In this article, the author refutes the arguments forwarded by William Deresiewicz in his much-discussed essay, "The American Scholar." Deresiewicz claimed that his background (as a student at Columbia and a former associate professor of English at Yale) rendered him incapable of a few minutes of small talk with the plumber who came to fix his…

Three million Americans have epilepsy, a chronic neurological condition characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures unprovoked by any known cause. Those at risk for epilepsy include individuals with mental retardation, cerebral palsy, autism, stroke, major head trauma, central nervous system (CNS) hemorrhage, CNS infection, dementia, and brain…

One of the popular misconceptions about giftedness is that the gifted label is a benefit. It is probably a fixed blessing at best and can bring unexpected problems to children, their families, and their teachers. Children who are labeled gifted often have uncertain feelings about the designation and the whole "gifted" experience, if not…

Learning outcomes have become widely used in higher education, but also misused to the point of being controversial and a bureaucratic burden. This paper distinguishes three kinds of learning outcome found in current literature: (1) those used in individual teaching events; (2) those specified for modules or short courses; and (3) those specified…

Interviews with representatives of nine municipal agencies involved in air-quality education were analyzed for concepts and skills perceived as important for citizens in addressing air-quality concerns. Interviewees focused mainly on general air quality-related understandings (60.2%), although cognitive skills (22.0%) and specific concepts (17.8%)…

This study aims to analyse university students' reasoning regarding two laws of electromagnetism: Gauss's law and Ampere's law. It has been supposed that the problems seen in understanding and applying both laws do not spring from students' misconceptions. Students habitually use reasoning known in the literature as 'common sense' methodology that…

Parents and child care personnel in English-dominant parts of the world often express misgivings about raising children bilingually. Their concerns are based on the belief that dual language learning during the infant-toddler stage confuses children, delays their development, and perhaps even results in reduced language competence. In this…

Although official promotion of content-based English language teaching started in mainland China only at the turn of the century, this form of language instruction, widely known in China as "Chinese-English bilingual education," has gathered great momentum in the last 6 years and is now rattling across the country like a juggernaut.…

Over the past two decades, college admissions has become a prime-time preoccupation. Most people know at least something about the process, especially if they have a teenager in high school and a college guide on their coffee table. Nonetheless, widespread public misconceptions persist about admissions requirements, the selection process, and the…

This paper aims to clarify three current misconceptions about the Islamic faith and issues of human rights and women's rights in the West. The first misconception is that Muslims are terrorists because they believe in Jihad. It is factually the case that Islamic teachings stress the value of peace and prosperity for all human beings. The second…

The purpose of this study is to understand in what ways a technology-enhanced learning (TEL) environment supports learning about the causes of the seasons. The environment was designed to engage students in five cognitive phases: Contextualisation, Sense making, Exploration, Modeling, and Application. Seventy-five high school students participated…

Using participant observation, we describe/interpret the results of teaching a constructivist unit that empowered students in narrative writing and illustration. Participant observation methods included daily note taking, pre-post questioning, and photographing artworks. We analyzed students' stories and illustrations with borrowed and emerging…

The national strategies of drug abuse prevention across Europe have come to recognise that the drug abuse problem presents a complex set of issues of which there is no simple solution. There is a considerable increase in investment in prevention, treatment and harm-reduction activities and increased focus on supply reduction. School settings are…

The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in novice and experienced mathematics teachers' questioning techniques. This study was conducted in Sarawak where ten (experienced and novice) teachers from two schools underwent the lesson study process for fifteen months. Four data collection methods namely, observation, interview, lesson…

Sex education has always been a controversial topic. Although sex education at schools has improved in general, sex education for mentally retarded pupils still encounters prejudice and conservatism as a result of several misconceptions about the subject. This research was performed in the form of a survey of opinions about sex education in…