Teachers are seen as key actors of change within programmes and projects on global learning. But all too often they are regarded in an instrumental way or as promoters of some form of ideal global teacher. Evidence from the UK and elsewhere suggests that if a pedagogical approach is taken to the role of teachers within the process of learning,…

This article explores how educating lives for Christian wisdom might serve as an antidote to the vice of "acedia," a prominent feature of the culture of contemporary higher education. After suggesting that the capital vice of "acedia" seems to capture well various facets of our present age and how the pursuit of wisdom serves…

In a university environment dominated by a traditional way of understanding knowledge, we argue that it is possible and necessary to foster capabilities among engineering students. Capabilities are understood as reasoned and substantive freedoms to lead the kind of life that people value, within a framework of respect for the core values of human…

Critical and creative thinking constitute important learning outcomes at doctoral level across the world. While the literature on doctoral education illuminates this matter through the lens of experienced senior researchers, the doctoral students' own perspective is missing. Based upon interviews with 14 doctoral students from four disciplines at…

Educators view critical thinking as an essential skill, yet it remains unclear how effectively it is being taught in college. This meta-analysis synthesizes research on gains in critical thinking skills and attitudinal dispositions over various time frames in college. The results suggest that both critical thinking skills and dispositions improve…

Universal Design for Learning (UDL), an instructional practice for curriculum design, brims with the promise that concepts, however challenging, may be accessible to everyone in a classroom. There is no reason for anyone, including children in special education programs, not to have the right of passage into inquiry within a unit of study. To…

This paper attempts to do a comparative study on two traditions of humanistic pedagogies, West and East, represented by the Socratic and the Confucian teachings. It is intended to put into question our common misunderstanding reflected in the stereotyped contrasts between the Socratic self and the Confucian self: an intellectualist vs. a moralist,…

The military relies on continuing professional education as a key component to the success of its organization. With decreasing budgets and increasing importance for a force that operates efficiently and thinks critically, the cognitive tension among training, education, and learning comes center stage.

We describe an exercise involving the power balance wristband (PBW) designed to enhance students' ability to design scientific tests. An instructor demonstrated that the PBW improved a student's balance, strength, and flexibility and invited students to design and conduct a brief scientific test of the PBW. Research methods students who…

For this study we considered the influence of binge drinking behavior in college on students' critical thinking gains. Findings suggest that binge drinking has a negative influence on students' critical thinking gains over 4 years of college and that this effect was driven by students with the lowest levels of precollege critical thinking. In both…

Students graduating from K-12 education need media literacy skills to engage, participate, and learn in a world in which literacy must keep pace with rapidly changing technologies. Given the significant roles school administrators play in providing leadership and vision to their schools, this narrative study addresses the research question: What…

In this article, I relay the irony of my own path as an "illegal alien" in the US--identifying the tension between being a successful student earning straight As and accolades for good citizenship, while hiding my undocumented legal status. Drawing from the notions of race, smartness and citizenship as social constructions, I use a…

Museum field trips can be effective learning experiences for students, both in terms of connecting social studies content to museum discoveries and in equipping students to put life and academic skills into practice. At a museum, students can test their ability to think critically, use evidence to support claims, and partake in self-directed…

Researchers all over the world unanimously agree upon the idea that teaching students to think critically is principal aim of all level education. The researchers observed as student and teacher that in Pakistani elementary public schools, teachers are overly emphasized the coverage of content through transferring factual information and rote…

In this study, we sought to develop a model to provide educators with training and resources to effectively support and guide social-emotional learning (SEL) in PK-12 online environments, which we refer to as o-SEL. We utilized five national sets of standards and competencies to guide the development of six online modules for educators to gain…