The problem of the relation of theory to practice in teaching and teacher training has been a major issue of debate for a long time. Well over a century ago, Dewey (1904) discussed the tensions between the role of theoretical insight as a preparation for the teaching profession versus the need for more practical, how-to-do-it courses in which one…

Rural communities such as Stanthorpe on Queensland's Southern Downs, in Australia, are familiar with turbulent environmental, social, technological and economic change and the adversity that frequently accompanies such changes. The capacity of individuals and communities to bounce back from adversity is referred to as resilience. Participation in…

Despite the growing interest in teaching second language (L2) pragmatics, the issue of assessment of learners' pragmatic skills, particularly in the context of the classroom, seems to be less prominently discussed, even though the assessment is an integral part of the instruction. This qualitative case study aims to demonstrate an…

This theoretical paper explores the use of online journaling in an educational administration program to interrogate spaces of "otherness"--the geographical spaces of cities where poor children and children of color live--and the dangerous memories prospective administrators may have about diversity. The cultures of most educational administration…

Creativity has been defined in many different ways by different authors. This article explores these different definitions of creativity; the relationship between creativity and intelligence, and those factors which affect creativity, such as convergent and divergent thinking. In addition, the article explores the importance of computer technology…

The article shares some of the reflections of the project team who developed the "Do You Know Me? E Mohio Ana Koe Ki Ahau?" resource for educators, which aims to assist educators in both school and early childhood education services to clarify concerns about young children and take appropriate action. Issues discussed include the context…

Social workers participate with many different populations including perpetrators, victims, and survivors of domestic violence. It is crucial that students in the social work field are educated in the arena of domestic violence. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of intimate exposure to this population through an experiential…

This self-reflexive personal narrative charts the autoethnographic journey of an adult educator, exploring her own practices, values and beliefs about teaching. Drawing upon postmodern scholarship in reflexive literary methodologies, the author uses personal memoirs as a research text for engaging in a process of interpretation and…

In this study, we aimed to develop a framework that could be used to describe the value of the learning portfolio for the learning process of individual student teachers. Retrospective interviews with 21 student teachers were used, as were their portfolio-evaluation reports on their experiences of working on a portfolio. Seven functions of the…

A team of secondary school language teachers and a teacher trainer developed a new method for Dutch writing instruction. The principles underlying the method were derived from insights regarding activating instruction and self-directed student learning. The development entailed two phases. In the first phase, the exploration of actual problems in…

This paper reports on the students' experiments of using blogs to encourage themselves to do pre-class reading assignment and reflections after class. The sample in the study included five ESL (English as a Second Language) graduate students in a course of teaching methods, and 90 software engineering students in an undergraduate information…

Over the last few years, the helical mirror or "spinner" has become a popular decoration for gardens and elsewhere. Even casual observation reveals intriguing optical properties, so the spinner is a good teaching tool. To facilitate student exploration, we suggest some questions and provide brief explanations.

Dr. Thomas Weidner is the Director of the Athletic Training Education Program and the Research and Education Laboratory at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. In this article he shares his views on what he has come to learn from being an educator in the current era of athletic training education reform. This manuscript is from the…

A review of the development of the United Kingdom obsession with "value for money", and the performance indicators that have led to the current "best value" approach that is working through the public sector in the United Kingdom. I hope to identify the values and problems with the approach offering a salutary warning to those…

The Solo often is regarded as one of the most influential components of a wilderness experience program. This paper is the culmination of three researchers' work related to the wilderness Solo experience and intentional solitude. The Solo experiences studied were Montreat College's Discovery Wilderness Program and Wheaton College's High Road…