To address the great challenges facing humanity, humans need to feel united as inhabitants of the Earth, to feel that their future is tied to the future of all living beings, and that the universe contains all levels and all relationships that encompass its parts. To achieve this requires widening knowledge of the interconnection and…

Loneliness becomes more prevalent as youth transition from childhood into adolescence. A key underlying process may be the puberty-related increase in biological stress reactivity, which can alter social behavior and elicit conflict or social withdrawal (fight-or-flight behaviors) in some youth, but increase prosocial (tend-and-befriend) responses…

Although instructional leaders increasingly acknowledge the influence of emotion on student learning, the role of emotion in teachers' professional learning has received less attention. In this conceptual article, we draw on three psychological perspectives--cognitive, organizational, and developmental--to provide instructional leaders with an…

According to Johnson (2007), learning and teaching arise from a human being's bodily experience in relationship with others and the environment (embodiment). Many teachers perceive and mobilize their bodies in rather unconscious ways. Becoming conscious of their perceptions can help them teach. It can also influence their internal/external…

"The Kite Runner" is a representative novel by Afghan-American writer Khaled Hosseini. In this novel, Hassan's loyalty moved countless readers while Amir's betrayal shocked and even angered many readers. In the researcher's view, all behaviors of the protagonist, Amir, such as his betrayal, guilt and redemption, are closely related to…

Demands on education leaders are changing rapidly, and being a leader isn't getting any easier. Principals, superintendents, and others are pulled and stretched in many directions by staff, parents, community members, and school boards, as well as their own families. Leaders' roles require them to have an attention to detail, an ability to be…

While working as director of counselors in training at Camp Mishawaka in northern Minnesota, the author observed that while sailing, children were beginning to understand their surroundings and becoming aware of where they stood in nature. By spending time connecting to their physical location, children develop a relationship with the subconscious…

Optimal talent development can only occur when high ability students are willing to take opportunities for growth in a domain and are able to persist when presented with challenges that accompany performance or production at the highest levels. This paper proposes the use of Erikson's theory of psychosocial development to provide a framework…

This article addresses the challenge of reclaiming higher education (HE) as a public good for building effective democracies. We use Bernstein's model of pedagogic rights and Fraser's model of social justice to develop a normative framework for discussing how universities in unequal societies might mitigate social injustice. Referring to recent…

Some terms of Dabrowski's theory are misleading. The construct of level and the concepts of integration and disintegration mean different things. The concept of primary integration as a starting point for personality development is untenable in light of research on child development. In its place, Level I as a type of development that is…

Great performance is a wonder to observe. We may notice creativity, excellent technique, or content mastery. What we may not notice is a set of mental and social skills that allow a person to show his or her best work. This article recommends that these psychosocial skills be explicitly and deliberately cultivated via programming, coaching, and…

This manuscript provides a model and an assignment based on the model that allows emerging leaders to examine the purity of their heart, the accuracy of their thoughts, whether they operate from reasoned emotions, effective dispositions, words seasoned with grace, appropriate actions, and habits that engender honorable leadership character…

The role of the emotions in learning has long been acknowledged but is often overlooked. This article considers the impact one particular emotion, happiness, has on learning and the school curriculum. Recent reports have drawn attention to the importance of happiness (or the lack of it) by highlighting concerns about childhood well-being. At the…

A brain has the capacity to absorb a great deal of information and can make decisions about what role or roles, major or minor, that data will play in its life. While it is most likely true that we learn one new thing every day, our brain, the controller of our thoughts, can decide what number of new things we can learn and remember each day. As I…

In this article, we describe a theoretical framework for understanding how persistent and extreme exposure to ethnic-political conflict and violence interacts with cognitive, emotional, and self processes to influence children's psychosocial adjustment. Three recent strands of theorizing guide our approach. First, we focus on how observational and…