This study aimed to understand early childhood pre-service teachers' thoughts and experiences with nutrition education in their undergraduate program and how these experiences play into their perceptions and future use of nutrition education within their own classrooms. Using phenomenology, 11 in-depth telephonic interviews were conducted with…

Physical activity at school can be beneficial to children's psychosocial well-being. To realise this potential, a school environment that supports physical activity is crucial. Self-Determination Theory provides the basis for one approach, namely to focus on pupils' need to feel competent, autonomous and related. The purpose of this study was to…

In this paper we argue that education--particularly higher education (HE)--has the potential to offer socially, economically and culturally transformative learning opportunities. Yet, for prisoners, the opportunity to engage in HE as active social citizens are often limited. Using a Freirean model of democratic, pedagogic participatory dialogue,…

This study examined whether kindergarten children's psychological needs satisfaction would mediate the relationships between parental scaffolding and children's use of self-regulated learning (SRL) strategic behaviours. One hundred and thirty Chinese kindergarten children and their parents participated in the study. Parental scaffolding and…

Long-term outcomes studies often paint a discouraging picture of the lives lived by autistic adults. Yet, their outcomes are often measured against normative markers of traditional adult roles, which may not apply to autistic people making the transition to adulthood. Here, we investigated the transition experiences of a group of young autistic…

The voice of children aged 4 to 8 years is seldom heard in research circles, within the constraints of high-pressure academic model which is the current education system in England. Children are rarely listened to but expected to listen in the current normative societal cycle. This deficiency of active listening as an everyday occurrence impacts…

There has been an increase in research and practice exploring how students can gain agency to shape their higher education experiences. Numerous terms evoking certain metaphors have entered the discussions around engaging students, from students as consumers or producers, to students as creators, partners, or change agents. There is scope within…

Introduction: Given today's academic and professional demands, we must promote knowing how to "be," that is, a feeling of competence and autonomy. A classroom environment where technologies are used for learning and knowledge can be supportive of this purpose. The objective of the present investigation, therefore, was to analyze…

This paper challenges the dominant patronizing approach to youth and media in the Middle East and argues that the calls for censorship of youth media exposure are obsolete and counterproductive. It argues that although censorship advocates have a legitimate concern over media risks, their approaches are ineffective, short-lived and alienating,…

Purpose: The aim of this study was to test the effects of chair-based exercise programs on salivary stress hormones, physical fitness, and functional autonomy of institutionalized older women. Method: In total, 47 participants (80 ± 8.04 years old) were recruited and allocated into three groups: chair-based aerobic exercises (CAE, n = 19),…

Reviews of the literature have confirmed the influence of autonomy-supportive teaching on student self-determined motivation and enhancement of skill in various educational contexts influencing students to be more engaged in their learning in addition to having higher levels of perceived skill improvement. Unfortunately, not much of the literature…

Set against the backdrop of children being 'alienated' from their writing, this paper is taken from a United Kingdom Literacy Association sponsored project where primary school teachers were trained to use process drama in order to give children more agency in their writing across the curriculum. Here, we use discourse analysis to think about the…

We propose that students experience "autonomy dissatisfaction" when the learning environment is indifferent to their psychological need for autonomy. We hypothesized that (a) students could distinguish this newly proposed need state from both autonomy satisfaction and autonomy frustration, (b) autonomy dissatisfaction would explain…

School-based physical education (PE) is the most efficient and cost-effective means of increasing girls' physical activity. Therefore, this project used a health club (HC) approach to alter a high school PE experience for 17 grade nine girls (M age = 14.6 ± 0.49). As part of a larger mixed-methods study, this qualitative element gauged adolescent…

This case study investigates the variety of constructivist approaches to teaching evident in classroom practice. Teaching practices associated with constructivist perspectives have been prevalent in curriculum reforms for some time. Meanwhile, constructivist approaches have been critically discussed in scholarly literature, revealing problematic…