This paper explores the phenomenon of "patchwriting," a term which Howard (1992) coined to refer to the practice of "copying from a source text and then deleting some words, altering grammatical structures, or plugging in one-for-one synonym substitutes" (p. 233). Although patchwriting in universities is often labeled simply as…

This paper uses the Rasch measurement model to analyse data collected on children's attention, activity and impulsiveness at the end of their first year at school by teachers in England, Scotland and Australia. The analysis offers insights into differences in teachers' perceptions of children's behaviour between countries and changes with age. The…

The disorder of autism is widely recognised throughout the world. However, the diagnostic criteria and theories of autism are based on research predominantly conducted in Western cultures. Here we compare the expression of autistic traits in a sample of neurotypical individuals from one Western culture (UK) and two Eastern cultures (India and…

In this article we argue for "reculturing" museums, starting with the ways that museum educators are professionally developed, focusing, in particular, on working with diverse visitors. By "reculturing" we mean shifting the core values and practices of a museum community, starting with its education practices. The aim of…

Women's bodies, states Benhabib ("Dignity in adversity: human rights in troubled times," Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011: 168), have become the site of symbolic confrontations between a re-essentialized understanding of religious and cultural differences and the forces of state power, whether in their civic-republican,…

A gender and nationality comparison study of Chinese students in China and American students in the U.S. (N = 405) was conducted to explore perceptions about potentially offensive behaviors of professors in the college classroom using the Student Perceptions of Professors' Classroom Behaviors (SPPCB). Within-country and between-country comparisons…

The purpose of this quantitative research study was to compare Chinese and American students' inclined level of critical thinking using the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) (Insight Assessment, 2013). The literature of Paul and Elder (1996, 2000, 2005, 2010), Facione and Facione (1992, 1996) and Brookfield (2005, 2010,…

What is the number of tastes or flavors we have? Is it five, as most Chinese believe? None, as the ancient Taoists asserted? Four, as Western science traditionally claims? Recently, "umami" has been added to the traditional four: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter (the Chinese added another: spicy or pungent). Aristotle and Raghavan Iyer (of India)…

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra presents a series of youth concerts each year to introduce and attract younger audiences to the symphony. Music teachers often attend these concerts with students, and the importance of such experiences is frequently emphasised and normalised. This article explores the historical roots of the following relations,…

Despite the increasing development of bias response teams on college and university campuses, little scholarship has examined these teams and, in particular, team leaders' approaches to understanding the role of free speech in responding to bias. Through semi-structured interviews, administrators who served on bias response teams at 19…

Twiza is a tricky word to translate from its original Berber. In its simplest meaning, Twiza speaks to the collective effort of a community to support each other. To speak of Twiza is to call forth, then, the collective material practices which enact the values of a civil society. As Edward Said highlighted decades ago however, when terms (or…

This study was conducted to investigate factors which contribute to the success of gifted students from diverse cultural, linguistic, and low socio-economic backgrounds. Participants were 63 graduates of a secondary gifted and talented program in an urban school district. The graduates' perspectives were examined through the use of questionnaires.…

The article compares how the UN-initiated education for sustainable development (ESD) has fared in three seemingly dissimilar countries: Norway, a wealthy, 'post-materialist' liberal democracy, Ghana, a developing democratic country, and China, a fast catching-up, centrally-steered economy. The study--based on an analysis of national ESD…

In the US, school attendance is mandated for refugee children. These children endure sudden immersion and must acculturate into this novel culture, whose customs often vastly diverge from their native culture's values. Refugee children often struggle with acculturation-related mental health issues, such as internalizing significantly clashing…

This colloquium problematizes the use of early childhood international field experiences as a tool for professional development with Euro-Western pre-service and in-service teachers. The authors critique experiences where minority-world educators teach or implement internships within majority-world contexts. It is critical for Euro-Western teacher…