The first part of this article considers the challenge of supporting pupils to write creatively about the natural world. It examines a text by a gifted young writer: "Diary of a Young Naturalist" by Dara McAnulty. It asks what the challenges might be for pupils who may be motivated to model their writing on McAnulty's, but have limited…

Despite the growth of servant leadership research, current understandings of how to teach servant leadership are limited. Further, current approaches often reinforce heroic notions of servant leadership that do not adequately prepare learners to engage in leadership within their own lives. Against this backdrop, we integrate critical pedagogical…

A close look at artifacts from September 11, 2001, can spark a powerful classroom lesson on the historic attacks. Some artifacts are massive, some fit in the palm of a hand, all serve to tell the story of what happened on 9/11 and in its aftermath. Throughout the year, students use these artifacts, and the stories behind them, to examine the…

The article is devoted to the process of learning a foreign language, replete with emotions, that has not been sufficiently studied in the domain of fostering language acquisition; specifically, learning the process through the prism of the concept of "happiness" in applying Suggestopedia. It also discusses the problem of humanistic…

More than ever, faculty need to ensure that undergraduate curricula not only provide students with tools to gain linguistic proficiency but also teach them to analyze both written and visual information to attain historical literacy. Developing both intercultural proficiency and insights into various historical memorialization processes ensures…

Since many people tend to use photographs as memory anchors, this author decided she wanted to know whether the process of capturing and manipulating an image taken during a learning activity would act as a memory anchor for children's visual, auditory and kinaesthetic memories linked to their cognitive learning at the time. In plain English,…

Executive functions enable children to pay attention, follow instructions, apply what they have learned, have those "aha!" moments in which they grasp how multiple facts interrelate, think of creative solutions, obey social norms such as waiting their turn and not butting in line or jumping out of their seat, mentally construct a plan,…

This article describes an interactive activity that involves students participating in a memory recall test. Data collected from the activity may be used to illustrate the one-sample t test or one-sample sign test. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

The listening comprehension skill is frequently cited by both teachers and learners of a second language (L2) as perhaps the most difficult to deal with in any systematic way. One possible approach is to use the dictogloss task. This involves learners reconstructing a short text they have listened to. Originally developed to draw learners'…

Sensory overload and split attention result in reduced learning when instructors read slides with bullet points and complex graphs during a lecture. Conversely, slides containing relevant visual elements, when accompanied by instructor narration, use both the visual and verbal channels of a student's working memory, thus improving the chances of…

The case for chemistry instruction based on worked examples is presented, using a contemporary model of human learning. We begin by detailing human cognitive architecture and outlining the Interactive Compensatory Model of Learning (ICML). Through the ICML, the role of motivation, deliberate practice and feedback are detailed as key variables in…

The Russian-educated author describes active-learning classroom activities that she created and implemented during her first experience teaching lower- and upper-level undergraduate mathematics courses in the United States. The article begins with a discussion of how the author incorporated humorous stories and memo-pictures into the classroom.…

Children often overestimate their contribution to collaborative activities. Across 2 studies, the authors investigated whether this memory bias supports internalization of the actions of others in the context of joint exchanges. After taking turns with (high collaborative condition; Studies 1 and 2) or working independently of (low collaborative…

Provided are several techniques, recommended by experts, to improve one's memory. These include use of mnemonics, creating mnemonics that use imaginative/concrete visual images, breaking hard-to-remember information into simple parts, adding words/numbers to otherwise meaningless information, creating a story using unrelated facts/names, and a…

Describes how one kindergarten class in Illinois remembers class studies through students' artwork. Discusses the creation and benefits of a "Memory Wall," on which students' art helps make concrete the value of remembering, sharing discoveries, and revisiting prior knowledge. The Wall also offers another window into assessing and…