Metaphor is a critical tool for thought. Lying at the heart of every systematic body of knowledge are three root metaphors--mechanism, organism, and mind. Historically, schools of philosophy--realism, naturalism, and idealism--have grown up around these metaphors. The root metaphors and their corresponding philosophies provide the paradigms…

Frantz Fanon's analysis of colonial experience has widely influenced educational theory and practice. Yet, despite much focus on the gendered and sexed dynamics of racialization processes, and their applications to the dynamics in particular of teaching and learning, surprisingly little attention has been given to how these intersect both with…

This paper demonstrates that the phenomenographic methodology -- the study of variations of lived experience -- has the capacity to manage cultural and paradigmatic differences between researchers and participants in cross-cultural research. The process of cross-cultural research presented herein makes a contribution to the existing body of…

Education has long been driven by its metaphors for teaching and learning. These metaphors have influenced both educational research and educational practice. Complexity and constructivism are two theories that provide functional and robust metaphors. Complexity provides a metaphor for the structure of myriad phenomena, while constructivism…

In this commentary 26-year Ontario district teacher, Jeff Stickney, begins by surveying balanced approaches to large- and small-scale education reforms: contrasting linear alignment with more complex ecological models, drawing on recent work by Andy Hargreaves (2008; Hargreaves & Shirley, 2012). Next, through a brief case study of School…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways in which charter school leaders influence the understanding and conception of accountability policy and how that understanding translates into practice. In particular, this paper draws from sense-making theory and research on charter school leaders to identify their pre-existing…

Research suggests that experts and beginners use qualitatively different writing processes when given the same text to write. Throughout their writing, experts tend to create a network of executive, structural, and content problems that they continually refine and coordinate as they bring the text to fruition. Novices, in contrast, tend to focus…

This study investigated the types of instructors who teach local history, factors affecting their instruction in the community's past, and instructional practices employed to educate students about a locality's history. It examined teachers' implementation of items from "The Making of Milwaukee" (MOM) project which included a book, DVD…

The comfort zone model is widespread within adventure education literature. It is based on the belief that when placed in a stressful situation people will respond by overcoming their fear and therefore grow as individuals. This model is often presented to participants prior to activities with a highly perceived sense of risk and challenge which…

In this paper, we explore the possibilities of applying the "mighty, blowing wind resting in ethereal space" metaphor explicated in the ancient Indian philosophical treatise of "Bhagavad Gita" as an analogical representation of the functional characteristics of new pedagogies. Of pertinent attributional focus is the analysis of…

Throughout the modern era in the 20th century, there have been continual efforts to reform schools and make them more efficient, imitating the industrial model of standardization. However, many students were left behind in this process. Certain dimensions of teaching, like making connections with all students, were lost in standards-based…

The world is in a constant state of flux and as a consequence, definitions and perceptions of the word "intellectual" are subject to change. This paper undertakes a succinct historical review regarding this notion by considering two paradigms, which are called here the "Lake Paradigm" and the "Well Paradigm". It is argued that these two paradigms…