learning: May 2008 Archives
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A group of tech-savvy professors are claiming punk music as inspiration for their approach to teaching. They call their approach Edupunk.
A group of tech-savvy professors are claiming punk music as inspiration for their approach to teaching. They call their approach Edupunk.
Punk rock was a rebellion against the clean, predictable sound of popular music and it also encouraged a do-it-yourself attitude. Edupunk seems to be a reaction against the rise of course-managements systems, which offer cookie-cutter tools that can make every course Web site look the same.
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Charged with burglarizing two family members' homes in Clay County earlier this year, Michael Gilliam was facing as many as 20 years in prison -- and angry relatives pushing for stiff punishment.
Charged with burglarizing two family members' homes in Clay County earlier this year, Michael Gilliam was facing as many as 20 years in prison -- and angry relatives pushing for stiff punishment.
But before his felony case got to trial, a judge suggested the prosecution and defense try something different -- an informal mediation process that, in less than an hour, resulted in a plea agreement where Gilliam avoided prison but agreed to pay restitution, get drug treatment and be on probation for five years.
The March 18 mediation also gave Gilliam and his victims a chance to speak, to each other and a neutral judge, with Gilliam eventually apologizing for his crimes. "Both sides felt like they got something out of it and got to have their say," said Kristen Bailey, Gilliam's attorney.
She would not allow him to discuss the process because he's not yet been formally sentenced. But she noted, "The victims felt like they were being listened to, and my client felt like he was being listened to."
Gilliam's was one of 18 felony cases mediated and settled for Clay, Jackson and Leslie counties that day -- as part of a state pilot program that aims to reduce congestion in courts, and in prisons.
While mediation is common in civil cases, felony mediation is rare in Kentucky and across the country, in part because of prosecutor opposition and judges' concerns about political fallout from the public.
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In what may be the strongest link yet between lead exposure and crime rates, researchers at the University of Cincinnati on Tuesday released new evidence, spanning more than 20 years, that draws a direct relationship between the amount of lead in a child's blood and the likelihood he or she will commit crimes as an adult.
In what may be the strongest link yet between lead exposure and crime rates, researchers at the University of Cincinnati on Tuesday released new evidence, spanning more than 20 years, that draws a direct relationship between the amount of lead in a child's blood and the likelihood he or she will commit crimes as an adult.
Research has shown before that lead has harmful effects on judgment, cognitive function and the ability to regulate behavior. But until now the best research focused on juveniles, not adults.
Now, researchers have collected data from as early as 1979 when pregnant women and their healthy babies had their blood drawn regularly at four Cincinnati medical clinics. By the time the children were 7, researchers had a complete portrait of lead levels.
Nearly two decades later, the researchers tracked down 250 of the subjects, ages 19-24. Controlling for a host of factors, including parental IQ, education, income and drug use, the team found that the more lead in a child's blood from birth through age 7, the more likely he or she was to be arrested as an adult. The tie between high lead levels and violent crime was particularly strong.
