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Understanding Aggression:

Coping with Aggressive Behavior in the Classroom

 

Instructor Name:

Dr. Karen Lea

Phone:

509-891-7219

Office Hours:

8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST Monday - Friday

Email:

karen_lea@virtualeduc.com

Address:

Virtual Education Software

 

23403 E Mission Avenue, Suite 220F

 

Liberty Lake, WA 99019

Technical Support:

support@virtualeduc.com

 

 

Introduction

This course is about violence in America, about the aggression in our schools, classrooms, streets, homes and elsewhere. The course speaks to the hate, the fights, the anger, the crimes committed and the victims in our schools and society. It is a course about students, children, teenagers, adults and neighbors, all of us.

 

The course will consider the many forms of aggression, both criminal and otherwise; its costs and motivation; its perpetrators and targets; its likely and unlikely locations; its impact on our schools, the children; and, most especially, its several causes and promising solutions.

 

Topics of interest will include violence and the challenge of raising and working with children; aggression in our classrooms; American youth gangs and their influence; past and future sports violence; “hot spot” locations of frequent violence; and the aggression-promoting role of alcohol, temperature, driving, television and other features of modern life. The course also will answer questions such as: Is aggression always bad? How do aggressive thoughts lead to aggressive actions? Is aggression, at least for some people, an addiction? Does the victim contribute to being attacked? Is dating a dangerous proposition? How are the acts of aggression dealt with in other countries, and are there any lessons for America?

 

The goal of this course is to help educators and adults in general better understand how aggression affects our lives and the lives of children. Hopefully such greater understanding and more skilled efforts at prevention will substantially reduce the aggression and violence that has become all too common in America’s schools.

 

This computer-based instruction course is a self-supporting program that provides instruction, structured practice, and evaluation all on your home or school computer. Technical support information can be found in the Help section of your course.

 

Course Materials (Online)

Title:

Understanding Aggression: Coping with Aggressive Behavior in the Classroom

Publisher:

Virtual Education Software, inc. 2002, Revised 2008, Revised 2010, Revised 2013, Revised 2016, Revised 2019, Revised 2022, Revised 2026

Instructor:

Dr. Karen Lea

 

Academic Integrity Statement

The structure and format of most distance-learning courses presume a high level of personal and academic integrity in completion and submission of coursework. Individuals enrolled in a distance-learning course are expected to adhere to the following standards of academic conduct.

 

Academic Work

Academic work submitted by the individual (such as papers, assignments, reports, tests) shall be the student’s own work or appropriately attributed, in part or in whole, to its correct source. Submission of commercially prepared (or group prepared) materials as if they are one’s own work is unacceptable.

 

Students are required to view/read each screen in each exercise of each chapter. Screens, exercises and chapter content may not be skipped. Students are also required to access and read all content in each course handout. A participant who fails to complete the entire course in the manner intended and as outlined, may have their grade reduced or fail the course. It is the student's responsibility to contact the facilitator, instructor-of-record, or VESi registrar if there is any question as to the manner in which this course is to be completed.

 

Aiding Honesty in Others

The individual will encourage honesty in others by refraining from providing materials or information to another person with knowledge that these materials or information will be used improperly.

 

Violations of these academic standards will result in the assignment of a failing grade and subsequent loss of credit for the course.

 

Level of Application

This course is designed to be an informational course with application to work or work-related settings. The intervention strategies are informational and not to be used without proper training and administrative approval.

 

Expected Learning Outcomes

As a result of this course, participants will demonstrate their ability:

1.      To review the history of aggression and how society came to be such an aggressive place

2.      To identify the causes of aggressive behavior, both internal and external

3.      To explain how aggression is expressed in various social settings such as schoolyards, classrooms, sports, homes, etc.

4.      To identify perpetrators and victims of aggression and violence

5.      To identify locations of high aggression and violence

6.      To provide solutions for reducing aggression and violence in classroom and other school settings

7.      To provide information on how educators can help students/children reduce feelings of aggression and violent tendencies

 

Course Description

The course, Understanding Aggression, has been divided into four chapters and five to ten exercises within each chapter. The first chapter reviews the history of aggression in America. It explains how we (the country) got to where we are in terms of aggression and violence. The chapter discusses the cost of aggression. It asks the question: Is America Safe? It discusses whether aggression is always bad. The chapter concludes with odds and ends and aggression in general.

 

The second chapter deals with how we have learned to be aggressive. It discusses how aggressive thoughts many times become aggressive actions. The course reviews the “us versus them” side of aggression and violence. Chapter 2 also deals with how alcohol, temperature and driving can increase aggression and violence. The chapter reviews the role of television and how TV may be a tutor for violent behavior. Is high aggression often found in people who tend to have low empathy? This chapter will discuss this issue. The chapter will also cover how words and teasing can be expressions and forms of aggression.

 

The third chapter centers on aggression and violence as crimes. It explores arson, assault and crimes of fear. The chapter also will discuss vigilante justice and/or injustice. Along with criminal aggression the chapter takes a look at guns and gangs in America’s schools; how bullying affects our schools and classrooms; how dress can affect acts of aggression and violence in schools and society. The chapter speaks to sexual harassment and the aggression involved with acts of harassment. There are also several sections on aggression and violence in the home, parental fighting and how this affects children in the home.

 

Chapter 4 speaks to working with and raising children to resist violence. It gives suggestions to educators and parents on how to deal with and counteract aggressive or violent behavior, but educators should not use these interventions without training and administrative approval. This chapter deals with dating, and how it can be impacted by aggressive behavior and date violence. It speaks to how television affects the aggressive behavior of our children. The chapter reviews child tantrums, and what to do about them. Chapter 4 is summarized with several exercises on win-win scenarios for remediation and effective problem solving techniques.

 

The chapters and exercises are sequential and, although it is not required, they should be completed in the order in which they are presented in the program. After completing these four chapters you should have a framework for understanding and working with aggressive behavior. This also may help you understand why students with high aggression are a challenge in a regular education setting.

 

After you complete each chapter of the course, an examination will be used to evaluate your knowledge and ability to apply what you’ve learned. An explanation of the examinations will be given later in this syllabus.

Chapter 1: Introduction & Characteristics

Chapter 2: Behaviors & Techniques

Chapter 3: Acts & Forms of Violence

Chapter 4: Preventing Violence

 

 

Student Expectations       

As a student you will be expected to:

·         Students are required to view/read each screen in each exercise of each chapter.  Screens, exercises and chapter content may not be skipped. Students are also required to access and read all content in each course handout.

·         Complete all four section examinations, showing a competent understanding of the material presented.  You must obtain an overall score of 70% or higher, with no individual exam score below 50%, to pass this course.  *Please note: Minimum exam score requirements may vary by college or university; therefore, you should refer to your course addendum to determine what your minimum exam score requirements are.

·         Complete a review of any section on which your examination score was below 50%.

·         Retake any examination, after completing an information review, to increase that examination score to a minimum of 50%, making sure to also be achieving an overall exam score of a minimum 70% (maximum of three attempts). *Please note: Minimum exam score requirements may vary by college or university; therefore, you should refer to your course addendum to determine what your minimum exam score requirements are.

·         Complete a course evaluation form at the end of the course.

 

 

Examinations

At the end of each chapter, you will be expected to complete an examination designed to assess your knowledge. You may take these exams a total of three times. Your last score will save, not the highest score.  After your third attempt, each examination will lock and not allow further access.  Your final grade for the course will be determined by calculating an average score of all exams.  This score will be printed on your final certificate.  As this is a self-paced computerized instruction program, you may review course information as often as necessary. You will not be able to exit any examinations until you have answered all questions. If you try to exit the exam before you complete all questions, your information will be lost. You are expected to complete the entire exam in one sitting.

 

 

Instructor Description

Karen Lea holds a Ph.D. in education, has TEFL certification, and has been Project Management Professional certified. Dr. Lea has 15 years’ experience teaching at the K–12 level and another 17 years’ experience teaching education and leadership courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. She has decades of experiencing developing online course content and assessment and teaching online. Dr. Lea has been professionally published over 15 times and has served on more than a dozen panels and boards, including serving on the NCATE (CAEP) Board of Examiners.

 

Contacting the Instructor

You may contact the instructor by emailing karen_lea@virtualeduc.com or by calling 509-891-7219 Monday through Friday. Calls made during office hours will be answered within 24 hours. Phone conferences will be limited to 10 minutes per student, per day, given that this is a self-paced instructional program. Please do not contact the instructor about technical problems, course glitches, or other issues that involve the operation of the course.

 

Technical Questions

If you have questions or problems related to the operation of this course, please try everything twice. If the problem persists please check our support pages for FAQs and known issues at www.virtualeduc.com and also the Help section of your course.

 

If you need personal assistance then email support@virtualeduc.com or call 509-891-7219. When contacting technical support, please know your course version number (it is located at the bottom left side of the Welcome Screen) and your operating system, and be seated in front of the computer at the time of your call.

 

Minimum Computer Requirements

Please refer to VESi’s website: www.virtualeduc.com or contact VESi if you have further questions about the compatibility of your operating system.

 

Refer to the addendum regarding Grading Criteria, Course Completion Information, Items to be Submitted, and how to submit your completed information. The addendum will also note any additional course assignments that you may be required to complete that are not listed in this syllabus.

 

Bibliography (Suggested Readings)

American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. (2025). Screen time and children. https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Children-And-Watching-TV-054.aspx

Anderson. (2021, April 13). The effect of spanking on the brain. https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/21/04/effect-spanking-brain

ASU. (n.d.). Step 16: Study the journey to crime. ASU Center for Problem-Oriented Policing. https://popcenter.asu.edu/content/step-16-study-journey-crime

Berkowitz, L., & LePage, A. (1967). Weapons as aggression-eliciting stimuli. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 7, 202–207. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0025008

Bernasco, W., & Dijke, R. (2020). Do offenders avoid offending near home? A systematic review of the buffer zone hypotheses. Crime Science, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40163-020-00118-5

Carroll, J., & Weaver, F. (1986). Shoplifters’ perceptions of crime opportunities: A process-tracing study. In D. B. Cornish & R. V. G. Clarke (Eds.), The reasoning criminal (Chapter 2). Springer-Verlag.

CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]. (2024, May 16). Dating matters. https://www.cdc.gov/intimate-partner-violence/php/datingmatters/?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/intimatepartnerviolence/datingmatters/index.html

CDC. (2025, January 14). Teen dating violence. https://www.cdc.gov/intimate-partner-violence/about/about-teen-dating-violence.html

Cherry, K. (2021). What resilience means—And why it matters. https://www.verywellmind.com/characteristics-of-resilience-2795062

Cozens, P. (2018). Shoplifting in small stores: A qualitative case study in Perth, Western Australia. In V. Cecato & R. Armitage (Eds.), Retail crime (pp. 155–177). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73065-3_7

Cybercrime Magazine. (2020, November 13). Cybercrime to cost the world $10.5 trillion annually by 2025. https://cybersecurityventures.com/hackerpocalypse-cybercrime-report-2016/

Dimant, E. (2019). Contagion of pro-and anti-social behavior among peers and the role of social proximity. Journal of Economic Psychology, 73, 66–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2019.04.009

Edwards, R., & Habas, C. (2026, February 6). The state of safety in America 2026. https://www.safewise.com/state-of-safety/

FBI. (2025). How we can help you: Crime/Law enforcement stats (Uniform Crime Reporting Program). https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/more-fbi-services-and-information/ucr

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2019). 2019 crime in the United States. https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/violent-crime

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2019). 2019 crime in the United States: Property crime. https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/property-crime

Fletcher Risk Management. (2025). The psychology of an arsonist. https://fletcherrisk.co.uk/fire-safety-advice/the-psychology-of-an-arsonist-2025

Fulgham Law Firm. (2019, October 20). Understanding the motives for arson can be the key to your defense in Texas. https://www.criminalattorneyfortworth.com/understanding-the-motives-for-arson-can-be-the-key-to-your-defense-in-texas/

Gender: Interaction between gender and power. (2021). In Marriage and Family Encyclopedia. https://family.jrank.org/pages/687/Gender-Interaction-between-Gender-Power.html

Goldberry, B. (2025, August 8). FBI's 2024 crime report—HIgh-level trend analysis. https://www.lvt.com/blog/fbis-2024-crime-report--high-level-trend-analysis?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Goldstein, A. (1999). The prepared curriculum: Teaching prosocial competencies. Research Press.

Graham, D. A. (2021). America is having a violence wave, not a crime wave.  https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/america-having-violence-wave-not-crime-wave/620234/

Guiang-Myers, G. (2019, May 31). Making prosocial behavior contagious. https://www.edutopia.org/article/making-prosocial-behavior-contagious

Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful. (2019). Graffiti statistics United States.  https://www.statisticsdatabase.com/facts/graffiti-statistics-united-states/

Hakyemez, T. C., & Badur, B. (2021). Crime risk stations: Examining spatiotemporal influence of urban features through distance-aware risk signal functions. International Journal of Geo-Information, 10(7), Article 472. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi10070472

Huston, M. (2019, August 9). The psychology of “us-vs-them.” https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-new-home/201908/the-psychology-us-vs-them

Institute of Education Sciences. (2024, July 25). Indicators of school crime and safety report release [Press release]. https://ies.ed.gov/learn/press-release/indicators-school-crime-and-safety-report-release

Krahe, B. (2021). The social psychology of aggression (3rd ed.). Routledge.

Lambert, C. A. (2023, April 12). Coercive control weighs heavily on children. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-games/202304/coercive-control-weighs-heavily-on-children

Mann, L. (1981). The baiting crowd in episodes of threatened suicide. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41(4), 703–709. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.41.4.703

National Association for Shoplifting Prevention. (n.d.). The shoplifting problem in the nation. https://www.shopliftingprevention.org/the-shoplifting-problem/

National Center for Education Statistics. (2021, May). Students’ perceptions of personal safety at school and away from school. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/a16

National Center for Education Statistics. (2016). Fast facts: Bullying. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=719

National Center for Education Statistics. (2017). Fast facts: School crime. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=49

National Interagency Fire Center. (2025). Wildfire investigation. https://www.nifc.gov/fire-information/fire-prevention-education-mitigation/wildfire-investigation

National Sexual Violence Resource Center. (2023, March 8). What is the connection between media, sexual violence, and systems of oppression? https://www.nsvrc.org/blog_post/what-connection-between-media-and-sexual-violence-and-systems-oppression/

Nationwide Children’s. (n.d.). Children playing with fire. https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/research/areas-of-research/center-for-injury-research-and-policy/injury-topics/burns/children-playing-with-fire

Nam-Sonestein, B., and Sawyer, W. (2025, August 25). Youth confinement: The Whole Pie 2025 [Press release]. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/youth2025.html

National Retail Federation. (2025a, October 28). New study finds retailers continue to contend with rising levels of theft & violence. https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/new-study-finds-retailers-continue-to-contend-with-rising-levels-of-theft-and-violence

National Retail Federation. (2025b, October 28). The impact of retail theft & violence report. https://nrf.com/research/the-impact-of-retail-theft-violence-2025

Phillips, J. G., Thakrai, P., & Mann, L. (2026). Factors associated with assistance and baiting in response to threat of suicide in an online forum. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 29(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/21522715261417551

Point Park University. (2021). What are juvenile recidivism rates and how can they be reduced?  https://www.justiceeducationproject.org/post/rehabilitation-over-reincarceration-reducing-juvenile-recidivism

Rattini, K. B. (2019, September 30). Dynamic tension: How changes in marital conflict affect children's mental health. https://news.colgate.edu/researchmagazine/2019/09/dynamic-tension-how-changes-in-marital-conflict-affect-childrens-mental-health.html/

Sedler, M. (2006). When to speak up and when to shut up. Chosen Books.

U.S. Department of Justice. (2025). Gang activity, 2021–2024. https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/resources/reports/Gang%20Activity%202021-2024.pdf

USA Facts. (2021). What is the crime rate in the US? https://usafacts.org/articles/homicides-increased-by-25-but-overall-crime-rate-fell-in-2020/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ND-JusticeDefense&gclid=Cj0KCQiAraSPBhDuARIsAM3Js4qxOEdLLQFzE_vPoZVkuRO64h981VVuDynN4lQ6FbxBVexGKDE_bxIaAh1PEALw_wcB

USA Facts. (2025). Which cities have the highest murder rates? https://usafacts.org/articles/which-cities-have-the-highest-murder-rates/

USC Shoah Foundation & Discovery Education. (n.d.). Why we hate: Tribalism activity (us vs. them). https://www.discovery.com/shows/why-we-hate/1/episode-1

Wang, J., Wu, X., & Chong, D. (2019). Different mechanisms of moral disengagement as multiple mediators in the association between harsh parenting and adolescent aggression. Personality and Individual Differences, 139(1), 24–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.10.037

Washington D.C. Criminal Justice Information Services Division. (2025, August 5). FBI releases 2024 reported crimes in the nation statistics. https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-releases-2024-reported-crimes-in-the-nation-statistics

Watford, A. (2025, August 8). US crime rates fell nationwide in 2024, FBI report says. https://www.govexec.com/management/2025/08/fbi-us-crime-rates-fell-nationwide-2024/407371/

World Population Review. (2026). Gun ownership by state 2026. https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/gun-ownership-by-state

 

Course content is updated every three years. Due to this update timeline, some URL links may no longer be active or may have changed. Please type the title of the organization into the command line of any Internet browser search window and you will be able to find whether the URL link is still active or any new link to the corresponding organization’s web home page.

 

5/28/26 JN