eBook downloads, eBook resources & eBook authors
Peace, conflict transformation, and dance are the core topics of this book. It deals with peace and conflict in a different perspective: peace here is understood as plural and incomplete - as a practice, a process of discovery, and an action which begins within every human being. Conflicts, following this idea, are creative possibilities to put this peace in practice. The book deals with how dance - through creativity, connectivity, and responsibility; as well as through the connections between education, communication, and international solidarity movements - can foster this practice of peace on individual and society levels, presenting dance as a tool to foster human potential for peace and conflict transformation. (Series: Masters of Peace - Vol. 3)
For countless generations people have been told that their potential as humans is limited and fundamentally unequal. The social order, they have been assured, is arranged by powers beyond their control. More recently the appeal has been to biology, specifically the genes, brain sciences, the concept of intelligence, and powerful new technologies. Reinforced through the authority of science and a growing belief in bio-determinism, the ordering of the many for the benefit of a few has become more entrenched. Yet scientists are now waking up to the influence of ideology on research and its interpretation. In Genes, Brains, and Human Potential, Ken Richardson illustrates how the ideology of human intelligence has infiltrated genetics, brain sciences, and psychology, flourishing in the vagueness of basic concepts, a shallow nature-versus-nurture debate, and the overhyped claims of reductionists. He shows how ideology, more than pure science, has come to dominate our institutions, especially education, encouraging fatalism about the development of human intelligence among individuals and societies. Genes, Brains, and Human Potential goes much further: building on work being done in molecular biology, epigenetics, dynamical systems, evolution theory, and complexity theory, it maps a fresh understanding of intelligence and the development of human potential. Concluding with an upbeat message for human possibilities, this synthesis of diverse perspectives will engender new conversations among students, researchers, and other interested readers.
Scientific Inquiry into Human Potential explores the intellectual legacy and contemporary understanding of scientific research on human intelligence, performance, and productivity. Across nineteen chapters, some of the most eminent scholars of learning and psychology recount how they originated, distinguished, measured, challenged, and adapted their theories on the nature and nurture of human potential over decades of scientific research. These accessible, autobiographical accounts cover a spectrum of issues, from the biological underpinnings and developmental nature of human potential to the roles of community, social interaction, and systematic individual differences in cognitive and motivational functioning. Researchers, instructors, and graduate students of education, psychology, sociology, and biology will find this book not only historically informative but inspiring to their own ongoing research journeys, as well.
... Offers a new insight into the arguments (of nature versus nurture) by showing that many of the assumptions on both sides are false ... re-examines evidence about the nature of genes, evolution and the nature of the environment in the development of cognitive ability.
In 1998, Dr. Oscar J. Underwood appeared before the United States Congressional Committee on Small Businesses to testify regarding his proven strategies for maximizing competence and scholastic achievement among K-12 students. This book summarizes these strategies. Here, Dr. Underwood outlines methods for creating learning environments that engage students' entire person and unlock their inherent power to achieve exponentially. Dr. Oscar Dowdell-Underwood is a pastor, educator, activist, author, motivational speaker and public intellectual. In 1982, he left a career in suburban education to accept a principalship at a failing, low-income, inner-city elementary school. There, he dared to lead a team of dedicated teachers who together proved that achievement is not a matter of race or economics, but passion and determination. Within one year of implementing what is known as the "Underwood Model," students' achievement scores, engagement, and perceptions of mattering skyrocketed and student violence and apathy plummeted. These students, who were among some of the lowest achievers in the nation, were now performing at unprecedented levels. After 41 years later, his life's work is still centered on educating students and eradicating educational inequalities and disenfranchisement. He is the founder and President of Cornerstone Christian College Preparatory School International and Cornerstone Christian Bible College International. Dr. Oscar Dowdell-Underwood's work has resulted in many distinctions, including being named the first African American Indiana Teacher of the Year in 1977. He is a sought-after conference speaker and education consultant. He is also politically active - challenging educational policies that marginalize students, particularly poor and minority students. He believes that all children deserve the dignity of an excellent education. Dr. Dowdell-Underwood most enjoys the time he spends teaching. His unyielding commitment to education and human development has made an unparalleled positive impact on the hundreds of students who affectionately refer to him as"Doc."
Popular notions hold that our species is inherently violent, that humans are--and always have been--warlike by nature. But as Douglas P. Fry convincingly argues in Beyond War, the facts show that our ancient ancestors were not innately warlike--and neither are we. Fry points out that, for perhaps ninety-nine percent of our history, for well over a million years, humans lived in nomadic hunter-and-gatherer groups, egalitarian bands where generosity was highly valued and warfare was a rarity. Drawing on archaeology and fascinating fieldwork on hunter-gatherer bands from around the world, Fry debunks the idea that war is ancient and inevitable.
Throughout time, people have explored the ways in which they can improve some aspect of their performance. Such attempts are more visible today, with many working to gain an ‘edge’ on their performance, whether it is to learn a new language, improve memory or increase golf handicaps. This book examines a range of techniques that are intended to help improve some aspect of performance, and examines how well they are able to achieve this. The various performance enhancing techniques available can be divided into those where the individual remains passive (receiving a message, suggestion or stimulus) and those where the individual needs to take a more active approach. Human Potential looks at a range of techniques within each of these categories to provide the reader with a sense of the traditional as well as the more contemporary approaches used to enhance human performance. The techniques covered include hypnosis, sleep learning, subliminal training and audio and visual cortical entrainment as well as mnemonics, meditation, speed-reading, biofeedback, neurofeedback and mental imagery practice. This is the first time such a broad range of techniques has been brought together to be assessed in terms of effectiveness. It will be useful to all psychology and sports science students, practicing psychologists, life coaches and anyone else interested in finding out about the effectiveness of performance enhancement techniques.
This volume deals with a wealth of issues related to self, from the overarching theoretical perspective of Bandura and his careful and thorough analysis of the agentic self, highlighting the complexities of our multiple selves acting in an integrated, holistic, and dynamic fashion, to the engaging and novel treatment of self concept as a rope by John Hattie. From many of the chapters we see the utility value of the social cognitive theory and self-determination theory frameworks for interpreting self-processes and how these processes might drive engagement in learning. In particular we see how autonomy support, self-regulation, self-efficacy, and self-regulation are part and parcel of self-processes intimately involved as individuals work out their futures and possible selves. Entwined with these processes are the development of identity, resilience, and a sense of well-being. The BFLPE and bullying chapters provide two examples of self-processes in operation in the school context. What can we take from this? Self-processes are complex, differentiated,and yet coordinated. By focusing on the agentic self we consider the whole person-picture as a rich, integrated, and dynamic tapestry and by focusing on differentiated self elements such as self-regulation, self-determination, self-concept, and self-efficacy, we are able to examine, in more detail, some of the individual threads of the tapestry and the roles they play in the integrated self. Overall, we learn that self-processes are dynamic and are fundamental to enabling human potential.
