In this article, we describe 10 separate classroom experiences where an appreciative inquiry (AI) exercise was used for course creation. Post-exercise surveys of students showed that the AI exercise was perceived to be a successful practice. Students indicated putting effort toward reaching their peak learning experience and were satisfied with…

This article provides an analysis of developmental discourses underpinning preschool physical education in Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence. Implementing a post-structural perspective, the article examines the preschool experiences and outcomes related to physical education as presented in the Curriculum for Excellence "health and…

The article sets out a "big history" which resonates with the priorities of our own time. A globalizing world calls for new spacial scales to underpin what the history curriculum addresses, "big history" calls for new temporal scales, while concern over climate change calls for a new look at subject boundaries. The article…

Specialized science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) schools create niche areas in an attempt to attract the best students, establish the school status, and justify their privilege to valuable resources. One Singapore STEM school does this in applied science learning to differentiate its curriculum from the national prescribed…

While the scholarship of teaching and learning literature has made great advances in our understanding of how learning might best occur, the syllabus as a teaching and learning tool appears to have been almost completely left out of the developmental conversation. Overwhelmingly, extant literature about syllabi and their use focuses on operational…

Drawing on evidence from the Longitudinal Investigation of the Effect of Curriculum on Algebra Learning (LieCal) Project, issues related to mathematics curriculum reform and student learning are discussed. The LieCal Project was designed to longitudinally investigate the impact of a reform mathematics curriculum called the Connected Mathematics…

This paper explores the legacy of Dr Fritz Duras in order to address the issue of whether the implementation of a new curriculum for health and physical education in Australia represents a defining time for the subject. Dr Duras was Director of the first physical education teacher education course at the University of Melbourne during an earlier…

Globalisation has inspired a wide assortment of curricular initiatives within engineering education in the USA and Europe. This interest could be categorised in multiple directions--international exposure, service learning, or critical understanding and praxis. In Canada, however, there has been far less consideration for integrating globalisation…

With the ever-pressing twenty-first century demands, such as the need for new knowledge generation and application, schools today are aware of the necessity to change their structures, processes and practices to be relevant. In Singapore's centralized education system, the Ministry has introduced several decentralization initiatives in the hope of…

In 2004, the Ministry of Education of China disseminated a communicative language teaching-oriented new English curriculum (NEC) for secondary schools across the entire country. This study examines teacher orientations to the NEC and the forces influencing their orientations and practices. The extensive and in-depth teachers' accounts and the…

Afterschool programs linked to schools provide opportunities to keep children safe and engage them in enrichment activities that can support their growth and development. Often, these programs are led by afterschool directors with a background in youth development and no experience or education in leading in educational environments. These…

The English Language Arts (ELA) standards are compositionally flawed and further distorted by a high-stakes environment that discourages balanced, meaningful pedagogy; to subvert this reality, teachers must practice subterfuge by foregrounding Personal Standards as the primary drivers of instruction. This author discusses how ELA instructors must…

How do you become an effective primary school teacher? What do you need to be able to do? What do you need to know? Flexible, effective and creative primary school teachers require subject knowledge, an understanding of their pupils and how they learn, a range of strategies for managing behaviour and organising environments for learning, and the…

This research focused on making visible children's funds of identity [Esteban-Guitart, M., & Moll, L. (2014). Funds of identity: A new concept based on the funds of knowledge approach. "Culture & Psychology," 20(1), 31-48] and incorporating these resources into an inquiry-oriented, play-based, preschool curriculum. Participants…

Oppenheimer urged communities all over the world to study how children come to understand peace, conflict, and war. Set in various countries, their review of studies, as well as more recent examinations reveal trends in how children view these phenomena, often differing by gender, age, and extent to which they were exposed to highly dangerous and…