Dialogic teaching has been demonstrated to be conducive to the development of important competencies and skills such as creativity, communication skills and critical thinking skills. Yet, the literature confirms that teacher--student interactions in the classroom are predominantly monologic rather than dialogic across subjects, grades and…

Dialogic teaching has been demonstrated to be conducive to the development of such important competencies and skills as creativity, communication skills, and critical thinking skills. However, the literature confirms that teacher-student interactions in the classroom are predominantly monologic rather than dialogic across subjects, grades, and…

This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study examining the influence of professional development (PD) on tutors' teaching philosophies. It found that tutors construe their role in three ways: as transmitter, facilitator, or reflexive practitioner. The findings suggest most tutors, prior to a PD program, hold a teacher-focused conception…

In education, there is a history of pitting philosophy against science. In mathematics, a similar divide exists between evidence-based practice and philosophy-based practice. Philosophy-based practices are very prevalent in math and are not simply benignly ineffective tactics. The science of math is a movement that focuses on using objective…

Philosophy for Children (otherwise known as P4C) can help develop cooperative and peer learning and transform them into a method for developing critical and creative thinking skills. The purpose of this booklet is to describe what Philosophy for Children (P4C) is and how to implement it in the classroom. It consists of seven sections, each with a…

This article reports the results of a study that assesses the effectiveness of a Philosophy in Schools (PIS) programme in developing students' thinking skills and English competence in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for three Integrated Humanities (IH) teachers to enable them to teach PIS to their Secondary 3 English…

The purpose of this article is to explore the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education (EE) programmes through the lens of realist evaluation (RE). The interest of the authoring team--a practitioner-academic mix with professional experience including developing EE in primary and secondary schools--lies with EE competitions, a type of…

This article recounts some of the motivations, hurdles, and successes the Cuyamaca ESL Department in San Diego encountered while transforming its curriculum to an accelerated model. The college discovered that the new program, while challenging, increased the success and rate of passing among its language learners and improved the quality of their…

Despite credible research to support a constructivist-based approach in early childhood programs, policymakers continued to push for a more academic-based philosophy in an effort to reach standardized testing goals. Reggio Emilia, a constructivist-based early childhood philosophy that originated in Northern Italy, has been shown to be an excellent…

This study examined African American students' persistence rates in an adult basic education and literacy (AEL) program by juxtaposing teacher disposition that predicts student retention in an AEL program with an AEL Integrated Education and Training program (IET) as a predictor of student success. The Teacher Attribute Survey was administered to…

Teacher beliefs have for some time been directly linked to teacher actions. What teachers believe about curriculum, pedagogy, their students, and the greater goals of education itself influences their instructional behaviors and resultant decision-making. This study sought to analyze how experiences influence changes in beliefs, can provide…

This article reports the results of the first systematic, though only exploratory, study that assesses the effectiveness of the Philosophy for Children (commonly known as P4C) programme in promoting children's critical thinking in Hong Kong. Forty-two Secondary 1 students volunteered for this study, from whom 28 students were randomly selected and…

Advocates of different approaches to inclusion are often adamant that there can be only one true form of inclusion--yet advocated forms differ. Ultimately, inclusion is about empowering students to succeed and wrapping them with the support necessary to do so. This article presents the story of Forrester Hill State School where varied approaches…

Although research suggests that service learning (SL) is being incorporated into the college classroom at an increasing rate, faculty often report that they are not convinced of its educational values. There is a lack of research on, and awareness about, what SL is, how it can be incorporated into the curriculum, and the outcomes on student…

During 2009-2012, one Sixth Form College (SFC) introduced Building Learning Power (BLP) as a new philosophy and framework for learning and teaching. This short paper sets out to explain why and how BLP was introduced, and discusses how effective this process has been.