At the level of classroom practice, forms of teacher thinking are central to local processes of educational change. In the last decade, "reflexivity" has been promoted as a mode of teacher thinking which has the capacity to transform several aspects of teaching practice. The developing interest in reflexivity both emerges from, and seeks…

The current research explores the transformative potential of Design Thinking (DT) pedagogy in Higher Sustainability Education (HSE) in a hybrid (mix of online and face-to-face) setting. The case study examined a Field Exercise in Sustainability Science (FESS) course, using DT pedagogy, in a HSE program at a university in Japan. The critical…

Education is naturally transformative, but the acquisition of new skills and construction of new knowledge are only possible when we empower students instead of forcing their conformity. Our current compliance-based teaching methodologies rely on coercion, conditioning and external motivators that engender submission and fear in students and…

Using Anzaldúa's theory of conocimiento--a fluid journey of reflection and knowledge production--we examine how two Latina undergraduates experience critical consciousness within an ethnic studies course. We challenge that critical consciousness is an end-all, be-all state by highlighting contradictions in thinking, internal shifts,…

The purpose of this action research study was to link together theory and educational leaders' practice to give form to and improve their ability to make ethically sound decisions. The questions that guided the study included: 1. How can I, as a superintendent, lead the principals I work with to use all four ethical paradigms in their own decision…

Just as a compass orients a traveller, the OECD Learning Compass 2030 indicates the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values students need not just to weather the changes in our environment and in our daily lives, but to help shape the future. The Learning Compass 2030 is composed of seven elements: (1) core foundations; (2) transformative…

Given urgent need for culturally competent early childhood educators and the strategic encouragement by colleges for students to travel internationally, this analysis focuses on the question: What is the relationship between international experiences and preservice early childhood educators' cultural competence? More specifically, three questions…

Just as a compass orients a traveller, the OECD Learning Compass 2030 indicates the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values students need not just to weather the changes in our environment and in our daily lives, but to help shape the future. The Learning Compass 2030 is composed of seven elements: (1) core foundations; (2) transformative…

The senior year design students and I were dismayed when my linear teaching and their habitual rote learning failed in a Middle Eastern University. The gulf between the curricular objectives and our teaching-learning methods intrigued me. I turned this into an action research project that sought to answer the questions, 'What paradigm shift might…

This study investigated how individual and course-level variables across the curriculum at a four-year college (college here refers to a higher education institution that offers undergraduate education but not graduate degrees) in the southeastern US impacted student reflective thinking as measured by Kember and colleagues' [2000. Development of a…

This paper documents the ongoing development of a framework for reflection for undergraduate learners new to the reflective process. Motivated by the gap between students' abilities and experience of reflection and the expectations of them at undergraduate level, the author experimented with a variety of approaches over a number of years. After…

In the context of a 10-day summer camp makerspace experience that employed design-based learning (DBL) strategies, the purpose of this descriptive case study was to better understand the ways in which children use visualization skills to negotiate design as they move back and forth between the world of nondigital design techniques (i.e., drawing,…

This article articulates the experience of three professors from different disciplines, teaching at three levels of University Studies, Portland State University's general education program, for whom the toggling between personal/professional critical practices and use of reflective practices in the classroom has led to transformative learning…

Multimedia expands the opportunity for graduate teachers to develop a community of learners in an online reading clinic as they reflect and collaborate on a variety of reading and writing experiences during an online lesson study of a comprehensive corrective reading lesson. This qualitative method study explores (a) the pedagogical shifts of…

In this paper we report on research we conducted to begin the process of identifying threshold concepts in the field of postsecondary teaching. Meyer & Land (2006) propose that within all disciplinary fields there seem to be particular "threshold concepts" that serve as gateways, opening up new and previously inaccessible ways of…