In many teacher training courses, reflection upon practice plays a very important role in learning to teach. A number of strategies have been developed to help student teachers learn to reflect. Current reflection strategies often focus on problematic instead of on positive experiences. Ideas from positive psychology and solution-based therapy…

For the most part, faculty preparing teachers and leaders for tomorrow's schools would agree that educators, regardless of their role, need to be sensitive to the diverse cultures represented in our schools. Leaders need to be sensitive to and understanding of different cultures, while working to ensure the success of all students regardless of…

James Bucky Carter argues for the transformative potential of graphic novels in the English classroom. He advises teachers to be actively aware of the newer and lesser-known graphic novels and suggests approaches for examining the complex social issues the novels address.

Interviews with 18 HIV-positive men and women revealed a process of meaning-making from the initial reaction to the diagnosis, through a catalytic experience, to three phases of reflection and activity: exploration/experimentation, consolidation, and stabilization of perspective. (SK)

Transformative learning necessitates the loss of the old self. Two ways to deal with this loss are critical social theory, a dialectical, rational approach; and analytical depth psychology, a discerning awareness of the transformation process through a change in consciousness. (SK)

Describes elements of the Self-Directed Learning Process Model (control over learning, learner-teacher interaction, influencing factors). Discusses how reflection on learning processes can transform the way learners think about learning and make them responsible for their own development. (SK)

A holistic conception of transformative learning involves understanding of the self through spiritual, emotional, and mythological dimensions of experience, grounded in the idea of archetypes. (SK)

A participant-observer study included initial and 10-month follow-up surveys of 19 adult learners before and after the September 11th terrorist attacks; 18 described their experiences as perspective transformation. Grief stages were observed; the reorganization stage was most evident. Combining the models of transformative learning and grief…

A narrative inquiry into the lives of nine environmental activists in nonprofit organizations depicted the role of learning in sustaining their commitment to and passion for the work. Resulting themes suggest they recognize their work as a calling or vocation. Transformative learning plays an integral role in sustaining commitment and passion.…

Transformative learning shapes the learner in profound and far-reaching ways. Conceptualizations by Mezirow, Freire, and Daloz are based on viewing learning as change in consciousness, of humans as free and responsible, of knowledge and personal and social construct, and belief in liberal democratic society. (SK)

Compares the postmodernists' and transformationists' versions of interpretivism, in relation to epistemology, politics, and the ontology of the self. Sides with the transformationists and concludes that the differences between the two are overdrawn. (MMU)

Advance directives that enable individuals to control their health care are underused due to lack of patient knowledge. Nurses can teach patients about them using adult learning principles, transformation theory, and skills for learning how to learn. (SK)

Argues that a psychological perspective on transformative learning is narrow and distorting. Articulates a sociological perspective, discusses social constructions of reality, defines civil society within Gramsci's formulation, and proposes ways to analyze the transformative process within the new social movements. (Author/SK)

A study of workers in a Canadian Auto Workers local revealed an array of community-building projects and educational programs, many linking informal and formal learning. The workers are building a grassroots, working-class social movement. (SK)

Defines social change movements and the role played by individual and collective transformation. Addresses the debate over Mezirow's transformation theory and shows how transformative learning was used in the women's movement. (SK)