Jack Mezirow's (1978, 1991, and 2008) transformative learning (TL) theory was developed with transforming society in mind. However, that intent has been overshadowed by a dominant focus on individual transformation and a rational cognitive approach to critically assessing assumptions as the path to transformation. We (the authors) wonder what…

Small human complex systems, here called co-present groups, are found across all fields of human social life. Complexity thinking suggests why this is so: that these groups, irrespective of formal content, have a meta-function of providing maximum complexity to manage the "indeterminacy" or "uncertainty" that characterises the…

The author introduces the concept of vitality and its relation to affect. Stern defined vitality as the feeling of flow and aliveness. The author drew on research from literacy, curriculum theory, and the work of Stern to argue for the value of the concept of vitality for thinking about how literacy comes to feel vital. The author argues that…

Mathematical dispositions, or an individual's behavioral (i.e., things they say and do), cognitive (i.e., attention and memory), and affective (i.e., emotions and beliefs) tendencies related to mathematics, are critical to the learning of mathematics and choices related to STEM. Previous research has suggested that adult learners may possess…

To be academically successful, students need to delay gratification, sustain motivation, keep a high level of self-efficacy, and maintain an appropriate balance within their hot/cool cognitive-affective system. The cognitive-affective personality system includes 5 cognitive-affective mediating components (i.e., individuals' way of…

Purpose: Emotions have a pervasive, predictable, sometimes deleterious but other times instrumental effect on decision making. Yet the influence of emotions on educational leaders' decision making has been largely underexplored. To optimize educational leaders' decision making, this article builds on the prevailing data-driven decision-making…

According to Mitcham's (Thinking through Technology, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1994) fourfold philosophical framework, technological knowledge and volition, with their origin within human beings, give rise to technological activities expressed as concrete technological objects. Technologies are associated with a wide array of…

This research investigates the critical need to integrate affective and psychomotor domains alongside cognitive development in educational systems to achieve the comprehensive 'Exit Outcomes' of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) and align with the National Higher Education Qualification Framework (NHEQF) descriptors. Traditional educational approaches…

In this essay, I draw upon Ellen J. Langer's notions of mindlessness and mindfulness to identify and delineate Confucius' views on mindfulness. Langer's theory exemplifies a social-cognitive approach to mindfulness which is a prominent orientation in the extant research. I argue that Confucius, like Langer, rejects mindlessness that is…

How we are to understand the formative and informative processes of language? At one level, language is understood as a medium for communicating knowledge through propositions that form or represent cognitive understanding and so can be defined as informative. The concern of this article is to explore the scope of this notion of linguistic and…

In this essay, Mark Jonas argues that there are three broadly held misconceptions of Plato's philosophy that work against his relevance for contemporary moral education. The first is that he is an intellectualist who is concerned only with the cognitive aspect of moral development and does not sufficiently emphasize the affective and conative…

Recently, there has been increasing pedagogical interest in the qualities and characteristics of movement. This article examines these qualities and characteristics in terms of John Dewey's distinction between abstract, linguistic "significant" meanings and concrete, embodied "imminent" meanings. Imminent meanings are comprised…

The investigations described in the ten fascinating research studies contained in the current volume of "ZDM Mathematics Education" evoke some perspectives in response. I consider the articles thematically in relation to a suggested set of important or pressing questions about creativity and giftedness in mathematics education, grouped…

In this article, Alden Blodget reflects on his more than 50 years of working in what he terms "the tragicomedy club of school reform," and suggests a need to rethink not just classroom teaching methods but the entire system. Blodget states that if the current system is built on faulty assumptions about learning, then there must be a…

Young learners (defined as children ages 5-12) of English as a foreign language are growing in number worldwide. At the policy level, foreign language (FL) programs for young learners are increasingly emphasizing the use of task-based language teaching (TBLT). In practice, however, designing and implementing tasks for young learners poses numerous…