Autobiography is the imaginative construction of one's life story and the creative expression of lifelong transformative learning. Its use in studying adult transformation raises political and ethical questions and concerns about qualitative methods; it demonstrates the usefulness of conversation as a research process. (SK)

From interviews with 12 U.S. adults who successfully lived in another culture emerged a model of the learning process for intercultural competence. Its components are setting the stage (learning readiness), cultural disequilibrium, cognitive orientation (reflective/nonreflective), learning strategies (observer, participant, friend), and evolving…

Mezirow's concept of perspective transformation (PT) is criticized for considering examples of socially expected development as instances of PT. Individual development is both social and psychological, and PT is best considered as a developmental shift (a new world view) rather than developmental progress. (SK)

Nursing students' exposure to transformative learning is compared to Alice's adventures in"Wonderland". Teaching strategies that encourage critical reflection and discussion, questioning of the status quo, and understanding of one's own and others' world view are recommended. (SK)

In a history class, students typically listen to the teacher lecture, read from their textbook, then take a test. Although they may sometimes be required to memorize information or read stories about historical events and people, they rarely work with other students, use original documents, write term papers, or discuss the significance of what…

The purpose of this paper is to explore the journey of the scholarship student as he or she becomes a responsible scholar. We present three narratives, each one providing a different lens through which we view the journey of the scholarship student. We use transformative learning (as expounded by Mezirow) as a framework to discuss this transition,…

This paper describes a project designed for college students unlikely to participate in international exchange programs but who, nonetheless, can learn much about intercultural communication through available resources in their own communities. The project involved a mentoring program between third and fourth year university students and first and…

Although pervasive throughout counseling psychology and other training programs that incorporate experiential activities, reflective journals have sparse, fragmented and disparate theoretical bases to support their use. Coming from the fields of counseling and professional education, the authors use counselor education as a template to explore the…

Transformational change, versus incremental self-improvement, is what is needed for today's most at-risk teens. This article draws upon many of the principles in Scott Larson and Larry Brendtro's newest book "The Resilience Revolution." There has been much written on the process of transformational change in the business sector over the past…

Adult humans searched for a hidden goal in images depicting 3-dimensional rooms. Images contained either featural cues, geometric cues, or both, which could be used to determine the correct location of the goal. In Experiment 1, participants learned to use featural and geometric information equally well. However, men and women showed significant…

How can teaching and living abroad impact our teaching in North America? This article explores how what I do teaching religion and ethics to undergraduates at Texas Christian University has been influenced by twelve years of teaching in the two-thirds world. It is structured in terms of three insights that correlate with what I call the past,…

In recent discussions about educational accountability, participants have joined one of two warring camps. In one corner are the advocates of results-driven accountability who claim that test scores are the most accurate measure of the quality of schools, teachers, and school leaders. In the opposite corner are the advocates of input-driven…

On a recent visit to Murmansk, Russia to explore collaborative possibilities between the University of North Florida and Murmansk State Pedagogical University (MSPU), two educators jumped at the chance to visit a local kindergarten. As a former kindergarten teacher, one was curious to see how this kindergarten varied from what she had experienced…

The continued persistence of sexism and institutional gender bias in schools is well documented. The empirical research in this area has uncovered a host of negative outcomes associated with gender inequity for all children. Research suggests that schools provide an excellent forum in which issues of gender inequities may be examined and…

Action research includes a variety of methods engaged in by practitioners who wish to learn more about their work and the possibility of constructively changing it. This paper describes an action research dissertation project that focused on the work of a group of community activists to construct new understandings of their work and, as a result,…