Recently, there has been a surge of interest in employing contemplative teaching and learning practices in college classrooms. The authors define contemplative pedagogy as a teaching and learning experience that involves the learner in a participatory epistemology characterized by a deeply immersed, insightful learning experience fostered through…

Right to Play's Plug-in-Play (PIP) project in Rwanda aims to enhance Science and Elementary Technology (SET) education through playful and interactive methods. This study, conducted by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) and Three Stones International (TSI), explores the implementation of learning through play with technology…

This article documents the author's two-year study of the learning experience of first-year students undertaking a research paper. The study was conducted at a small liberal arts college with a history curriculum designed to provide content knowledge in introductory-level lecture courses, followed by skills in writing and research in upper-level…

Preservice teacher education courses provide an opportunity for the development of knowledge, skills, and confidence in classroom and behaviour management. This study reports the change in classroom management sense of efficacy (CMSE) of a small cohort of Australian preservice primary teachers at 4 time points (precoursework, preprofessional…

As many scholars in the field of TESOL (Danielewicz, 2001; Harlow & Cobb, 2014; Kanno & Stuart, 2011) point out, the development of teacher identity is an ongoing, multifaceted process. Thus, quite frequently, novice teachers feel as though they take on a role when they are in the classroom, as opposed to fully embodying an identity of a…

Motivational design theory complements instructional design theory and, when used together, both principles can affect learning, knowledge acquisition, and knowledge retention. In information literacy instruction, motivational design exists throughout the appropriate standards documents. However, there is limited current research on the best…

This article explores the interplay between young children's spontaneous engagement in learning through their imagination, and the mind-set of the teacher when approaching planning for instruction. Perhaps by connecting with our own imaginative thinking, we can gain insights about our young learners, and find additional strategies to promote…

This paper considers the overt and covert discourses in two contemporary policy documents in England and Wales, "The Nutbrown Review: Foundations for Quality" ([DfE] Department for Education Department for Education. 2012. "The Nutbrown Review: Foundations for Quality: The Independent Review of Early Education and Childcare…

Rapid changes in Northern Ireland's demographic, resulting in an increasingly multicultural and multilingual school population, are presenting new opportunities and challenges for schools in a region emerging from a troubled recent past. Reflecting on this from a pastoral perspective, this article focuses on the relationships between the school…

An increasing number of international Chinese undergraduate students enrolled in United States.colleges and universities in the past few years. Many began their journey in an intensive English program of a four-year university due to lack of English proficiency. Instead of continuing their study at the same institution, a considerable number of…

Teaching in Singapore, Tze Kwang Teo cannot conceive of a history teacher unfamiliar with the mnemonic "PEE" (or "PEEL") used to structure students' essays. Its ubiquity is testimony to its power, reminding students both to explain and to substantiate their claims. Yet, as Foster and Gadd have argued, its neat formulation can…

This paper argues that science education has overemphasized the importance of construction at the expense of critique. In doing so, it draws on two key premises--Ford's argument that the construction of knowledge requires a dialectic between construction and critique and Mercier and Sperber's theory of argumentative reasoning that critique is…

Facebook status updates provided the data for a study about the transition learning experiences of 1st-year university students. Strict ethical guidelines were proposed by the PhD researcher from the outset of the study. Anonymity was considered important for the approved ethical clearance for both the university and the participants.…

The authors explore the possible relationship between student satisfaction with online learning and the theory of psychological contracts. The study incorporates latent trait models using the image analysis procedure and computation of Anderson and Rubin factors scores with contrasts for students who are satisfied, ambivalent, or dissatisfied with…

This article focuses on the phenomenon of middle leadership in a university context and directs attention to the significance of learning as a central facet of leadership development. Drawing on the reflections of two of the authors as new middle leaders (chairpersons of departments), this article critically examines how middle leaders learn…