The politicization of history education relating to colonialism in former major colonial powers, like Britain and France, and former colonies has for obvious reasons received ample scholarly attention. But how is colonial history represented in educational materials aimed at primary school students in countries with a less evident connection to…

Background: The popularised notion of models-based practice (MBP) is one that focuses on the delivery of a model, e.g. Cooperative Learning, Sport Education, Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility, Teaching Games for Understanding. Indeed, while an abundance of research studies have examined the delivery of a single model and some have…

Determined to do justice to the complexity of the seventeenth century, as a messy but crucial period in British history, and to develop their pupils' disciplinary understanding of how and why interpretations of the past are constructed, Dan Keates and his department set out to exploit the rich seam of interpretations of Cromwell. The quest to…

In this paper, I narrate the long process of my encounters with English language learning and teaching, manifesting characteristics of English teaching at different levels of schools in mainland China. After viewing the limitations of English teaching in mainland China from my fresh point of view as a UK visiting scholar, some suggestions are…

Warren Valentine was dissatisfied with his Year 7 students' accounts of change across the Tudor period. Fixated with Henry VIII's wives, they failed to reflect on or analyse the bigger picture of the whole Tudor narrative. In order to overcome this problem, his department created a "thought-map" exercise in which students had to re-work…

Recent research has shown that improving education processes has become a priority for all governments. There have also been recent calls for the knowledge that is already in existence to be used more effectively to improve these education systems both internationally and nationally. For research evidence to be used more effectively, it is…

Mike Murray shares a lesson sequence in which his students examined changing interpretations of the Battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879. Building on earlier work on teaching interpretations across an extended chronological period and the work of Wheeley et al on Rorke's Drift in particular, Murray develops new emphases, fresh ways in to the puzzle and…

Many have warned against a direct "brain scan to lesson plan" approach when attempting to transfer insights from neuroscience to the classroom. Similarly, in the effective design and implementation of learning technology, a judicious interrelation of insights associated with diverse theoretical perspectives (e.g., neuroscientific,…

There is a pantheon of literature and popular panic pointing toward the academic ascent of girls and the decline of boys. On the contrary, the reality is different: Boys are learning and succeeding in many places. Two studies find that the places where boys excel have several common characteristics, including teachers who relate to the boys…

This paper provides an account of a school-centred research and development project aimed at improving teacher and pupil understanding of talk as a tool for learning. The paper establishes the basis for a dialogic pedagogy and reflects on strategies for creating an effective classroom climate that promotes productive and purposeful talk. It goes…

The "silent starter" is an idea that the author was reminded of during Christopher Martin's session at the ATM conference in 2011, entitled "Big Ideas". This was a nice idea for introducing, or practising mappings, but it was not the first time the author had encountered this powerful teaching tool. The idea is best explained…

Traditional art education, like other academic disciplines, emphasizes competitiveness and individualism. Through a mural painting curriculum, learners participate in mural art and history appreciation, are active in mural theme or content construction, and engage in hands-on mural design and painting processes. When mural paintings are produced…

This paper reports a school-based investigation into revision as a means of improving writing in the English classroom. It suggests that although pupils tend to perceive revision as a teacher-directed, discrete stage in the writing process, during revision they engage in independent questioning, evaluation and employ a working model of audience as…

Background/Context: This article describes how we refined an innovative methodology for equitable collaboration between university researchers and classroom practitioners building and refining theory together. The work builds on other coinquiry models in which complementary professional expertise is respected and deliberately exploited in order to…

This paper focuses on the use of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) as a tool for encouraging and supporting classroom dialogue. The authors' concern here is with the promotion of "dialogic" communication between teachers and students, which is now widely recognised as educationally valuable. In this study they investigated how teachers…