It is argued that two plausible goals of the educational enterprise are (i) to develop the intellectual character, and thus the intellectual virtues, of the student, and (ii) to develop the student's intellectual self-confidence, such that they are able to have conviction in what they believe. On the face of it, however, these two educational…

The value of higher education, and particularly the four-year undergraduate venture influenced from the liberal arts tradition, is largely framed around the impact it has on a broad range of skills and dispositions that serve to enhance human flourishing. Employers and society more broadly can benefit from individuals who are committed to careful…

This article explores students' experiences of intellectual, social, and emotional growth during the first year at university and the extent to which these experiences can be considered transformative (Mezirow, 1981). The study is a qualitative interpretive multiple-case study built on semi-structured interviews with students in two higher…

In anticipation of the United Nations Transforming Education Summit in September 2022, this report explores the work of building and (re)building education systems to support holistic student development. It focuses specifically on the journeys of seven education systems--situated in high-, middle-, and low-middle-income countries with democratic…

Service-learning has become deeply embedded in higher education, as both a co-curricular and curricular tool to achieve learning outcomes, promote civic engagement and promote diversity. Yet it has also struggled with the critique that service-learning, unintentionally, reinforces deficit thinking by promoting a dominant narrative centered on the…

Inspired by the work of Muhammad (2020) and building upon the previous work of Hays (2021) in using young adolescent literature as a tool for social change, the authors highlight the ways in which educators such as Amardeep Bajwa can cultivate students' intellect through literature circle-based activities. More specifically, Hays worked with local…

This study examined how factors associated with student development and persistence differ between first-generation and continuing-generation students and how participation in a learning community influences development and persistence. The findings show that first-generation students were less involved in academics and had lower gains in…

This article presents case study findings about undeclared student experiences in a two-and-a-half-year interdisciplinary learning-living program that integrates the arts, humanities, and social science disciplines. The study examined how the program helped students make informed decisions about academic majors and vocational choices. Participants…

Three theories from the disciplines college student development and educational psychology of particular relevance to teaching of information literacy are summarized: Perry's (1999) scheme of intellectual and moral development, Renninger's (2009) phases of interest development, and Grow's (1991) stages of self-directed learning. Each theory is…

Intellectual styles refer to people's preferred ways of processing information and dealing with tasks. Individuals who have a propensity for using a wide range of styles--always including creativity-generating styles--are said to possess successful intellectual styles. The author argues that teachers should and can encourage creativity among…

The current research investigated the variability of school effects on intelligence development in considering two economically and socially distinct groups of children. The data came from a nationally representative sample of primary school children from urban and rural areas of China. Two standardised reasoning tests were used to assess fluid…

This article traces the evolution of holistic student development as the centerpiece of the college experience in the 1960s to its current all-too-often overlooked function in postsecondary education, and it explains why students, employers, and the democracy all benefit from educating the whole person. Holistic student development encompasses…

Theories of college student and adult intellectual development have shown that learning to interpret, evaluate, and construct knowledge evolves in a developmentally predictable fashion, and have offered explanations for the difficulties some students face when asked to make their own decisions (Baxter Magolda, 1992; Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger,…

There are two kinds of drama that is normally associated with high school: the "drama" that accompanies social life in late adolescence and the dramas that are performed in a school's auditorium or performing arts center. The drama about which the author writes about in this article is of a different sort altogether. It is, however, like…

Recent legal challenges to race-conscious college admissions processes have called into question what constitutes a sufficient level of diversity on college campuses. Previous research on the educational benefits of diversity has examined the linear relationship between diversity interactions and student outcomes, but multiple theoretical…