Three Additional Bonus Videos:
Monday, June 13, 2022
Scholars spend $500K in taxpayer funds to deconstruct whiteness in physics
ANALYSIS: The unbearable whiteness of physics
Deconstructing whiteness in an introductory physics classroom may seem like a nonsensical goal, but according to a pair of critical whiteness scholars from Seattle Pacific University, this endeavor is actually an important step toward the larger undertaking of freeing students and professors alike from the weighty fetters of whiteness.
Funded through a $495,847 National Science Foundation grant, researchers Amy Robertson and W. Tali Hairston aim “to develop a knowledge base that could lead to awareness of how power relations may be embedded in the way physics is taught and learned.”
The two record introductory physics classes and interview participants, then analyze them using a critical whiteness theory lens “to show how privilege operates in undergraduate physics teaching and learning.”
In one study funded through the grant, Robertson and a colleague from SPU examined the demographic characteristics of students in introductory physics classes at six universities to see which groups were over- or underrepresented.
In another, Hairston and two of his colleagues recorded nearly two weeks of footage from introductory physics classes at three universities, then analyzed a single, seemingly uneventful episode in which a group of students completed a hands-on, in-class assignment dealing with mass and acceleration.
The scholars carefully evaluated the footage for instances of marginalization through displays of “certain characteristics that U.S. culture typically associates with white masculine behavior, including control, independence, and decisiveness.”
Yet, to date, the most notable study born from the Robertson and Hairston NSF-funded collaboration is “Observing whiteness in introductory physics: A case study,” recently published in the prominent physics education journal Physical Review Physics Education Research.
For this study, the two researchers viewed and analyzed six-and-a-half minutes of footage from an introductory physics course, then interviewed the key players involved.
According to Robertson and Hairston’s description of those six-and-a-half minutes, a biracial but culturally white female physics professor gave an assignment to a group of students comprised of a male student of Middle Eastern descent, a female Hispanic student, and a white female student.
That assignment was to draw an energy interaction diagram on a whiteboard within a limited amount of time. During that limited amount of time, the male student of Middle Eastern descent, referred to by the pseudonym Drake, took charge, proceeding to work on the assignment while the two female students, referred to by the pseudonyms Paris and Gail, attempted to make sense of some of the relevant instructions and concepts, making some contributions of their own along the way.
Nothing about the described interaction would seem that out of place in a physics class. No one ostensibly behaved in a disrespectful or offensive manner. No one was recorded using a slur or telling an off-color joke. Yet, as banal as the episode may have seemed, according to the trained-eyes of Robertson and Hairston, the episode was actually riddled with blinding whiteness from...
The 90 Miles Mystery Video: Nyctophilia Edition #1048
Before You Click On The "Read More" Link,
Please Only Do So If You Are Over 21 Years Old.
If You are Easily Upset, Triggered Or Offended, This Is Not The Place For You.
Please Leave Silently Into The Night......
The 90 Miles Mystery Box: Episode #1748
You have come across a mystery box. But what is inside?
It could be literally anything from the serene to the horrific,
from the beautiful to the repugnant,
from the mysterious to the familiar.
If you decide to open it, you could be disappointed,
you could be inspired, you could be appalled.
This is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.
You have been warned.
Sunday, June 12, 2022
State Political Figure Admits to Stuffing Ballots for Democrats For Many, Many Years: The Democrat Board of Elections Was in on It
It’s unlikely that the case of Michael “Ozzie” Myers showed up in too many news feeds this week. Myers, 79, is a former Democratic U.S. representative from Philadelphia who left office in disgrace back in 1980 after his role in the Abscam scandal.
Myers served his time after getting caught on video taking bribes as part of the scandal. He apparently kept right on scammin’, though, even though his grift didn’t get a cool name like “Abscam.”
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On Monday, he pleaded guilty to ballot-stuffing schemes that benefited certain Pennsylvania Democratic candidates between 2014 and 2018 — and the local board of elections was in on it.
According to a news release from the Department of Justice on Monday, Myers pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deprive voters of civil rights, bribery, obstruction of justice, falsification of voting records, and conspiring to illegally vote in a federal election.
“Specifically, Myers admitted in court to bribing the Judge of Elections for the 39th Ward, 36th Division in South Philadelphia, Domenick J. Demuro, in a fraudulent scheme over several years,” the release...
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