This qualitative study explored the meanings of chat room conversations through observations of teenagers using the Internet. Adolescent girls were a focus because of their shaky sense of self. Participants in ten chat rooms included 534 individuals. Six themes, emerging from analyzing 2526 utterances [descriptive statements], included (a)…

Currently, it is strongly suggested that our thought processes are largely metaphorical in nature. Indeed, the metaphors we use not only represent the way we perceive the world and reality but also shape our professional ideas, attitudes, and practices. This study employs metaphor as a means of research to provide insights into the images…

In her very influential book, "The Point of Words" (1988), Ellen Winner presents strong evidence that children younger than six can understand and use metaphors, but not irony. Winner, however, fails to consider "philosophical story irony" in her research. This sort of irony is a little like dramatic irony. We have a case of such irony whenever…

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at the Universite de Sherbrooke in Sherbrooke, Quebec. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims of…

The idea that distance education lacks intimacy and is therefore inferior is based on an embedded metaphor that sustains a restricted and limiting mental model of ideal instruction. The authors analyze alternative conceptualizations of intimacy, space, and place as factors in the development of effective instructional models. They predict that the…

Plagiarism is a complex, culturally loaded concept which causes much anxiety for both academics and students. Exactly what constitutes plagiarism is dependent on a number of contextual factors. Despite the difficulties associated with defining and detecting plagiarism, it is said to be on the increase, and students from "other cultures"…

Three studies investigated how 24-month-olds and adults resolve temporary ambiguity in fluent speech when encountering prenominal adjectives potentially interpretable as nouns. Children were tested in a looking-while-listening procedure to monitor the time course of speech processing. In Experiment 1, the familiar and unfamiliar adjectives…

Older and younger adults' abilities to use context information rapidly during ambiguity resolution were investigated. In Experiments 1 and 2, younger and older adults heard ambiguous words (e.g., fires) in sentences where the preceding context supported either the less frequent or more frequent meaning of the word. Both age groups showed good…

This paper reports how metaphor theory was used to explore pre-service mathematics teachers' beliefs about mathematics and the learning and teaching thereof. Furthermore, it outlines how this theory was mobilised to engender self-critique and professional development with these teachers. The core of the paper reports findings from an analysis of…

This is a series of light-hearted reflections from a person who has worked in special education her entire career. After moving from the United States to New Zealand, she uses her experience adjusting to her new country, to better understand the perspectives of the children and young people with whom she works.

This article addresses the question of how second language (L2) learners understand idiomatic expressions in their second/foreign language and advances the proposition that literal meanings of idiom constituents enjoy processing priority over their figurative interpretations. This suggestion forms the core of the literal-salience resonant model of…

It is recognized widely that learning is a dynamic and idiosyncratic process of construction and reconstruction of concepts in response to new experiences. It is influenced by the learner's prior knowledge, motivation, and sociocultural context. This study investigated how year 11 and 12 physics students' metacognition influences the development…

Humanity delights in spinning conceptual models of the world. These models, in turn, mirror their respective root metaphors. Three root metaphors--spiritual, organic, and mechanical--have dominated western thought. The spiritual metaphor runs from Plato, through Hegel, and connects with Montessori. The organic metaphor extends from Aristotle,…

The environment is a ready-made subject in writing classrooms, and teachers at all levels are encouraging students to write about nature and environmental issues. Environmental issues provide a equitable meeting place for students from a variety of different backgrounds, interests, and ideologies. There are also many pedagogical advantages to…

The principle of empathic learning (involving activities that help students feel what it is to be like someone else) can be used to teach poetry, a material about which students have strong prejudices, and an activity they cannot imagine themselves ever doing or being interested in. First, students are presented with the conception that people…