In recent years, there has been a swing to science and away from the arts and humanities in the subjects students study at school and university. Why? A careful look at the data suggests policy and even schools may not be quite as influential on these choices as we think.

The natural world and the scientific and mathematical tools we use to explore, measure, and understand it should fill us with awe and wonder, and light all kinds of inspirational fires in us. On a planet so desperately in need of scientific breakthroughs, engineering innovations, and newborn technologies, we should be thrilled by the excitement in…

This article explores the usefulness of Maude's translation of Young's idea of powerful knowledge into geography education. Maude's classification of five types of powerful knowledge in geography education was used to analyse the written curriculum of the 'human and society' interdisciplinary domain in four schools in the Netherlands. The…

The authors present a new young adult novel as a focal point for preparing prospective secondary teachers to employ a rich variety of literacies to enhance literature instruction. The hope is to encourage literature teachers to consider a wide range of useful methodologies available across generations of educational research. By demonstrating how…

Stanley Fish wrote a column for the "New York Times" entitled "Will the Humanities Save US?" Here, Fish asserted that the humanities can't save humans, and in fact they don't really "do" anything, other than give pleasure to "those who enjoy them." This sustained shrug elicited a blast of energetic and…

What is the role of the humanities in the modern school? Should geography, history, RE and Citizenship teachers remain faithful to long-standing subject cultures and pedagogies? Or is there another way to consider how the curriculum, and the notion of individual subjects and teachers' pedagogy, could be constructed? Drawing on case studies taken…

This study identified historical continuities and discontinuities across a century of secondary research published in "English Journal" (1912-1966) and "Research in the Teaching of English" (1967-2011). It highlights considerable methodological continuity across six decades of "English Journal" and some shifts in research emphases that tended to…

The present study aims at unravelling the myriad of student-level (i.e., gender, socioeconomic status [SES], academic self-concept, achievement, ability, and occupational interests) and school-level (i.e., gender composition, maths composition, and SES composition) determinants of option choice in the academic track of secondary school in…

Jory Brass and Leslie David Burns provide a useful and informative review of research appearing in the "English Journal" ("EJ") and "Research in the Teaching of English" ("RTE") over the past 100 years. It is a bit unfortunate, if understandable, to exclude books and articles in other journals, because such a restriction excludes many pieces of…

This study investigated the status of the humanities in the Colorado public school curriculum. Four types of humanities programs were studied: (1) courses specifically designed as humanities courses, (2) humanities-type courses incorporated into a regular single subject course, (3) specially selected humanities experiences designed for a…

Since this background paper is concerned with the formative decision makers, the humanities project is presented through the public statements of the project team in order to convey the nature and quality of the project. Three major decision points provide a framework for curriculum development. First is adoption of an input model that focuses on…

This article discusses the planning and implementation of a high school course to (1) help students find their identities through the arts, and (2) help teenagers cope with today's society by looking at life's basic questions and examining answers provided by the world's great philosophers. (RC)

Intellectual refinement and spiritual evaluation have been the traditional goals of the humanities and should remain so. If these aims are given up, then the noble endeavors in the humanities such as sustained reflection, intensive research, careful scholarship, inspired teaching, deep learning, and serious discussion will all become discredited…

West High School in Iowa City (Iowa) has developed an American humanities program over a 12-year period that now includes six sections and three follow-up seminars. This article describes the evolution and content of the program. (WD)