This article analyses adult and child development in the zone of proximal development in an educational practice based in Vygotsky's theories of play: the playworld educational practice. The playworld educational practice is a central component of a Scandinavian play pedagogy that promotes shared responsibility amongst adults and children for…

One September morning, the author woke as a teacher--an international teaching assistant (ITA), to be exact--at a California State University (Cal State). As a twenty-five-year-old teaching assistant, he had the opportunity to teach hybrid public speaking classes that were designed for the American Culture and Language Program (ACLP), which turned…

Background: Despite the renewed interest in citizenship education, relatively little is known about effective ways to realize citizenship education in the classroom. In the literature on citizenship education, dialogue is considered to be a crucial element. However, there is very little, if any, empirical research into the different ways to…

Dialogue on religion and sexuality is difficult because these topics consist of deeply seated concepts of self, as well as one's relationship to other selves in the world. This chapter offers practical steps for creating and navigating difficult dialogues with respect to sexuality and religion. It suggests that partnership with departments,…

The purpose of this teacher research study was to examine narrative inquiry as a method for student engagement with course material and the local community. This study sought to understand how students perceived themselves within Mexican American history. While a number of studies have used oral history and narrative effectively, these studies…

This paper reports on developing research into the learning potential of extended talk, (i.e. either spoken monologue or an extended turn-in dialogue). Despite a widespread belief that the ability to speak at length is personally, socially and professionally empowering, relatively little research has been undertaken into ways in which extended…

We introduce Lesson Play as an imaginary interaction between teacher and students presented in a form of a dialogue or play. We suggest that lesson plays are a valuable professional development tool in preparing for teaching that can be juxtaposed with, or used as a replacement for, traditional lesson planning. The article begins with an…

This paper examines how two American presidential candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, make use of a VIDEO EXCHANGE IS CONVERSATION metaphor on YouTube, a channel of communication that allows the exchange of video clips on the Internet. It is argued that the politicians exploit the metaphor for its connotations of creating involvement and…

Background: Collaborative learning is recognized as an effective learning tool in the classroom. In order to optimize the collaborative learning experience for children within a collaborative partnership, it is important to understand how to match the children by ability level, and whether assigning roles within these dyads is beneficial or not.…

Because behavior is rooted in culture, responding to the challenges posed by diverse behavior in early childhood settings depends on a deep understanding of the experiences, values, perceptions, and beliefs that shape it. This is the book that shows professionals how to interpret behavior in the context of culture--and use their knowledge to…

In this article, the authors share some of their learning about art, aesthetics, and people's ways of living. They discuss why the renewal of professional learning is important and demonstrate how K-12 teachers can engage in this process by creating a journal of critical inquiry about their own local communities' art, aesthetics, and cultures.…

This article investigates whether authentic native speaker (NS) to NS speech can be made available to the learner listener through the use of a novel slow-down tool. Results from various preliminary tests seem to indicate that the use of a slow-down algorithm in many cases, and in particular in samples with a higher speed rate and word count,…

This study examines the racial discourses of six and seven year old Puerto Rican children participating in small group literature circles over one academic year. The main research question is "How do Puerto Rican young children in a multiage classroom construct race through dialogue within the figured worlds of literature circles?" This study…

The purpose of this study was to make interns-central members who directed a change the nature of the conception of professional development in an online peer-led dialogue. My focuses were what pedagogical aspects in an online peer-led dialogue contributed to intern's professional development (i.e., professional knowledge development and…

This study investigated the negotiations and challenges experienced by five Chinese ESL (English as a second language) students of Commerce through their engagement in an academic presentation in a regular content course at a Canadian university. Multiple sources of data were collected, including interviews, class observations, group discussions,…