This study aims to contribute to the ongoing scholarly conversation about education through the lenses of the German philosophy of "Bildung" and the American philosophy of pragmatism. More concretely, in this article, the two philosophies are represented by the traditions of critical-constructive "Didaktik," based on Wolfgang…

Background: Student participation in curriculum negotiation has been widely regarded as beneficial for student engagement, motivation, and learning. Within the physical education (PE) context however, several scholars claim that these benefits are seldom realized. Interestingly, most investigations into curriculum negotiation in PE focus on…

The aim of this article is to explore the worth of a materialist/posthumanist approach to ethics, specifically affirmative ethics (Braidotti, 2018, 2019a), within the field of education. I work empirical material that 'does' this ethics in classrooms and draw on Deleuze's (1988) ethically guided materialism as taken up by Braidotti (2019b), to…

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), with new emphasis on engineering, reflects broadening definitions of scientific and technological literacy. However, engaging in science and engineering practices is necessary, but insufficient, for developing technological literacy. Just as robust scientific literacy includes a deep understanding of the…

"Solve for x." While many people first encountered this enigmatic instruction in high school, the last 20 years have seen a strong push to get students to take algebra in eighth grade or even before. Today, concerns about the economy highlight a familiar worry: American eighth-graders trailed their peers in five Asian countries on the…

This study is an evaluative analysis of 13 Music Education programs in Colombia that provide training for secondary school music teachers for 6th to 11th grade in the Colombian education system. The study utilized an analysis matrix from the International Research Project ALFA II-0448-A, which developed a similar study with Latin American and…

School physical education (PE) experiences play a critical role in adolescents' physical activity (PA) levels. Teachers are crucial to students' initial experiences in PA; however, limited research has explored teachers' perspectives about PA during PE using in-depth qualitative research techniques. We conducted interviews with 25 current…

This research study is a case study of the development of an African-centered school over a 20-year period. The study describes how the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade institution was established. Interview questions focused on: 1. Establishment of an African-centered institution 2. Challenges of setting up an African-centered institution 3.…

Public charter schools across the country are struggling to better serve a range of students with disabilities. Using the approach of a participatory evaluation, a K-8 college preparatory school community of teachers, administrators, parents, and students were better able to define those practices that impeded or supported a high-quality proactive…

Diverse perspectives with respect to Christian Education constitute a potential path for misunderstanding and contradictions; this study considers this situation in the context of a Seventh-day Adventist Christian system with students and parents from different religious perspectives in Chile. The parents/sponsors of the eighth graders were…

The author teaches music to students from kindergarten through twelfth grade in Eureka, a small mining town in Utah. Over the past decade the author has observed both the positive and negative, short-term and long-term affects of his teaching decisions. He struggles daily with what John Goodlad calls the "burden of judgment," the ongoing…

In this paper, an ethnobotany curriculum is used as a case example of one approach to incorporating the insights and needs of the local community into the curriculum development process. This curriculum development was carried out in the "Kiriwong Community" in Nakornsrithammarat Province, Southern Thailand. The ethnobotany curriculum…

Librarians can help kids expand their view of the world by introducing them to critical literacy. Critical literacy encourages readers to question an author's intentions and to examine issues from multiple perspectives to avoid simplistic statements. It supports a more complex and nuanced understanding of events, recognizing social and political…

This article discusses a reading instruction applicable to widely diverse classrooms, because it weaves together dynamic strands from three approaches to teaching reading: literature circle method, reciprocal teaching, and modern literary theories. The author presents three stages to achieve reading success: (1) applying the key features of…

The initial phase of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) provided all 7th and 8th grade students and their teachers with laptop computers. In the fall of 2003, a survey of all teachers involved with the program was administered by Maine Education Policy Research Institute to determine how and to what extent the technology was being…