This article identifies aspects of argumentation in scientific practice that are key for scientific sense-making and articulates how engagement in these aspects happens both inter-mentally (between people) and intra-mentally (an individual's reasoning). Institutionally, peer review exerts critique on new knowledge claims in science and is…

Satire, as a mode, is not frequently employed in Chinese narratives. "Cat Country," or "Mao Cheng Ji," written by Lao She (pen name of Shu Qing Chun, 1898--1966) has come under much attack of its literary values. Whereas most critics have no doubt that this work sets out to satirize China through the portrayal of a society of…

The rhetorical history of Ecuador is rife with examples of politicians, intellectuals, and artists promoting visions of national identity through images of Ecuador's indigenous population. Between the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, such depictions became common and displayed increasing emphasis on the physical characteristics of…

Teaching logic typically falls under the areas of argumentation and research, as students are taught the importance of "logos," or logical appeals, in their pursuit of an original point. Cohesive, cogent arguments--devoid of logical fallacy--produce more compelling points, and teachers take great strides in pointing to the problems of…

Literary scholars use specific critical lenses called "topoi" (Fahnestock & Secor, 1991) to read literature and write their interpretations of these texts. Literary topoi are used in the discourse of modern college literature classrooms (Wilder, 2002) and are associated with higher grades in students' literature classes (Wilder, 2002, 2005).…

This "essay" (article) is a close and critical look at The 2010 Citizens Clean Elections Voter Education Guide, a document made available to the Arizona public prior to the 2010 state General elections. Though the guide is described as "a nonpartisan, plain-language handbook" by its authors, it can be implicated in the…

"A Framework for K-12 Science Education" identifies eight science and engineering practices for K-12 classrooms. These practices, along with core ideas and crosscutting concepts, define the nation's learning goals for science. An important advance from earlier standards (AAAS 1993, NRC 1996), these practices are clearly identified "not" as…

Logical reasoning skills are important for a successful mathematical learning and in students' future career. These skills are essential for a primary school teacher, because they need to explain solving methods and solutions to their pupils. In this research we studied pre-service primary school teachers' logical reasoning skills. The results…

This paper explores the emergence of the concept of choice biography, as it is linked to the work of Ulrich Beck, in youth research. The concept has been called a current pervasive theoretical orthodoxy. However, this article argues that the concept is most often taken up to critique, and Beck used mostly as a foil, through arguing that he…

In their response, "Challenging Neorealism" (pp. 30-39) to the author's article, Smith and Hodkinson begin by characterising their discussions over the years as failing to lead to any change in view; though, toward the end, they suggest that they have learned something from the process, as indeed the author has. Although the productiveness of any…

The rhetoric of education today tends to divide the world in two: between those who favor "reform" and those who don't. Many who consider themselves reformers say they stand in opposition to the "status quo." Some of them speak of the need to challenge the "education establishment," or the education bureaucracy. Many also describe their policies…

Most every writing teacher can relate to the curse of reading yet another incoherent essay, the contents of which resemble an unorganized junk drawer of thoughts. Such essays cry out for a main idea. The remedy is a thesis, and teachers rightly take pains to help students discover this. Yet in spite of this, writing teachers ought to bear in mind…

This paper argues that while the Inquiry into the Future of Lifelong Learning that was commissioned by NIACE makes some helpful recommendations for broadening the scope of lifelong learning to include considerations around well-being and happiness, the reports do not provide a sufficiently critical or philosophical analysis of the challenges…

Critical, postmodern, and constitutive rhetorics are typically guided by an ethical stance opposing domination and marginalization. However, this stance often functions as an unreflective morality operating outside the constitutive practices of rhetoric itself. To locate an ethical stance within rhetorical practice, we can turn to Isocrates, who…

Alfie Kohn made the case for competition being destructive to education. The truth may be that there are two separate ways to contest: true competition, which is a healthy desire to excel, and decompetition, which is the unhealthy desire merely to beat the opponent. Decompetition leads to the ills that Kohn enumerated. Educators should teach their…