This paper explores two different ontological positions from which policy in schools and teachers can be viewed. On the one hand, it explores the ways in which policies make up and make possible particular sorts of teacher subjects--as producers and consumers of policy, as readers and writers of policy. On the other, it begins to conceptualise the…

This qualitative study investigated the perspectives of preservice teachers from the United States on the customs and practices of teaching in primary schools in England resulting from their participation in a study abroad experience. Participants were 17 teacher education candidates from a university in the southeastern United States who studied…

The lecture has been much maligned as a pedagogical form, yet it persists and even flourishes today in the form of the podcast, the TED talk, and the "smart" lecture hall. This article examines the lecture as a pedagogical genre, as "a site where differences between media are negotiated" (Franzel) as these media coevolve. This examination shows…

The goal of this article is to contribute fragments of concrete understanding to the on-going search for meaning in ideas associated with the learning sciences (Sawyer, 2006b) by adding to the repertoire of domain specific studies pertaining to this relatively new field. The learning sciences are first characterized as a system of learning…

Jesus's blessing of the "poor in spirit," who recognize their dependence on God, suggests that an awareness of human limitation is necessary for wise living. How can the Christian educator teach for spiritual poverty? Both Parker Palmer and Richard Kearney, from their different disciplinary and denominational perspectives, argue for the central…

This study used qualitative research methods to investigate the experiences of students who returned to senior high school for a fourth year in order to graduate. By drawing on student voices, this collaborative research partnership with students revealed that a fourth year of high school led to stigmatization and alienation of students and often…

Documentation does not belong to traditional child observation. Traditional child observation assumes an objective, external truth that can be recorded and accurately represented. However, documentation stresses on the responsibility of the observer for her or his observation, descriptions, interpretations and explanations. Meaning does not come…

The author describes founding "KidSpirit" magazine and her experiences thus far in engaging a teen editorial board. Of special note are quotations from young people themselves, including one who defines "spirituality" as the "indescribable feeling of connection with everything...the unlimited question and the undefined answer: The Journey."

Beyond a monolingual mentality and beyond the language that is typically observed in the prevalent discourse of education for understanding other cultures, this article tries to present another approach: Stanley Cavell's idea of "philosophy as translation." This Cavellian approach shows that understanding foreign cultures involves a relation to…

In this article, the author discusses his shift from preacher to adult educator, and the various reasons that other theologically-minded persons may find their way to adult education. In his case, he felt strongly that the skills he had developed for a career in preaching had led him forcefully and passionately toward unconventional conclusions…

While only a few quantitative studies have looked at social anxiety and close relationships, this study uses the qualitative approach of hermeneutic phenomenology to explore the meaning of being in a close relationship for eight individuals with social anxiety. Participants completed a written questionnaire with open-ended questions about their…

This paper is threefold. It is grounded in the philosophical work of two educational theorists: John Dewey and our contemporary Nel Noddings. It also brings into the conversation the ancient system of Tarot, arguing that its pictorial symbolism embodies intellectual, moral, and spiritual "lessons" derived from collective human experiences across…

Current assessment practices in the United States are not able to accurately capture the total linguistic, cognitive, and achievement abilities of bilingual learners. There are psychometric complexities involved when assessing and interpreting test results of bilingual students, which impact the validity of this practice. Further, the compromise…

This hermeneutic phenomenological study inquired about the challenges and successes of eight university students diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder at a university in the southeastern United States. The data collection methods involved documentation, questionnaires, focus groups, and individual interviews. The analysis of data…

This dissertation investigates the viability of utilizing linguistic pragmatics to interpret the biblical text and to determine its hermeneutical significance. As a complementary aid to historical and literary readings of a text, linguistic pragmatics utilizes certain tools to discover and/or describe the implicit meaning encoded into a text. A…