Two practices in education--community-based learning and deliberative democratic discourse--have been lauded as highly effective in instilling democratic values in students and preparing them to be active citizens. Both practices have the potential to facilitate the formation of publics in the Deweyan understanding--the building block of…

This article contains a review of relevant research concerning the implementation and operation of a professional learning community (PLC). The term "PLC Lite" is defined as the ineffective operation of a team acting under the umbrella of a PLC. Although many schools operate under the term PLC, daily operations do not produce evidence of…

Background: Young people are more likely to develop into effective learners, productive adults, and engaged citizens when their learning environments afford them certain kinds of experiences. For example, students are more likely to succeed when they experience a sense of belonging in school or experience schoolwork as personally relevant.…

While a growing body of research examines teachers' facilitation of discourse-rich classrooms, surprisingly little research is devoted to learners' responsibilities in such classrooms. In this paper, we share a theoretical model for explaining students' responsibilities in yielding mathematical learning in discourse-rich classrooms. These…

This article emphasizes the power of the words we use as educators by shining a light on the work of Peter H. Johnston. The author offers timely and pertinent ways to engage students in effective and respectful academic discourse and writing. She also stresses the importance of modeling for students and letting them see our struggle with writing.…

New England colleges and universities are admired for their ability to marshal smart minds to tackle complex problems. This capacity has been evident throughout the pandemic, as their research, teaching and commitment to public service have demonstrated what they do best--chart new paths in the face of uncertainty. Analysis by the New England…

Students learn large amounts of information, but not all of it is remembered after courses end -- meaning that valuable class time is often spent reviewing background material. Crucially, laboratory research suggests different strategies will be effective when reactivating previously learned information (i.e. "marginal knowledge"), as…

Decades of research has shown that example-based learning is an effective instructional strategy for learning new skills. The field of learning from examples is seeing a shift in focus towards more innovative and use-inspired research, in part because the use of examples for informal and formal learning purposes has mushroomed. This special issue…

Retiring senior military officers (SMO) are a specific group of adult learners in role transition. SMOs have the shared experience of high-level leadership roles, senior managerial experiences, and military rank. They experience some similar transition challenges as other military affiliated learners, such as military-civilian culture; however, in…

This study explores how young children infer nuances in epistemic modality through prosody. A forced-choice task was used, testing children's (ages three to seven) comprehension of the "might"/"will" distinction (modal condition) as well their ability to modulate the strength of "might" through two prosodic tunes…

Choosing between options characterized by multiple cues can be a daunting task. People may integrate all information at hand or just use lexicographic strategies that ignore most of it. Notably, integrative strategies require knowing exact cue weights, whereas lexicographic heuristics can operate by merely knowing the importance order of cues.…

Numerous studies from psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience have generated substantial evidence suggesting that multitasking while doing schoolwork has a significant detrimental effect on student learning and performance. Despite this evidence, attending to multiple streams of information and entertainment while doing homework, writing a…

When introducing production control solutions, most textbooks focus on a to-stock, repetitive context. In response, we extend the classical match-and-dice game, which also assumes a repetitive context, to teach complexities that emerge in a nonrepetitive setting, such as the appearance of direct and indirect load, and to introduce appropriate…

This article describes a multistep exercise focused on decision-making that can be used in a variety of disciplines. The exercise helps students understand process issues in decision-making and the complexity of doing so in real world scenarios. The exercise uses a case to illustrate the paradoxical effect of how decision-makers often focus on the…

In this interview, former Major League Baseball player Adam Rosales talks about his engagement in helping troubled children through his nonprofit organization, Sandlot Nation, and other means. He stresses the importance of giving back to society and explains that his motivation to be involved in charity work stems from his faith and from the…