Research suggests that America today is more politically polarized and less capable of conducting civil public discourse than at least the last several decades. These greater cultural factors unsurprisingly seem to have trickled into American schools, as teachers report increased divisiveness and conflict, particularly directed toward…

Scientists' science differs remarkably from school science. In order to be taught to students, science is recontextualized from scientific research communities to science classrooms. This paper examines scientific discourse in scientific research communities, and discusses its transformation from an internally-persuasive and authoritative…

The American Academy's Rome Prize brings together scholars and artists whose work relies on the rich and ancient city, in a Renaissance-style palace, which was custom-built for the institution in 1914. The academy experience is intrinsically communal, with staff members and fellows alike, regularly using the term ecross-pollination to describe the…

Ritual has played an integral role in human development and socialization throughout history. This paper seeks to highlight that role so that the importance of perpetuating ritual becomes obvious and necessary. The purpose of this paper is to re-iterate the significance of ritual in human development, education, and social improvement; discuss the…

In Hilliard, OH, administrators, teachers, kids and parents make a school a "community." Visualize, if you will, a symphony orchestra. The violins play as one, led by the concertmaster in the first violin section, who is first among equals. As the music builds, the cellos add their glorious tone while the woodwinds may introduce the theme.…

Why are authentic school and community connections so rare and so fragile, particularly at the high school level and particularly in urban areas? Why, when high school reformers are so eager to create learning communities of their students and faculty, do so few high schools extend their mission to serving as centers of community learning for…

For successful implementation of FLCs, consider leadership recommendations for institutional change, reasons for choosing the FLC model, and institutional conditions that may facilitate or hinder FLC development. (Contains 1 table.)

Creating learning communities in low-performing districts and schools is especially daunting in an era of accountability and standards-based assessment. This article describes research that informed application of Southwest Educational Development Laboratory's Working Systemically model for increased student achievement. The article highlights 4…

The processes for choosing, preparing, and supporting facilitators for faculty learning communities are as unique as the campuses housing them. This chapter reports on a range of activities and highlights three preparation programs. The following are appended: (1) Goals Inventory for Faculty Learning Community; and (2) Planning Inventory for…

A team of faculty and students from a principal preparation program sought to discover how administrators and teachers in two culturally diverse middle schools were implementing the concept of learning community. The purposes of the study was to: (1) Explore how administrators and teachers defined learning communities; (2) Determine how the two…

Some learning scientists are beginning to investigate social and cultural aspects of learning by examining the interactions between a learner and the environment as well as with other people in the learning environment. This article proposes conversational analysis (CA) as a tool to analyze interactions between learners and instructors in…

Building on the framework of Peters and Armstrong's (1998) three Types of Teaching/Learning, this article explores the use of dialogue to foster a collaborative and democratic learning experience. There are three conditions under which dialogue can be facilitated as a part of the collaborative learning experience: (a) intent, (b) a dialogical…

In this paper, I take the position that the recently increased "e-talk" permeating our language potentially compromises our field's professionalism by "one-minutizing" learning that uses computer-mediated technologies. In so doing, I discuss historical aspects of adult education, the importance of language as a naming function, the evolution of…