In this paper, I offer a defence of aesthetic education in terms of aesthetic experience, claiming that aesthetic experience and art appreciation is a vital component of a flourishing life. Given schools have an important role to play in helping prepare young people for their adult lives, it is crucial they should consider how best to equip…

This article reflects on an instructor's experience of incorporating an optional assignment in a theology class wherein students are invited to learn a new athletic skill, journal while doing so, and then theologically reflect on their experience. It begins with the instructor making a case for the need to bring the body back into the classroom.…

Exemplar-based learning requires: (1) a segmentation procedure for identifying the units of past experiences that a present experience can be compared to, and (2) a similarity function for comparing these past experiences to the present experience. This article argues that for a learner to learn a language these two mechanisms will require…

This article reviews two aspects of human learning: (1) people draw inferences that appear to rely on hierarchical conceptual representations; (2) some categories are much easier to learn than others given the same number of exemplars, and some categories remain difficult despite extensive training. Both of these results are difficult to reconcile…

In John Dixon's account of Dartmouth, experience is seen as central to the business of English as a school subject. Experience, for Dixon, is the raw material that is worked on in the classroom. What kinds of theory inform this emphasis on experience, and what are the curricular and pedagogic implications of this version of English? How does…

The institution of the seminary was established by the sixteenth century Council of Trent. Seminaries were charged with the formation of men for the priesthood. The character of seminary education was largely unchanged until the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). This article observes and comments upon the changes and developments over the past…

This response considers the strengths of Carr and Thesee's 2017 paper in "Democracy & Education" and explores further areas of research related to education for democracy or citizenship education. [For "Seeking Democracy Inside and Outside of Education," see EJ1162605.]

In this article, the author John Volk, professor of Worldview Studies at Renaissance College, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, looks forward toward the November 2017 Religious Education Association Conference, which is entitled "Learning in Encounter: Crossroads, Connections, Collaborations", and says that…

We argue in this article for greater role for improvisation in the music classroom. Based on an extensive examination of scholarship about improvisational practices, we propose three conceptualizations--ability, culture, experience--that can serve to guide the teaching of improvisation. When considered as an "ability," improvisation is a…

In this commentary on Professor Joan Freeman's "A Quality of Giftedness," (Gifted and Talented International" v27 n2 p 13-71 2012), Rhoda Myra Garces-Bacsal applauds Professor Freeman's capacity to translate what is commonly a pedantic and boring academic treatise to a vibrant and timely article that demonstrates how "ivory…

Learning about "nature" has particular significance for education because the idea of nature is an important source of inspiring meaning-rich experience and creation. In order to have meaningful experiences in learning and living, this paper argues for a personal subject-related lifeworld approach to the learning of "nature".…

As Director of the Honors Program at Indiana University Southeast, Angela Salas has been immersed in what Richard Badenhausen describes in his essay, "Costs and Benefits in the Economy of Honors," as the financial issues of which honors faculty and administrators may not, as a group, be sufficiently aware. Yet, despite wrestling on a…

In April, the "New England Journal of Higher Education" ("NEJHE") launched its "New Directions for Higher Education" series to examine emerging issues, trends, and ideas that have an impact on higher education policies, programs, and practices. In this installment of the series, DiSalvio speaks with Richard Arum,…

This excerpt from the opening plenary asks evaluators to consider two questions regarding learning and evaluation: (a) How do evaluators know if, how, when, and what people are learning during an evaluation? and (b) In what ways can evaluation be a learning experience? To answer the first question, evaluators can apply the commonplaces of…

This paper locates the concept of learning among real-life human experiences and events. Functioning as a sign, a meaningful event can be understood in terms of a cultural extra-linguistic "text." Reading and interpreting diverse cultural "texts" are equivalent to constructing and learning critical symbolic lessons embedded in a continuous process…