From Olaf to Omar: Pedagogy of Place at a Lutheran University

This article reflects on the range of environmental and institutional layers that support pedagogical composition and student learning at a Lutheran University affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in the Pacific Northwest. After reflection on layers that include geographic location, institutional affiliation and denominational affiliation, the author traces the way in which she incorporates these elements into the content and methods of assessment in a religion class on Islam.     

Varieties of people-place relations and place change: UK electricity transmission grid development

Abstract

With a projected increase in electricity demand and low-carbon energy generation in the UK, the increased deployment of the existing electricity network is foreseeable (DECC, 2011). Public controversy over the proposed sitting of overhead transmission lines (often termed NIMBYism) has, in some cases, led to active opposition and resulted in planning delays and financial cost for developers. In going beyond the NIMBY concept, Devine-Wright (2009) posits a place-based approach to understanding responses to energy infrastructure proposals, highlighting the importance of people's subjective emotional and symbolic associations to particular places. This paper critically reviews existing literature on varieties of people-place relations, pointing to limitations of cross-sectional studies and outlining the value of narrative interviews for establishing the dynamic nature of place orientations over time. Furthermore, the case is made for novel research that explores relationships between forms of non-attachment to place (Lewicka, 2011) and responses to a power line proposal.     

Scenes and Means of Grace

Abstract : The Word, Baptism, and Holy Communion—key means of grace according to the Lutheran tradition—take place in a web of earthly conditions whenever they are celebrated. Generating their own scenes of grace, the means of grace give voice, sense of place, and creativity where those are otherwise threatened. Other scenes of grace complement the means of grace, similarly bringing voice, place, and creativity in the face of environmental and social injustices. Martin Luther's affirmation of Christ's presence in creation, both in means of grace and throughout God's world, is a strategic and meaningful threshold for Christians to engage environment and justice while continuing to listen and look for the grace in Christ that feeds and shapes them.     

Deus Ex Machina: The Influence of Polling Place on Voting Behavior

Voting is perceived as free and rational. Citizens make whatever choices they wish, shielded from external influences by the privacy of the voting booth. The current paper, however, suggests that a subtle source of influence—polling places themselves—can impact voting behavior. In two elections, people voting in churches were more likely to support a conservative candidate and a ban on same‐sex marriage, but not the restriction of eminent domain. A field experiment found that people completing questionnaires in a chapel awarded less money (relative to people in a secular building) to insurance claimants seeking compensation for abortion pills, but not to worker's compensation claimants. A laboratory experiment found that people subliminally exposed to ecclesiastical images awarded less money (relative to people exposed to control images) to abortion pill claimants, but not to worker's compensation claimants. Exposure to ecclesiastical images affected only Christians; non‐Christians' awards were unaffected by the prime. These findings show that polling locations can exert a powerful and precise influence on political attitudes and decision making.     

PLACING OURSELVES

Abstract This essay set the stage for the 2003 Star Island conversation on “Ecomorality” by remembering the cosmic, geological, and ecological context in which we live. It reflects on the immense journey that matter and life have traveled from the beginning and reminds us that, throughout that journey, all that was and is emerged from a fertile mix of individual well‐being and reciprocity. But to sense the meaning of the story and to know our place in it takes more than hearing its broad outline. We need to remember the individual actors who have gone before us; to read their stories in particular places, like the rocks and ecosystems of Star Island; and to listen carefully for the meaning to be found in those actors and those places. Those stories, actors, and places invite us to sense the sacredness of our time and place and to reconsecrate our selves and our energies to developing an ethic that honors our common ancestry.     

Delayed backward conditioning of place preference induced by wheel running in rats

Backward conditioning of place preference has been obtained in hungry rats when wheel running (the rewarding US) is followed immediately by exposure to a distinctive chamber (the CS). We tested whether such backward conditioning would occur with a 10-min delay. In each of four paired exposures, a period of wheel running (2 or 22 h, in separate experiments) was followed by 10 min in the home cage and then 30 min in the CS chamber. Control rats were put in the CS chamber without wheel running. In other similar experiments, a 0-, 10-, or 30-min delay separated wheel running from exposure to the CS chamber. Reliable conditioned place preference (CPP) occurred when the delay was 0 or 10 but not 30 min. The strength of CPP decreased as the delay increased. These findings imply that the reward process initiated by wheel running remains active for some time after running stops. They support the view that the suppression of feeding produced by wheel running in hungry rats (activity anorexia) is mediated by this reward process.     

Streets of resilience: Exploring the role of educational outreach projects with street connected young people in Guatemala City

We explored resilience amongst street connected young people (SCYP) in Guatemala City in relation to two community‐based educational outreach projects who work with at risk young people. We investigated (a) how these projects adapt and constructed meaningful spaces of safety and protection for SCYP and (b) how their interactions with the families of SCYP impact on well‐being amongst SCYP. We focused on resilience‐building elements and practices, rather than on the dangers of street connectedness. Using ethnographic interviews, participatory photography, and image elicitation, we worked with eight young people and four adult project volunteers. Our research yielded evidence that dwellings, market stalls, and buildings used for religious purposes are being adapted as spaces of aspiration and opportunity to promote resilience. We found evidence of rifts between education projects and parents, and evidence for strategies for repairing these rifts. Our findings highlight the importance of community educational organisations in Guatemala City and have implications for their practice.     

地方认同：环境心理学视角下的分析

Proshansky提出的“地方认同” (place identity, 1978)一词, 是环境心理学研究中的重要概念。它指的是人对居住环境的自我认同, 用于理解和测量“人-地关系”。已有研究分别从认知、情感和行为等方面论证了“地方认同”与“地方依恋”、“地方感”及“地方依赖”等概念之间的区别; 并在个体、社会和文化三个层面上均发现了影响地方认同的因素。未来的研究将采用社会认知的实验技术、以及纵向研究设计方法等, 一方面探讨地方认同的内在心理机制, 另一方面则利用此概念探索解决有关的现实问题。     

Place‐value understanding in number line estimation predicts future arithmetic performance

In multi‐digit numbers, the value of each digit is determined by its position within the digit string. Children's understanding of this place‐value structure constitutes a building block for later arithmetic skills. We investigated whether a number line estimation task can provide an assessment of place‐value understanding in first grade. We hypothesized that estimating the position of two‐digit numbers requires place‐value understanding. Therefore, we fitted a linear function to children's estimates of two‐digit numbers and considered the resulting slope as a measure of children's place‐value understanding. We observed a significant correlation between this slope and children's performance in a transcoding task known to require place‐value understanding. Additionally, the slope for two‐digit numbers assessed at the beginning of grade 1 predicted children's arithmetic performance at the end of grade 1. These results indicate that the number line estimation task may indeed constitute a valid measure for first‐graders' place‐value understanding. Moreover, these findings are hard to reconcile with the view that number line estimation directly assesses a spatial representation of numbers. Instead, our results suggest that numerical processes involved in performing the task (such as place‐value understanding) may drive the association between number line estimation and arithmetic performance.