This article presents the entirety of a speech delivered by the author during the twenty-fifth Dudley Allen Sargent Commemorative Lecture. In this speech, the author provided some coherence to the varied conference presentations and how they might "connect and collaborate." The author used the context of higher education instruction to offer some…

"The network" has achieved a form of "institutionalized utopianism" in the recent past and is posited as a neo-liberal solution to social scientific researchers and education practitioners learning with and from one another. This paper first outlines why the metaphor of the network is so persuasive. It goes on to problematize some of the key…

As part of his Ph.D study in Brisbane, the author was observing one classroom where the teacher was enchanting as an educator, surrounded by excited, engaged, chattering children making dinosaurs. At another center, he felt dismayed as he observed an all too familiar table of organized collage and paints being prepared by staff. They were all…

In his influential book "Dialogues with Children" (1984), Gareth Matthews presents strong evidence that children as young as six can and should engage in philosophical discourse. His findings form the basis of this article, a theoretical and practical guide for parents and teachers seeking respectful and creative ways to encourage…

We investigated the effects of divergent thinking training (with explicit instruction) on problem-solving tasks in a sample of Third Culture Kids (Useem and Downie, 1976). We were specifically interested in whether the children's originality and fluency in responding increased following instruction, not only on classroom-based worksheets and the…

The author decided to minimize the stressful emphasis on assessments in learning in his 11th grade American History and Government classes and put the fun back into teaching. Tired of the repetitive aspects of teaching the required state standards related to the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court cases, the author switched gears from simply…

This paper reports a research study into the effects of rich, sustained visual arts instruction on 103 inner city 9-year-olds in two major US cities. We use the lenses of social learning theory, theories of motivation and self-efficacy, and recent research on artistic thinking to investigate the programs' effects on children's self-beliefs and…

This study investigated the experiences of broadening (i.e., thinking and acting creatively and being open to exploring new ways of being) and narrowing (i.e., the experience of perceiving one's choices as limited) in the supervisory process with the aim of identifying key relational themes from the perspective of supervisees. We interviewed 10…

In this article, the authors describe a varied day of stimulating mathematics with key stage 2 learners--all revolving around chocolate. They used a variety of stimuli organized around the chocolate theme. A whole day was spent on using and applying mathematics, and the exercise proved to be enjoyable for both staff and pupils. The children…

The enigmatic author Lemony Snicket is quick to establish from the start that happy events are not to be expected in his collection, "A Series of Unfortunate Events." Every happy event in the lives of the three clever and charming Baudelaire children is countered with an even more unfortunate one, events rife with misery, misfortune, and despair.…

This article investigates computer-based music composition using the CD Rom "Dance eJay" with pupils from a secondary school setting (13-15 years). Three issues are explored: the extent to which participants adopted different strategies during the composition process, how the strategies differed with respect to prior experience of formal…

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the performance on a test for the assessment of creative behavior and teacher ratings on scales for the assessment of behavior commonly seen as negative. The sample consisted of 71 Austrian elementary school students (33 boys and 38 girls), from seven to ten years of age. The children…

Field trips to the Michigan 4-H Children's Garden must provide rich science learning experiences for students and teachers. A key to this is getting students to ask questions. To facilitate student question asking we developed the Wonder Wall, a "wall" where students could write their questions. Student questions were answered as part of…

Imaginative writing is a great vehicle for creative thinking and risk taking as children structure a reality in a story. However, the author believes that American children are untrained for this sort of work and progress. They need connected experiences. This insight intensifies the author's resolution to seek collaboration with artists in other…

This article is a summary of a cross-Arts, action research project in primary teacher education. The Higher Education ARTS and Schools (HEARTS) project aimed at attitude and pedagogical change amongst teacher education students. The researchers chose to explore the effects and effectiveness of the Arts in making meaning and relevance for both…