In 2006, a secondary English and feminist studies teacher created a course and designed a study around a reading exchange for eighth-grade girls from two vastly different communities. Girls from a school in a northeastern state read young adult novels and wrote about their reading and related topics with girls from Washington, DC on a wikispace…

Recursive partitioning is an analytic technique that is useful for identifying complex combinations of conditions that predict particular outcomes as well as for delineating multiple subgroup differences in how such factors work together. As such, the methodology is well suited to multidisciplinary, life course inquiry in which the goal is to…

In this article the concept of authenticity is explored within an educational context, using examples from the lives and work of teachers to illustrate the many qualities, dimensions and complexities involved in striving to be true to oneself. In educational settings authenticity has been aligned with personal commitment, meaningful contexts,…

This article offers yet another look at the challenge of teaching, in this case through the eyes of writers like John Passmore, Michael Novak, and Emmanuel Levinas. It is an attempt to combine the fundamental qualities of good teaching as set forth by Passmore, with the notion of "caritas", literally meaning willing the good of the other, and the…

In educational scholarship, a number of comparisons have been made between the work of John Dewey and Herbert Spencer, many claiming that Spencer's influence is unmistakable in Dewey's theories or even that Dewey is derivative of Spencer. However, one must look beyond the surface similarities of Dewey and Spencer and recognize the drastically…

Poetry does not matter to most people. They go about their business as usual, rarely consulting Shakespeare, Wordsworth, or Frost. One has to wonder if poetry has any place in the 21st century, when music videos and satellite television offer daunting competition for poems, which demand a good deal of attention and considerable analytic skills, as…

Feminist researchers in psychology and education have been theorizing about the kind of sexuality girls ought to have. They are not afraid to investigate morality and what makes a good life. While they explore the meaning and cultural context of girls' sexual development, the good sexual life they describe may be an elusive ideal that, in the end,…

Many millenia ago, a number of genetic changes endowed the human species with the remarkable capacity: (1) to construct highly complex systems of expressions--human languages; (2) to copy such systems, once created, from other members of the species; and (3) to use them for communicative and perhaps other purposes. This capacity is not uniform; it…

Hunger, thirst and satiety have an enormous influence on cognition, behavior and development, yet we often take for granted that they are simply inborn or innate. Converging data and theory from both comparative and human domains, however, supports the conclusion that the phenomena hunger, thirst and satiety are not innate but rather emerge…

This article discusses the proposition that learning is an unexplored feature of the guided autobiography method and its developmental exchange. Learning, conceptualized and explored as the embedded and embodied processes, is essential in narrative activities of the guided autobiography method leading to psychosocial development and growth in…

This study provides preliminary examination of the efficacy of the "Best Authentic Leadership Self" exercise. A field quasi-experimental design was conducted with a dual purpose: (1) to ascertain the value of interventions aimed at triggering events to enhance the learning (c.f. teaching) of "authentic leadership? and how this…

Globally, vocational and lifelong education reform now places greater stress on employability skills rather than only simple technical skills. This study undertakes a thorough review of the vocational education curriculum offered at one institution in Hong Kong so as to explore personal development opportunities that support the development of…

This study examines the impact that diversity courses (DC's), created to increase social awareness on college campuses, have on 553 students' interactions with faculty, critical thinking and social engagement. Conducted at a large, private tier one research institution, this study reviews a pre-college survey, post-college survey and student…

Students served in juvenile correctional school settings often arrive with histories of trauma, aversive educational experiences, low achievement, and other severe risk factors that impeded psychosocial development, educational progress, and occupational outcomes. Schools serving adjudicated youth must address a higher percentage of severe…

The goal of popular education, as articulated by Paulo Freire and others, is the transformation of communities and societies. There is in need to supplement existing literature with assessment of the outcomes of the practice of popular education in the US, especially under women's leadership. This qualitative research study assesses the outcomes…