This essay argues against a simple, reified view of culture as a set of ideas and norms belonging to a group or nation, and considers the implications of a more complicated concept for discussion of world culture and the global/local nexus. Most anthropologists define culture as the making of meaning, with an emphasis on the process itself as…

Teaching and research are often seen as activities that compete for a faculty member's time and energy. This perceived disconnect between teaching and research has been reinforced by a number of norms within the academy as well as by institutional practices related to how faculty are managed and rewarded. This article argues that teaching and…

The article addresses the widespread claim to make educational research more relevant for practitioners, policy makers, potential users and stakeholders, and proposes a problematisation of the notion of "useful knowledge". The article illustrates the conceptual, instrumental and legitimative relevance of knowledge and highlights empirically the…

Background: Over the past quarter century, efforts to bridge between research in the neurosciences and research, theory, and practice in education have grown from a mere hope to noteworthy scholarly sophistication. Many dedicated educational researchers have developed the secondary expertise in the necessary neurosciences and related fields to…

The advent of information technologies to Universities has improved the teaching-learning process. Students can increase their learning skills using information technology. Those using the Moodle platform regularly seem to get better grades than those who rarely or never use it. This paper analyzes students' intention to use Moodle platforms to…

Failing is a neglected topic in career development theory and counselling practice. Most theories see failing as simply the opposite of success and something to be avoided. It is contended that the Chaos Theory of Careers with its emphasis on complexity, uncertainty and consequent human imitations, provides a conceptually coherent account of…

The articles in this Special Issue reflect the growing interest in applying laboratory-based research to educational settings. These articles highlight the contribution of metacognitive monitoring and self-regulation to effective learning and performance. At the same time, they illustrate the methodological and theoretical challenges involved in…

This rejoinder to Patrick Love's article, "Informal Theory: The Ignored Link in Theory-to-Practice," which appears earlier in this issue of the "Journal of College Student Development", was written at the invitation of the Editor. In the critique, we point out the weaknesses of many of Love's arguments and propositions. We provide an alternative…

This paper is a reflexive account of the use of critical social theory within my practice as an action researcher. It is set within the ongoing debates between pragmatist and critical tendencies within action research. The paper discusses how a selective deployment of key constructs from the work of Jurgen Habermas has supported my work as a…

The positioning of theory in relation to educational practice has provoked much recent debate, with some arguing that educational theory constrains thinking in education, while others dismiss "theory" out of hand as belonging to the world of the "academic," abstracted from the "realities" of the classroom. This paper views theory as necessarily…

The importance of developing reasoning and justification has been highlighted in "Principles and Standards for School Mathematics" (NCTM 2000). The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSI 2010) further reiterates the importance of reasoning and proof in several standards for mathematical practice. Students of all grades are…

This report was commissioned by the Council of Exceptional Children (CEC) Board of Directors and a workgroup comprising seven special education researchers (Bryan Cook, Chair; Virginia Buysse; Janette Klingner; Tim Landrum; Robin McWilliam; Melody Tankersley; and Dave Test) who developed, vetted, and piloted the new standards for determining…

International studies provide evidence that effective teachers are essential to students' learning success. Research on teacher effectiveness in the United States began in the 1980's, and valid and reliable methods for assessing teacher effectiveness have been developed in its context, research on this topic is still relatively new in…

This article contributes to the analysis of the global spread of support for school choice and to the understanding of how a particular form of policy development reflects and cements this support. It maps the growing dominance of school choice within a reconfiguration of politics, policy making, and research. To establish the nature of this…

Objective: This systematic review examines experimental studies that test the effectiveness of strategies intended to integrate empirically supported mental health interventions into routine care settings. Our goal was to characterize the state of the literature and to provide direction for future implementation studies. Method: A literature…