This article reports the outcomes of a project in which teachers' sought to develop their ability to use instructional practices associated with argumentation in the teaching of science--in particular, the use of more dialogic approach based on small group work and the consideration of ideas, evidence, and argument. The project worked with four…

Digital games can be powerful learning environments because they encourage active learning and participation within "affinity groups" (Gee, 2004). However, the use of games in formal educational environments is not always successful (O'Neil et al., 2005). There is a need to update existing theories of motivation and engagement in order…

Some young people naturally flourish in school; others struggle due to difficult life circumstances. There is also another group of young people who have no substantial issues or barriers but are still at risk of disengaging from learning. Through research, it is known that the majority of young people who are not in education, employment or…

This study considers the pedagogical effectiveness of remote access to fieldwork locations. Forty-one students from across the GEES disciplines (geography, earth and environmental sciences) undertook a fieldwork exercise, supported by two lecturers. Twenty students accessed the field site directly and the remainder accessed the site remotely using…

Developing sustainable professional development which facilitates teachers of mathematics to develop effective mathematics pedagogy has been a key aim in recent years. This paper examines how lesson study can be used with networks of teachers as a vehicle to promote and sustain professional development. Drawing on findings from a year-long study…

Involve students in the design and construction stages of new schools?--"Are you serious?" "Leave it to the experts", "We don't have time--the programme is very tight", "What do they know?", "They'll get in the way!", "It's not our job!" are still responses from some involved with design…

This article explores how pupils and teachers in an 11-16 mixed secondary school in an area of urban disadvantage in the UK experience pupil voice. It used visual methods to unpick some of the ways in which official and unofficial discourses of pupil voice, engagement, discipline and inclusion were played out in this school. A typology of pupils,…

Despite the burgeoning rhetoric from political, social and educational commentators regarding creativity and learning and teaching, there is a paucity of scalable and measurable examples of creativity-centric pedagogical practice. This paper makes an argument for the application of social network visualisations to inform and support…

To address the question of musical identity, the research the author mainly draws on takes the form of qualitative, in-depth interviews with people about how music fits into their everyday lives and musical biographies. In this the author adopts a largely biographical and social constructionist perspective, asking people to reflect on important…

The Higher Education Policy Institute and Higher Education Academy (HEPI-HEA) "Student Academic Experience Survey" has been running since 2006 and shows how full-time undergraduates rate their time in higher education and their attitudes towards policy issues that impact upon them. The Survey has been designed and developed in…

This contribution takes the form of a reflective essay informed by 15 years of working and undertaking research with young people at risk of social exclusion and non-participation in the post-compulsory education and training system in the UK. In particular, it draws upon our experience of working with young people, youth workers and other adults…

The Higher Education Policy Institute and Higher Education Academy (HEPI-HEA) "Student Academic Experience Survey" has been running since 2006 and is now a fixture in the policy landscape. Its focus on what students get, how hard they work, and what they think of their experience makes it even more useful at a time of high fees and…

In this brief retrospective essay, the value of a particular kind of classroom talk is extolled--not the kind of talk that simply feeds back information, but rather talk that has the power to shape knowledge through participant engagement with a range of processes: hypothesising, exploration, debate and synthesis. This kind of talk is the…

In the current digital environment, it is vital for learners to develop digital literacy skills. The UK's Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (HE) requires graduates to demonstrate digital literacy. Employers consider these skills essential. With the high cost of HE in the UK, learners themselves also expect university courses to…

The study we report here examines parts of what Chevallard calls the "institutional" dimension of the students' learning experience of a relatively under-researched, yet crucial, concept in Analysis, the concept of infinite series. In particular, we examine how the concept is introduced to students in texts and in teaching practice. To…