Although the assumption of character development through outdoor adventure education (OAE) programs is long held, increasing scholarship questions the tenability of the supposition. Addressing this impasse, this article draws upon doctoral research I conducted into character development through OAE programs (Stonehouse, 2011) and a presentation I…

In physics, idealized models are often used to simplify complex situations. The motivation of the idealization is to make the real complex system tractable by adopting certain simplifications. In this treatment some unnecessary, negligible aspects are stripped away (so-called Aristotelian idealization), or some deliberate distortions are involved…

This article stems from a doctoral study about alternative education around the world and the author's personal journey to identify characteristics of the "ideal school." The focus here is a case study of one small primary school in Australia, through which it shows that there can be a larger amount of freedom and self-actualisation…

Mokken scale analysis is a probabilistic nonparametric approach that offers statistical and graphical tools for evaluating the quality of social science measurement without placing potentially inappropriate restrictions on the structure of a data set. In particular, Mokken scaling provides a useful method for evaluating important measurement…

An honors senior thesis introduces students into a world of scholarship and professional activity in a way that no single course, either semester- or year-long, can do (Anderson, Lyons, and Weiner). Many honors educators consider honors thesis work to be the defining honors experience. For graduate schools, employers, and the students themselves,…

Influenced by the practices of social scientists, data journalists seek to create stories that frame social reality through quantitative data analysis. While the use of statistics by journalists is not new, exponential growth in available data and a desire for source material unmediated by political and public-relations framings have seen data…

With a focus upon open and lifelong learning understanding, the real world delineation between formalized higher education graduate school efforts and professional career position lines may be suggested as being blurred. This case study offers an analysis of one university instructor's efforts towards developing hybrid learning spaces that…

Linguistic diversity characterizes many countries with large literacy needs. Meeting these needs will require a multilingual approach based on learning initial literacy in the learner's mother tongue, with other languages used subsequently. This article identifies five major challenges in implementing multilingual programmes and traces the…

Purpose: This paper provides a potential roadmap for the future development of research on Sport Education. In the first part of the paper, research on each of the elements of competence, literacy and enthusiasm are reviewed, with the aim of providing evidence to support the idea that the model can achieve its goals. For each of these goals we…

Recent theoretical advances on learning (mathematics) emphasize the fact that what results from engagement with curriculum materials is not entirely in the control of the students in the way classical theories of knowing and learning suggest. These new theories distinguish themselves by either invoking distributed agency, some of which is…

This article introduces the concept of qualitative case study research as empirical inquiry. It defines and distinguishes what a case study is, the purposes, intentions, and types of case studies. It then describes how to determine if a qualitative case study is the preferred approach for conducting research. It overviews the essential steps in…

Literacy is a fundamental human right. When exercised it improves an individual's life chances by achieving their personal, social, occupational and educational goals, and opening opportunities for social, economic and political integration. In an information and knowledge society, there is a salient need for Information Literacy (IL). IL can be…

This article presents findings from a research project into multiliteracies pedagogy in Aotearoa New Zealand. In one phase of the multilayered project, participating teachers conducted an investigation of the in- and out-of-school literacy practices of one of their students using an ethnographic approach. In this article, the authors share themes…

The application of theory in this article expanded on Chickering and Reisser's ([Chickering, A. W., 1993]) 7-vectors framework by considering the effects of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) on the normal experience of student development in higher education. The article includes an overview of the prevalence and effects of CSA and a case study of a…

Training employees in sustainability knowledge and skills is considered a vital element in creating a sustainability culture within an organisation. Yet, the particular types of training programs that are effective for this task are still relatively unknown. This case study describes an innovative workplace training program using a "head,…