Group items tagged

Mary Douglas's cultural theory proposes that there "a limited set of alternative ways of perceiving and resolving the issues. These contending policy perspectives justify, represent and stem from four different ways of organizing social relations: hierarchy, individualism, egalitarianism and fatalism" (or variants of these names depending on the author). Here cultural theory is applied to climate change science and policies.

From the Heritage Foundation -- a free market analysis of the outcome of the Copenhagen talks. Results have ended with non-binding agreements and no new commitments to amp up emission reductions. Yet stricter agreements were likley to slow GDP growth in the US as well as pose challenges to sovereignty and national security.

Winikoff et al explore key issues related to the adjudication of the disagreement between that the US, Canada and Argentina have with the European Communities over GMOs. The primary focus is on the WTO SPS Agreement and the way in which the agreement can be used to respect cultural differences regarding risk assessment, acknowledge that science policies are value laden, and that public input and participation is even more important than scientific expertise especially in instances of low consensus and low expertise.

The webpage provides a brief biography of Paulo Freire and highlights some of his fundamental ideas about teaching. Freire criticized the "banking" method of teaching where one individual "deposits" her or his knowledge in her or his students who act as passive beings in the classroom. Freire argued that it is more effective to learn together, through a collective process. Learning and seeking knowledge comes natural to all of as as eating or seeking for food, thus no one being should impose her or his ideas onto others as the ultimate truth.

UK govt. sacks head of scientific panel on drug policy for publicly stating relative risk of ecstasy & marijuana.

"They're designed to be triggered if something that's considered as rare as once every 100 years takes place during the several-year duration of the bond's life. If that happens -- say, if winds blow up Westport's Main Street over 150 mph -- then the buyer stands to lose the entire principal. But if that doesn't happen, which is the norm, the buyer enjoys a high rate of return, such as the 9 percent average across the sector in 2012, according to Artemis.bm, an industry news and analysis website."

"s that originally led to them may be rejected. The official "histories" that appear as mere garnishes in many science textbooks are more than happy to leave out all of these tedious or embarrassing elements "

not an extreme climatic event, but an example of improving science-policy connections

Seems they have radio broadcasts too, so I'll keep an eye open for this talk on their site. But also thanks for sharing this site itself as I was not aware of this organization.

Presents a critique of prenatal testing for disability from a disability-rights perspective.

This is the book I mentioned in class that conveys a strong sense of: a) how much we depend on that is below (infra) our attention; b) how difficult it is to try to get to understand how it all functions.

Since FEMA became part of the Department of Homeland Security and suffered from major budget cuts, their disaster preparedness and mitigation programs have been impacted in a negative way. Many programs have been reduced and many of the experts on emergency matters do not work there anymore.

Founded in 1971, Friends of the Earth is an international organization representing over 77 grassroots environmental groups. The organization is mentioned several times through Dickson's book and has been involved in questioning key scientific developments and their potentially harmful effects on human life and the planet. These technologies include nuclear, genetics, carbon emissions and even nanotechnology. They appear to work primarily through direct action and awareness campaigns.

This is an interview to Peter Cordani the CEO of DYN-O-MAT, who had the project of stopping hurricane Rtita in Florida with the gel that is used in diapers. I kind of look for this after Ben's presentation because I thought it was interesting.

I've just been reading some papers from the journal of economic education and I got the need to share this one with all of you. Mind mapping seems like an exciting resource very close to concept mapping. The authors note that these resources are crucial in creating a more engaging and collaborative learning environment. Although they try to test the degree of learning among 39 students, their results are dubious do to the small sample size and only suggestive. Yet the conclusion remains, these resources create a more active learning class motivating students and creating more class participation.

This article is really interesting for several reasons -- it describes a model by a scientist about scientists, and the reception he got from his colleagues; it's an interesting model for thinking about scientists on its own; and in it the author of the article, the scientist, and a reviewer all claim that there have been "no real studies about science."

Interesting article, although I appreciated the stages described in the article, I think it is a much more nuanced process. Nevertheless, an interesting depiction. Thanks Pam!

The Center for Digital Storytelling engages people to share personal stories, bearing witness as related to their lives leading to action and positive change.

Narratives and frames are powerful things. It would seem that any endeavor would benefit from knowing what is a compelling "story" to engage the public. Youth development organizations use this tool quite a lot in their work.

I remember you had been talking about using story boards in one of the other cases. I am wondering if there is a way to use both of those ideas for Case 4.

This group presents on 4/24 from 7-9pm as part of the Cambridge Science Festival

Great link and they have podcasts too.

Participation of experts in working groups, not all citizens. Interesting nevertheless.