This book presents thoughts on and experiences with the introduction of Theme-centered Interaction (TCI) into academia. TCI is a systematic didactic, 'living learning' approach originally developed by social psychologist and pedagogue Ruth C. Cohn. The book explains and introduces the method, attitude and theory of TCI to a broader, higher education audience and relates it to such questions as: How does a teacher in academia achieve a lively and engaging atmosphere in their seminars? How do young academics as leaders-to-be learn how to act socially sustainably in groups? Using practical examples, the book shows how TCI can work in higher education to achieve participation and integration, reflectivity and humane connectedness of academic teachers and students, and professional development of senior and junior academics.

Spontaneous Activity in Education details the principles of Maria Montessori's educational philosophy, allowing the reader to grasp her unique and innovative style of teaching. Published in the early 20th century and translated to English in 1917, this manual of education contains a step-by-step account of the approach Montessori took in teaching youngsters. Although a doctor by trade, Montessori held a profound interest in the development of young people's minds, and how best to ensure they fulfill their academic potential. To this end, she devised a system of education which aims to give every child the best chance of success, irrespective of their individual capacity for learning. In this book, the Montessori system is explained in terms useful for parents and teachers alike. Explaining the nature of a child's life, Montessori discusses her personal contributions to experiments in education, and how when these were applied correctly the achievement and advancement of children was improved.

The focus on smart education has become a new trend in the global educational field. Some countries have already developed smart education systems and there is increasing pressure coming from business and tech communities to continue this development. Simultaneously, there are only fragmented studies on the didactic aspects of technology usage. Thus, pedagogy as a science must engage in a new research direction-smart pedagogy. This book seeks to engage in a new research direction, that of smart pedagogy. It launches discussions on how to use all sorts of smart education solutions in the context of existing learning theories and on how to apply innovative solutions in order to reduce the marginalization of groups in educational contexts. It also explores transformations of pedagogical science, the role of the educator, applicable teaching methods, learning outcomes, and research and assessment of acquired knowledge in an effort to make the smart education process meaningful to a wide audience of international educators, researchers, and administrators working within and tangential to TEL.

Much has been written about special education and about inclusive education, but there have been few attempts to pull these two concepts and approaches together. This book does just that: sets special education within the context of inclusive education. It posits that to include, effectively, all children with special educational needs in schools requires an integration of both concepts, approaches, and techniques. It has never been more timely to publish a book that helps professionals who work with schools, such as psychologists, special education professionals, and counselors, to identify effective practices for children with special needs and provide guidelines for implementing these in inclusive schools.

This book addresses the very real challenges of leading and managing a range of colleagues with a particular focus on those who are not performing as well as they might. It is a unique collection of headteachers' voices as they reflect on the many complex dilemmas they face in coping with teachers' personal and professional lives, aging colleagues, accountability and government directives. It provides significant insights into the complexities of being a leader in the very challenging environment of education in a rapidly changing and increasingly competitive world. An appendix includes a 'warts and all' discussion of the research strategy and the ethical issues surrounding the study which will be an invaluable resource for researchers including MA and doctoral students.

In this edited collection, the authors pick up the communities of practice (CoP) approach of sharing practice in their reflection on the experience of taking their CoP vision from a dream to reality. Their stories articulate the vision, the passion and the challenge of working within and/or changing existing institutional culture and practice. The book discusses strategies that worked and considers the lessons learnt to inspire future dreamers and schemers. The multiple perspectives provided in the case studies will assist higher education leaders, as well as academic and professional staff, in establishing or assessing CoPs. The book offers insights into implementation strategies, practical guidelines and ideas on how CoP theoretical underpinnings can be tailored to the higher education context.

Creative Cross-Disciplinary Entrepreneurship responds to educational demands created through dramatic changes in the nature of business, by describing how to develop a cross-disciplinary curriculum in Entrepreneurship that further increases students' knowledge base in specific areas of interest and the development of an 'entrepreneurial mindset.'

This is the first book to connect the concepts of active learning and deep learning, and to delineate theory and practice through collaboration between scholars in higher education from three countries (Japan, the United States, and Sweden) as well as different subject areas (education, psychology, learning science, teacher training, dentistry, and business).It is only since the beginning of the twenty-first century that active learning has become key to the shift from teaching to learning in Japanese higher education. However, "active learning" in Japan, as in many other countries, is just an umbrella term for teaching methods that promote students' active participation, such as group work, discussions, presentations, and so on.What is needed for students is not just active learning but deep active learning. Deep learning focuses on content and quality of learning whereas active learning, especially in Japan, focuses on methods of learning. Deep active learning is placed at the intersection of active learning and deep learning, referring to learning that engages students with the world as an object of learning while interacting with others, and helps the students connect what they are learning with their previous knowledge and experiences as well as their future lives.What curricula, pedagogies, assessments and learning environments facilitate such deep active learning? This book attempts to respond to that question by linking theory with practice.

This book addresses the point of intersection between cognition, metacognition, and culture in learning and teaching Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). We explore theoretical background and cutting-edge research about how various forms of cognitive and metacognitive instruction may enhance learning and thinking in STEM classrooms from K-12 to university and in different cultures and countries. Over the past several years, STEM education research has witnessed rapid growth, attracting considerable interest among scholars and educators. The book provides an updated collection of studies about cognition, metacognition and culture in the four STEM domains. The field of research, cognition and metacognition in STEM education still suffers from ambiguity in meanings of key concepts that various researchers use. This book is organized according to a unique manner: Each chapter features one of the four STEM domains and one of the three themes-cognition, metacognition, and culture-and defines key concepts. This matrix-type organization opens a new path to knowledge in STEM education and facilitates its understanding. The discussion at the end of the book integrates these definitions for analyzing and mapping the STEM education research. Chapter 4 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com

Among the welter of books on critical pedagogy, this volume will be especially valued for its direct focus on early years and elementary educators. Benefiting from the considered views of two veteran teachers of critical pedagogy, the volume is far more than a knowledge-rich resource, offering as it does vital support in applying the tenets of critical pedagogy to classroom practice. Alongside specific examples of teachers engaging in critical pedagogy in elementary and early-childhood classrooms, the material features close analysis and guidance that will help ease teachers into reflective practice in critical pedagogy that is based on praxis the point at which theory and practice meet and interact. Indeed, the authors move readers even further than this, showing how students as well as teachers can transform their experience of education through critical reflection.

After surveying the field of critical pedagogy, the authors discuss the core precepts that inform the classroom practice of critical pedagogues. They move on to discuss how vital these early and elementary years are in forging children s nascent identities. Other topics covered include discrimination, gender issues, the development of social justice projects, and the social transformations that critical pedagogy can manifest in the classroom. Finally, this resource explains how teachers can move forward in their classroom practice to enhance equity, justice and social responsibility. This book is essential reading for classroom practitioners in early and elementary education, whether neophytes or veterans, who are interested in deploying this powerful educational paradigm in their work.

After surveying the field of critical pedagogy, the authors discuss the core precepts that inform the classroom practice of critical pedagogues. They move on to discuss how vital these early and elementary years are in forging children s nascent identities. Other topics covered include discrimination, gender issues, the development of social justice projects, and the social transformations that critical pedagogy can manifest in the classroom. Finally, this resource explains how teachers can move forward in their classroom practice to enhance equity, justice and social responsibility. This book is essential reading for classroom practitioners in early and elementary education, whether neophytes or veterans, who are interested in deploying this powerful educational paradigm in their work.

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Knowledge, Pedagogy, and Postmulticulturalism opens for examination the research and experimental pedagogies of a teacher education faculty at a large, urban, public university, where teacher candidates from working-class and ethnic and linguistic minority backgrounds are prepared to work with learners from similar backgrounds. The pedagogies discussed have been expressly designed to elicit the funds of knowledge and community cultural wealth of these teacher education candidates. The research in this volume calls attention to the distinctive, complex perspectives that individuals from historically marginalized groups bring to the university classroom, and demonstrates how these valuable perspectives can be brought front and center in the university's teacher education curriculum. It counters contemporary trends of discouraging and preventing students and teachers from critically and intellectually engaging with issues of which knowledges are taught, and how.

This volume reflects the multiplicity of perspectives in the theory and practice of creativity, while it is broadly accepted that the dynamism of humanity s responses to our evolving scientific, social and environmental needs depends on our creativity. It examines the central issues that animate the themes of creativity, talent development and excellence in schools and in the workplace, as well as analysing their related socio-cultural activities and processes. Forged in the workshops of a number of conferences and symposia, this collection represents in itself a creative partnership between European and Asian academics. Thus it includes contributions from various cultural and organizational settings, as well as chapters that enhance our conceptual models of creativity in both learning and teaching.

The contributing authors recognize that exploring the nature of creativity necessitates a new paradigm in research and praxis in which integration, collaboration, and the synthesis of knowledge and expertise are key factors. Their chapters detail the results of studies relating to to creativity, talent, school excellence, team and goal setting, innovation and organizational excellence, resilience, self-regulation, and personal epistemology. Clearly defined sections take on discrete aspects of the topic that include a vital assessment of the challenges that lie ahead in fostering the creativity, talent and excellence of the young and in doing so, allowing them to play a positive and innovative role in a variety of social contexts.

Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) reflects a new direction in understanding the complex interactions among content, pedagogy, learners and technology that can result in successful integration of multiple technologies in teaching and learning. The purpose of this edited volume is to introduce TPCK as a conceptual framework for grounding research in the area of teachers cognitive understanding of the interactions of technology with content, pedagogy and learner conceptions. Accordingly, the contributions will constitute systematic research efforts that use TPCK to develop lines of educational technology research exemplifying current theoretical conceptions of TPCK and methodological and pedagogical approaches of how to develop and assess TPCK."

Literacy and popular culture are intrinsically linked as forms of communication, entertainment, and education. Students are motivated to engage with popular culture through a myriad of mediums for a variety of purposes. Utilizing popular culture to bridge literacy concepts across content areas in K-12 settings offers a level playing field across student groups and grade levels. As concepts around traditional literacy education evolve and become more culturally responsive, the connections between popular culture and disciplinary literacy must be explored. Disciplinary Literacy Connections to Popular Culture in K-12 Settings is an essential publication that explores a conceptual framework around pedagogical connections to popular culture. While highlighting a broad range of topics including academic creativity, interdisciplinary storytelling, and skill development, this book is ideally designed for educators, curriculum developers, instructional designers, administrative officials, policymakers, researchers, academicians, and students.

This book offers a new framework for the analysis of teaching and learning in the creative arts. It provides teachers with a vocabulary to describe what they teach and how they do this within the creative arts. Teaching and learning in this field, with its focus on the personal characteristics of the student and its insistence on intangible qualities like talent and creativity, has long resisted traditional models of pedagogy. In the brave new world of high-stakes assessment and examination-driven outcomes across the education system, this resistance has proven to be a severe weakness and driven creative arts teachers further into the margins. Instead of accepting this relegation teachers of creative arts must set out to capture the distinctiveness of their pedagogy. This book will allow teachers to transcend the opaque metaphors that proliferate in the creative arts, and instead to argue for the robustness and rigour of their practice.

The roles that corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business support of democracy play in American higher education are infrequently discussed, though very important. There are many ethical issues that concern both corporate interests as well as higher education, linking the two more than many would think. It is necessary to understand the environment, inter-organizational relationships, and documents holistically to observe the rich history, pluralistic American societal issues, and relevant milestones between corporate America and higher education. Partnership Motives and Ethics in Corporate Investment in Higher Education provides comprehensive documentation of business and corporate entanglements with higher education. This work discusses the historic journey of funding from business and U.S. corporate engagement in American higher education. Covering topics such as academy-business relationships, philanthropic partnerships, and transactional partnerships, this work is essential for professors, executives, managers, faculty, fundraisers, leaders in higher education, researchers, students, and academicians with interests in CSR, business ethics, and higher education.

Constructing Measures introduces a way to understand the advantages and disadvantages of measurement instruments. It explains the ways to use such instruments, and how to apply these methods to develop new instruments or adapt old ones, based on item response modeling and construct references. Now in its second edition, this book focuses on the steps taken while constructing an instrument, and breaks down the "building blocks" that make up an instrument-the construct map, the design plan for the items, the outcome space, and the statistical measurement model. The material covers a variety of item formats, including multiple-choice, open-ended, and performance items, projects, portfolios, Likert and Guttman items, behavioral observations, and interview protocols. Each chapter includes an overview of the key concepts, related resources for further investigation, and exercises and activities. A variety of examples from the behavioral and social sciences and education-including achievement and performance testing, attitude measures, health measures, and general sociological scales-demonstrate the application of the material. Accompanying downloadable resources feature control files, output, and a data set to allow readers to compute the text's exercises and create new analyses and case archives based on the book's examples so the reader can work through the entire development of an instrument. New to this edition are additional example contexts including a cognitive/achievement example, an attitude example, and a behavioral example; new concentrations on specific measurement issues and practices such as standard-setting, computer-delivery and reporting, and going beyond the Likert response format; and updated online resource with new materials, such as selected research articles with data sets and teaching resources like a syllabus and PowerPoint slides. Constructing Measures is an invaluable text for undergraduate and graduate courses on item, test, or instrument development; measurement; item response theory; or Rasch analysis taught in a variety of departments including education, statistics, and psychology. The book also appeals to practitioners who develop instruments, including industrial/organizational, educational, and school psychologists; health outcomes researchers; program evaluators; and sociological measurers.

This book explores the concept of resilience and its significance in responding to a rapid and ever-changing globalised world whilst critiquing its 'buzzword' status in contemporary times. Drawing on research from a range of educational settings, the book demonstrates that the resilience of individuals and their surrounding systems should not be viewed in isolation and that the interplay between individual resilience, community resilience and resilient societies is complex and symbiotic. On this basis, it illustrates that efforts to promote resilience would benefit from a systems approach capable of coping with this complexity. Using the ideas of agency and the power of self-determinism, a development of Bronfenbrenner's bio-ecological model is presented to illustrate the complexity of their interplay. Existing models of resilience are developed with the book offering the Dynamic Interactive Model of Resilience (DIMoR) as a way to analyse and support resilience which moves beyond a reductionist, descriptive and 'fashionable' presentation of resilience.

This comprehensive volume provides teachers, researchers and education professionals with cutting edge knowledge developed in the last decades by the educational, behavioural and neurosciences, integrating cognitive, developmental and socioeconomic approaches to deal with the problems children face in learning mathematics. The neurocognitive mechanisms and the cognitive processes underlying acquisition of arithmetic abilities and their significance for education have been the subject of intense research in the last few decades, but the most part of this research has been conducted in non-applied settings and there's still a deep discrepancy between the level of scientific knowledge and its implementation into actual educational settings. Now it's time to bring the results from the laboratory to the classroom. Apart from bringing the theoretical discussions to educational settings, the volume presents a wide range of methods for early detection of children with risks in mathematics learning and strategies to develop effective interventions based on innovative cognitive test instruments. It also provides insights to translate research knowledge into public policies in order to address socioeconomic issues. And it does so from an international perspective, dedicating a whole section to the cultural diversity of mathematics learning difficulties in different parts of the world. All of this makes the International Handbook of Mathematical Learning Difficulties an essential tool for those involved in the daily struggle to prepare the future generations to succeed in the global knowledge society.

Taking on the challenge to teaching the "desire-not-to-know" presents, Alcorn examines qualities of student resistance to new and uncomfortable information and proposes methods for teachers and professors to work productively with such resistance. Research in neuroscience, education, sociology, political science, and the humanities has contributed to a revisionary understanding of how emotion grounds human reason, interaction, and communication. Colleges and Universities produce and distribute information but do very little to ensure that information is effectively assimilated and employed as solutions to real problems. This book outlines an agenda that makes emotional experience central to educational practice.