This article reflects on the similarities, differences and complexities of science and democracy. Indeed, science is present in our daily lives and democracy through our actions that foster society are present daily as well. Because of the impact of science on society, democracy may be seen as a core element in guiding science towards the greater good. Nevertheless, government use and intervention of science may not be always so. Therefore, it is the people's right and obligation to engage government and scientists reminding them of the benefits but also the risks of their projects and objectives. Science and business may create a covenient and profitable conduit for developing new inventions and advancing science. However, through democracy, we may and should remind them of the ethical implications of their discoveries and the need to work for the greater good and benefitting all. An interesting article that also provides some insights about Obama's policies on Science.

I found this webpage interesting because of the different spins and explanations on the dialogue process. Indeed, it is very well grounded process that enables an interactions that acknowledges all individuals as equals, and with unique and valueble perspectives. I really appreciated David Bohm's conditions for dialogue: "[p]articipants must suspend their assumptions, [...] [p]articipants must view each other as colleagues or peers and [...] [i]n the early stages there needs to be a facilitator who 'holds the context' of dialogue." Cultivating conversation serves as a conduit for encouraging a critical perspective about society.

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.

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 paper by Lord et al. provides evidence on the benefits of the constructivist teaching and learning approach. The authors show how students in a constructivist classroom environment learn more and are more motivated towards learning than those in classroom with a teacher-centric approach. I thought the constructivist approach was only effective in the social sciences yet this article shows that in the hard sciences it is also effective in increasing academic performance. I just wanted to share this with the group.

Joseph D. Novak and Alberto J. Cañas wrote "The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How to Construct and Use Them" (http://cmap.ihmc.us/Publications/ResearchPapers/TheoryCmaps/TheoryUnderlyingConceptMaps.htm), an interesting paper explaining the use and benefits of concept mapping.

"Concepts maps are a graphical representation of knowledge" that allow the concept mapper to envision the main concepts, relationships between concepts and their limits. In other words, it allows us to validate and identify what we know and what we do not know.

Also, concept mapping is good for generating new ideas since it allows for exploring links between concepts that we perhaps did not initially visualize. I also find that concept mapping is an effective way of abstracting and theorizing. In their paper, Joseph Novak and Alberto J. Cañas, summarize some of the guidelines for concept mapping. However, these suggestions should not be taken as straitjackets rather than one of many paths in learning and creating knowledge. There are many paths leading to effective learning and knowledge building and they are all the right path as long as they work for you!

Ladies and gentleman, start your concept mapping!
(Free software for concept mapping available at: http://cmap.ihmc.us/conceptmap.html).

Democracy and the environment may be linked; although it is unclear in what way. The authors of this short document suggest that transitioning towards democracy might increase deforestation, pollution and exploitation of the environment. The reason, they argue, is that transitions are followed by chaos, uncertainty and fear, thus individuals tend to intensify the use of all resources they have at hand, including natural resources. Indeed, one might interpret that the authors are saying the individuals become less patient-due to uncertainty-and decide to consume more and faster today. This increase in the speed and level of consumption augments the consumption of natural resources and thus degrades the environment.

This document from the OECD provides a refresher on the basic principles of environmental economics. It begins by explaining the importance of the environment for any economic system by highlighting the benefits of sustainable growth and the negative consequences that production and consumption may have on the environment (negative externalities). Then, the authors provide a set of policy instruments used to reduce pollution and mitigate the negative effects on the environment of the economic apparatus. Later, an introduction to cost benefit analysis is provided as well as a brief discussion on the use of environmental indicators. Finally, this document provides a discussion on some of the global issues regarding the environment at that time (1991). Nevertheless, this is a good summary of a traditional environmental economics approach.