This article is about the death of a graduate school for spiritual formation and theological education. I ask what the death of this school can teach us about teaching theology and religion for the sake of student transformation and more loving pedagogies. I also ask how, when an institution dies, it can die beautifully. The underlying thesis of…

A language is a system of communication, consisting of a set of sounds or written symbols that enable people to communicate. In chemistry, a particular language is required in order to represent the phenomenological world by means of symbols. Choosing the right words and knowing the precise definitions for chemical concepts is needed for avoiding…

The expanding field of affective neuroscience is redefining the role of emotions in cognition, reasoning, and judgment. This contradicts long-standing assumptions about cognition that consider emotions antithetical to learning. Emotions arose early in human brain development as essential to survival by directing the embodied brain toward…

Learning the symbolic language of chemistry is a difficult task that can be frustrating for students. This article introduces a game, ChemOkey, that can help students learn the names and symbols of common ions and their compounds in a fun environment. ChemOkey, a game similar to Rummikub, is played with a set of 106 plastic or wooden tiles. The…

The author could have chosen any ancient symbolic language, such as Egyptian or Pre-Columbian, but being from Denmark, she developed a unit that would introduce American students to artwork familiar to northern Europeans. Looking at examples of ancient art from Denmark and Sweden, students were to think about the use of symbols in ancient time and…

These problems and activities have been used to demonstrate the uses of multiple representations as well as provide opportunities for students to practice using multiple representations in solving problems. (Contains 3 figures and 2 tables.)

External representations (ERs), such as diagrams, animations, and dynamic models are vital tools for communicating and constructing knowledge in biochemistry. To build a meaningful understanding of structure, function, and process, it is essential that students become visually literate by mastering key cognitive skills that are essential for…

James Moffett is revered by many for his contributions to English education, but his interest in discourse and rhetoric led him beyond reform in the language arts curriculum to a vision of a radically reconceived approach to education, one in which disciplinary knowledge is subordinate to the processes of symbolic representation that creates that…

This article profiles Christopher Benfey, 53--an art critic for Slate, a poet, and a prolific literary essayist for such venues as "The New York Times Book Review, The New Republic," and "The New York Review of Books." His latest book, "A Summer of Hummingbirds: Love, Art, and Scandal in the Intersecting Worlds of Emily…

This paper explores ideas of language as a cognitive tool and the role of gesture in expressing children's interests and levels of knowledge. The context is a group of three-year-old children who participate in a weekly music session with a trained musician. The authors present drawings from photographs of children's hands and interpret them,…

Explicit code and comprehension instruction is important for English learners (ELs), and several key findings from research on young ELs learning to read initially in English can offer guidelines for developing effective code-based instruction for these children. The authors of this column address comprehension instruction for ELs, suggesting…

Media use gender imagery to define "the cultural representations of gender and embodiment of gender in symbolic language and artistic productions that reproduce and legitimate gender statuses." The heroines and heroes in fairytales present images of women being young, beautiful, passive, and helpless while men are portrayed as strong, powerful,…

Before the advent of symbolism, i.e. before the end of the 16th Century, algebraic calculations were made using natural language. Through a kind of metaphorical process, a few terms from everyday life (e.g. thing, root) acquired a technical mathematical status and constituted the specialized language of algebra. The introduction of letters and…

Language involves the use of symbols in the form of words or signs that allow people to communicate their thoughts, ideas, and needs. Even without formal language, many children who are deaf-blind learn to communicate with gestures and object or picture symbols. Symbolic expression makes it possible to express thoughts and feelings about the…

Emotion-laden images that arise within adult learning provide a symbolic language for helping teachers and learners understand and facilitate transformation at both the individual and group levels.