Studies of students' educational outcomes tend to be based on rather simple input-output models. The aim of this article is to demonstrate that more informed theoretical perspectives are appropriate to analyses of quantitative data on professional learning processes. It is suggested that "connection to knowledge" and "wanting structure" are…

Though it is being widely argued that expanding young people's capacity to learn is a viable and desirable goal of education, it it not always clear what this means, how it is to be achieved, and how the effectiveness of interventions is to be assessed. It is argued that the capacity to learn should be interpreted as a portmanteau term that…

Animation of various types has been used increasingly in different disciplines in computer-based learning environments to facilitate achievements of different kinds of learning objectives. However, the result of empirical animation studies has been mixed and mostly discouraging. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine the instructional…

This chapter reiterates the need for attention to the journey of self-authorship and suggests next steps for institutions and educators.

This study examined factors that influence the dynamic pursuit of multiple goals over time. As hypothesized, goal-performance discrepancies were significantly related to subsequent time allocation. Greater distance from a given goal resulted in greater time subsequently allocated to that goal. In addition, the incentives offered for goal…

In this paper we present a framework for analysing when and how students engage in a specific form of interactive knowledge elaboration in CSCL environments: broadening and deepening understanding of a space of debate. The framework is termed "Rainbow," as it comprises seven principal analytical categories, to each of which a colour is assigned,…

This article employs the qualitative research method of portraiture to describe, analyze, and interpret the challenges involved in teaching rabbinical students at a liberal seminary. The portrait of Dr. Neil Gillman, a professor of Jewish thought at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, explores some of the ideological and educational…

Critical adult education is inspired by Paulo Freire's educational writings. For him, the aim of the pedagogy of the oppressed is to emancipate people from social and economic repression. Critical adult education is intellectual work that aims to make the world more just. One might ask what exactly justice and injustice mean here, however. Is the…

A vast body of research finds an association between missteps taken during the teen years (such as motherhood or dropping out of high school) and poor economic and educational outcomes. However, youth who take major missteps as teens often have subsequent success in school or the labor market. This paper attempts to draw lessons from youth who…

The primary form of experiential education in political science is an internship in a government office. Too often, however, with little actual monitoring of their experiences, government interns become little more than classic office "gofers." Fortunately, there are strategies to make political internships not only useful learning experiences for…

This sixth and last paper in the series describes four elements believed to be crucial to a high quality pedagogy for educational foundations. These four elements are derived from a close reading of the previous papers. The work of Osguthorpe, Sanger, Haniford, and Mucher, four of the authors in this series, is cited as both a source for these…

Background/Context: Media comparison studies aim to compare the relative effectiveness of different media at promoting educational outcomes. While these types of studies remain popular, they have been under attack for more than two decades. Critics of media comparison studies claim that continued studies are unhelpful because a great number of…

In this essay I critique two influential accounts of rational autonomy in common schooling that conceive liberalism as an ideal form of life, and I offer an alternative approach to democratic education that views liberal theory as concerned with coexistence among rival ways of living. This view places moral agency, not rational autonomy, at the…

This paper, while broadly arguing in favour of the common school, nonetheless accepts the possibility of distinct specialist institutions in the later years of secondary schooling. It also argues for a careful distinction between a comprehensive school and a comprehensive classroom; further distinguishing between grouping by reference to alleged…

Background: Research has suggested that students can approach their studies with different goals, one goal being to understand material (mastery) and another to obtain better grades than others (performance). Aim: The main aim of this study was to assess whether these goals change as students progress through their degrees. Sample: 1857 students…