This article explores the usefulness of detective role-play as a research method to facilitate young children's critical thinking. The study examines four specifically designed detective play experiences, adopting an ethical rights-based approach to research with children. This qualitative multiple-case study is grounded in play-based pedagogy…

This paper responds to the need to support complexities of literacy instruction by identifying and illustrating teaching strategies used by a practicing special education teacher rooted in a multi-theoretical approach to teaching literacy. We argue the importance of teaching from multiple theoretical standpoints and utilizing student-centered,…

This article details how a team of fourth-grade teachers in Rockingham County, Virginia used the Inquiry Design Model (IDM) to deepen student understanding of Barbara Johns and the Moton Student Strike's fight for racial justice in Virginia and to reframe their overall approach to Black history in general. Although Rockingham County Schools are…

To spur agency and critical thinking, educators can take steps to position students as knowledge builders rather than just consumers. Drawing on Indigenous pedagogy and her own work on the value of "street data" in education, author and consultant Shane Safir discusses the importance of creating more space for student voice in…

Scientific inquiry has been advocated as a common curriculum goal in school science education in South Africa, and also throughout the world. In South Africa, the introduction of inquiry-based instruction in a reformed science curriculum has met with serious challenges, such as the under-preparedness of in-service teachers. The purpose of this…

Purpose: Empowering students has become one of the primary goals of education in the 21st century. The current trend of education is moving towards student-centred and independent learning. The core success of student empowerment lies in the teaching and learning approaches used to engage students. Thus, the present study aims to examine how…

While beneficial to student engagement and learning outcomes, student-created research questions require a shift in thinking for the teaching team, which is made up of the school librarian, classroom teacher(s), and other specialists designing the inquiry learning experience. For librarians leading inquiry learning, this shift can seem difficult…

This study sought to understand challenges that teachers (N = 15) in poverty settings encountered during information literacy instruction (ILI) and inquiry-based learning. First order barriers focused on insufficient support for instruction (training to align ILI in poverty settings; integrate diverse information resources/technology tools),…

College freshmen are expected to enter the university setting with some previous writing experience. Freshmen are then expected to become collegiate writers by completing first-year composition courses. Standard American English remains the language of power in the university, which is problematic to minority student groups, specifically students…

Contemporary school contexts present challenges for novice teachers seeking to support students' literacy development by bringing content into dialogue with students' lives. These challenges, framed as wobble moments, often contribute to high rates of teacher attrition. However, dialogue with peers, colleagues, and mentors can help teachers learn…

This classroom narrative explores how teachers can build and sustain an intellectually and emotionally fulfilling teaching practice while changing the way students experience school. Written by an English and history teacher in a Philadelphia public high school, this book presents a framework of teaching for a living democracy--supporting learners…

It is difficult for students who are just being introduced to major geographical concepts to understand how relatively free countries like India or Mali can have such high levels of human rights abuses as child brides, dowry deaths, and domestic violence. Textbooks explain it and video clips show examples, but it still seems surreal to teenagers…

When COVID-19 appeared on international radar this year and began its march around the globe, it revealed to any who might have previously denied it that the work to eliminate educational inequities is far from done. During this pandemic, more than ever, many educators are keeping these inequities top of mind. Rather than move online with what…

Learner agency is often seen unproblematically as an integral aspect of "twenty-first century lifelong learning". Agency and instrumentalist forms of teacher professional development are problematised through this qualitative case study that explores a teacher's inquiry into assessment for learning practices. This article illustrates how…

In classroom spaces on a daily basis, students are encouraged to express who they are as learners and demonstrate their own understanding of their learning. Students' ability to contribute to their own learning is an essential characteristic of an engaging classroom space and supports high academic achievement. The authors' work highlights one…