It is widely accepted that concept maps are a meaningful learning tool. Even so, the use of concept mapping as a meaningful learning tool is probably less common than the use of concept mapping as an assessment tool. In first place, the easiest thing to with a student's concept map is to apply a rubric and give it a grade. And second, teachers…

In this article, we explore a pedagogical and conceptual tool we have refined and developed for the fields of peace, social justice, and human rights education: "the possibility tree." Initially introduced in our 2021 book, we explore this tool in more depth in this article to show how such pedagogical and conceptual processes are key…

Scientific practices describe behaviors scientists engage in while investigating the natural world. Educators should be aware of different science practice frameworks to better understand their students' progression for learning science practices across the K-20 spectrum. For example, a high school AP instructor would benefit from understanding…

At the level of classroom practice, forms of teacher thinking are central to local processes of educational change. In the last decade, "reflexivity" has been promoted as a mode of teacher thinking which has the capacity to transform several aspects of teaching practice. The developing interest in reflexivity both emerges from, and seeks…

The multi-disciplinarity of visual literacy has become even more pronounced in an age of digital information. What shared questions do we ask in our research, where does our work intersect and how do those intersections define the field of visual literacy? Through an analysis of the articles published in the "Journal of Visual Literacy"…

Among policy makers, there is an ongoing discussion about the need to improve undergraduate education in science and engineering. With many undergraduate students being taught by graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), it is important to explore the development of STEM knowledge for teaching by GTAs. This study follows ten GTAs as they participated…

The current study examines how Israeli teachers' beliefs and ideologies are expressed in their teaching of Biblical miracles. The article explores how Israeli teachers broach the topic of Biblical miracles, and how their beliefs and ideologies help them navigate a path from the national curriculum to the classroom. The article focuses on three key…

Previous research has suggested that adopting a transformative school organisation perspective when implementing ESD may be more productive than the previously recommended transmissive perspectives, but it is not clear how transformative perspectives could be introduced. To address this issue, we conducted an empirical mixed methods study of…

Purpose: The paper aims to provide a conceptual map of how to mediate between sustainability theory and practice in higher education and how disciplinary divides can be bridged. It further looks at issues linked to knowledge views and drivers for institutional change that affect opportunities for whole institution development promoting action…

The Larnaca Declaration on Learning Design arose from a 2012 meeting of experts in Larnaca, Cyprus who sought to provide a new theoretical foundation for the field of Learning Design, based on a synthesis of research and practice in the field to date. It begins by acknowledging the vast benefits that would arise from wider sharing of effective…

This column provides ideas and techniques to enhance your science teaching. This month's issue discusses planning and using interactive word walls to support science and reading instruction. Many classrooms have word walls displaying vocabulary that students have learned in class. Word walls serve as visual scaffolds to support instruction. To…

Written expression is a key component of the secondary curriculum, but many students struggle to produce effective written expression passages. However, written expression can be supported through prewriting strategies such as concept mapping. Using a counterbalanced group design, 19 secondary students alternated between using paper- or…

Many studies suggest that students have difficulties in learning acid-base concepts. This study presents some conflicts in the textbook descriptions of these concepts and proposes these to be the cause of the students' difficulties. This is especially true regarding the description of the relationship among the Arrhenius, Brønsted-Lowry, and Lewis…

In social justice education a tension sometimes emerges between the complex ideas we want participants to grapple with and the relatively straightforward activities we use to communicate those ideas. We adapt learning activities to meet participants' evolving needs and to communicate emerging theories and analyses, but sometimes adjusting an…

The present study focuses on examining how digitally guided conceptual mapping can be used in orienting students in higher education to learn complex domain content and practices. The outcomes of conceptual mapping were investigated as the orienting bases created by the students that used digitalized conceptual tools to construct an external…