elements associated with the contemporary definition of spirituality.