This article documents the transformation of cognitive and relational dispositions within a group of 14 White female undergraduate students ranging in age from 18 to 21 years and enrolled in a semester-long diversity course. Using Mezirow's transformative learning theory as an interpretive frame to guide our phenomenological analysis of written…

This paper presents a framework for understanding the role that systems theory might play in education for sustainability (EfS). It offers a sketch and critique of Land and Meyer's notion of a "threshold concept", to argue that seeing systems as a threshold concept for sustainability is useful for understanding the processes of…

As an ideology, the concept of social justice has long been a worthy, if slightly volatile, companion of early childhood theorists and researchers. Whilst the majority of the literature has valorised social justice, discontented questions regarding "what" the construct entails and "how" it might be tamed to work still remain.…

Why is that child so rude? Why does that mother let her daughter come to school dressed like that? Why doesn't he ever do his homework? That child is so lazy that he sleeps in class every day! It's not unusual for teachers to express frustration with students' behavior by making comments like these. But do these teachers really know…

This chapter presents one faculty member's narrative in which academic research, teaching, advising, and mentoring coalesced into an activist agenda for transformative learning and social justice.

The authors examine the modernist underpinnings of traditional adult learning and development theories and evaluate elements of those theories through more contemporary lenses. Drawing on recent literature focused on "public pedagogy," the authors argue that much learning takes place outside of formal educational institutions. They look beyond…

If changes that make a difference to Aboriginal learners are to be effected in public schools, then transformational change is required (Menzies, Archibald, & Smith, 2004). How is transformational change best achieved? In this article, I argue, based on a recently completed study (McGregor, 2013) that teacher learning--particularly among…

For the better part of the past century, the field of education has witnessed repeated calls and initiatives for change, reform and improvement of our schools. Yet today, the problems of improving academic achievement and social adjustment among youth continue unabated. An explanation for this "change without change" phenomenon is…

The structure of higher education today, in conjunction with those actively trying to devalue a liberal arts degree in the public sphere, has set the table for what seems like a completely rational solution: finding a "niche." Broadly speaking, colleges offering a liberal arts education identify their "niche market" in terms of…

Using a reflective practice approach this paper provides an outline of the development of a new career development and counselling program for students within a medical sciences off-campus precinct. Drawing on Schön's (1983) reflective practice framework the aim included reflecting "in" and "on" action during the development…

In this postcolonial inquiry, we analyze how spirituality has been simultaneously appropriated/re-covered and re-appropriated/recovered for the purpose of (re)colonizing as well as decolonizing projects. By drawing from discrete yet interconnected literatures of decolonizing, (post)(anti)colonial, Indigenous, and ethnic studies based theories, we…

While instructional design's technological roots have given it many approaches for process and product improvement, in most cases designers still rely on instructional forms that do not allow them to develop instruction of a quality consistent with that expressed by the field's visionary leaders. As a result, often the teachers and students using…

Although there is increasing evidence for a relationship between courses that emphasize student engagement and achievement of student deep learning, there is a paucity of quantitative comparative studies in a biochemistry and molecular biology context. Here, we present a pedagogical study in two contrasting parallel biochemistry introductory…

The aim of this study is to investigate learners' transforming participation as they enter and engage in a learning community. To do this, we investigated the micro-development of two students' learning and collaborative practices in the context of a unique learning community that was fostered within a graduate level course.…

The nuclear terrorist threat is far greater today than ever before, but the United States is unprepared to respond to the aftermath of a nuclear attack, whether perpetrated by rogue nuclear countries or the terrorist groups they support. Following the detonation of an improvised nuclear device (IND), citizens, not government personnel, become the…