This conceptual paper argues that for children with reading difficulties, multi-sensory approaches to learning, especially in literacy, are essential. Drawing on a state-of-the-art review, we propose that olfactory elements of the learning environment, particularly in reading spaces, have significant implications for how struggling readers engage…

Single and multiple sense stimuli create sensescapes, which combine to be perceived as multisensory integrated products. Such encounters may be experienced across multiple spaces and have importance due to esthetic sensuality, cultural value, economic benefit, or religious significance. This article presents a methodological protocol for the…

The sounds of birds form the outdoor playlist of our lives. Birds appeal to the public, in part because of the wide variety of interesting sounds they make. This popularity has led to a long history of amateur participation in ornithology, which has recently produced rapid increases in freely available online databases with hundreds of thousands…

In our conversations about sexuality, Kathleen Quinlivan and I mused over how a subject as potentially vibrant and life-enhancing as sexuality education could so often be taught in uninspiring and disembodied ways. Students' existing critique of much sexuality education is that it is typically disease and danger focused, marginalises the sensuous…

In this article, the authors share lessons combining visual arts, sound, technology, and science through the lens of soundscape, STEAM, and multisensory education. Focusing on teacher education, this article explores two primary issues. First, it considers how STEAM--multisensory integration fosters students' cultural understanding and expression…

This paper outlines the potential gains for Constructionist research and praxis in modelling that might be obtained by recognising the power of the Patch--a humble computational being in the NetLogo modelling environment that has been overshadowed by its more popular fellow agent, the Turtle. To contextualise this opportunity, I describe how…

Sensory obstacle courses provide lesson ideas for teachers targeting objectives in both cognitive and psychomotor domains. Specific cognitive learning includes the movement concepts needed to navigate obstacles set up in the gymnasium aimed at developing athletic motor skills competences needed for sports. Sensory courses include using stations…

Because of the diversity and complexity of deaf-blindness, the task of assessment is "best approached with the mindset that you are engaged in a process of discovery" (Rowland, 2009). It incorporates a variety of methods including observation, interviews with people who know a child well, evaluations by specialists, and direct…

Not enough information on instructional practices specific for students with dyslexia in PE has been published. Given dyslexia's prevalence in the population, and the impact it has on students holistic learning, there is a tremendous need for teacher training about "best practices" when teaching those with dyslexia in all subjects,…

This paper reflects on the practical integration of generative AI, specifically ChatGPT, in a middle school (grades 6-8) special education setting. Initially adopted by teachers to manage an overwhelming workload, the use of AI evolved into a collaborative tool that supported instructional planning, simplified complex texts, created lesson…

In this article, we engage with a question that has occupied the professional, policy, and popular discourse on education and socialization: are a child's development potential and outcomes contingent on innate abilities ("nature") or environment ("nurture") (Plomin, DeFries, & Fulker, 1988; Stiles, 2011; Tabery, 2014;…

Collective cultural transformation is needed to save the Earth from the growing effects of the human-caused environmental problems. Music education, too, can take part in preparing future generations with the knowledge and skills needed to address the world's complex challenges and create a more sustainable future. Approaching music education from…

Children and youth are available to learn when they are ready to engage with people, absorb information, and pay attention to what is occurring around them. They are alert, attentive, and interested but not overstimulated. Optimizing availability for learning involves a systematic analysis and understanding of the internal and external factors…

In this collaborative professor-student contribution, an experiential nature-based university psychology course is described and discussed. Existing scholarship on experiential environmental education informed the course, with the overall aim of educating the "whole student". Experiential environmental education has been identified as…

In this paper, I examine the re-contextualisation of particular versions of solo traditional set dances from the region of North Kerry, Ireland, by teachers and step dancers of competitive step dancing for competition. These set dances, namely the Blackbird and Saint Patrick's Day, were choreographed by Jeremiah Molyneaux, the last of the…