This article discusses how museum settings can provide opportunities for sensory and aesthetic encounters and learning. It draws on research into museum education programmes that included examinations of curatorial construction and display, observations of teaching and open-ended interviews with museum educators. The examples selected here focus…

Year 9 think they know a lot about the First World War. After all, they read Michael Morpurgo's novel Private Peaceful in their English lessons all the way back in Year 7, they have seen Blackadder so many times they can recite it, and in the centenary year of the war's outbreak, they can hardly avoid it on television. But their view of the war…

This article outlines the implications of a theory of "sensory-emplaced learning" for understanding the interrelationships between the embodied and environmental in learning processes. Understanding learning as multisensory and contingent within everyday place-events, this framework analytically describes how people establish themselves as…

The benefits of sport and physical activity are endorsed by a number of professionals as a means of improving children's health and their sense of well-being, and their unity with the natural world, other people and the Transcendent. For children, sport is a spiritual source of joy and wonder. Using Champagne's "spiritual modes of…

This conjectural essay was originally written for a symposium "Historiography of the future: Looking back to the future" held at the International Standing Conference for History of Education (ISCHE) 33, July 2011, San Luis Potosi, Mexico organised by Kate Rousmaniere and Frank Simon. Participants were asked to envision future challenges for the…

A simple sensory assessment of apples provides an enjoyable and stimulating introduction to topics in genetics and the related areas of agriculture, selective breeding, and plant science.

Alyssa Conklin-Moore discusses normalization in the child under three from several perspectives. She takes an extensive look at the child, including orienting parents to the Montessori environment, the child's entrance into the environment, addressing the sensitive periods, and fostering independence, contribution, and community. She reminds the…

Jessica and Isabella were immediately drawn to the new chalk available on the patio. As soon as they saw the big basket, they found an open space and began testing the colors. The authors recently brought this story to their planning time with Deb, to share the photos and notes they had collected of Jessica and Isabella working with the chalk.…

This essay advances a theory of generic criticism attuned to bodily affect. Aligning form with affect and genre with meaningful emotion, genre is described as the way in which the feeling of form is delivered to language. The primary example is Mel Gibson's film, "The Passion of the Christ," which was marketed as a melodrama, but which exemplifies…

In the last decade, our understanding of the chemistry of olive oil has dramatically improved. Here, the essential chemistry of olive oil and its important minor constituents is described and related to the typical sensory categories used to rate and experience oils: color, aroma, bitterness, and pungency. We also describe experiments to explore…

Location, where geographic elements interwork spatially and dynamically, has been one of the enduring themes in geographic studies. There are a number of location theories to explain why things are located where they are. Alfred Weber's location theory stresses that the least cost of delivering products is a key factor in location selection, and…

Multi-sensory environments in the classroom provide a wealth of stimulating learning experiences for all young children whose senses are still under development. "Creating Multisensory Environments: Practical Ideas for Teaching and Learning" is a highly practical guide to low-cost cost, easy to assemble multi-sensory environments. With a…

For number-form synaesthetes, digits occupy idiosyncratic spatial locations. Atypical to the mental number line that extends horizontally, the synaesthete (L) experiences the numbers 1-10 vertically. We used a spatial cueing task to demonstrate that L's attention could be automatically directed to locations within her number-space--being faster to…

A person who is considered deaf-blind is someone who is deaf or hard-of-hearing in combination with a visual impairment or blindness. The range of capabilities and support needs of individuals with deaf-blindness varies substantially from person to person because of differences in the extent of partial vision or hearing, if any, or the presence of…

Sensory experiences are the foundation of the learning process, regardless of cognitive ability. However, within the context of students with special needs, the sensory experience may focus on therapeutic and psychological relaxation without necessarily having clearly defined educational goals that directly improve learning. The frequently used…