Purpose: This paper encourages teachers and scholars of English Language Arts to engage deliberately with literary ambiguity. Design/methodology/approach: Through close attention to ambiguous moments in commonly taught texts, the essay argues that explicit attention to ambiguity can support four enduring goals in the field: fostering social…

Feeling like a different person when speaking different languages has been investigated before and attributed to several linguistic as well as psychological factors. Language proficiency, the context of language acquisition, personality traits, emotional intelligence, and the topic of conversation as well as the interlocutor have been found to…

It is often asserted that to facilitate student engagement, encourage participation and create optimal learning environments, the classroom should be a safe space. In this paper, we explore the idea that 'safety' is at odds with the very nature of academic enquiry. Using data from a qualitative study with staff at a UK University, we illustrate…

Higher education institutions are increasingly looking to implement online and distance learning (ODL) options for students. Professional development for the design of ODL is needed to support these strategies. This study explores how, in what ways, and to what extent, design for ODL approaches from a series of Learning Design & Course…

Through analysis of a classroom lesson led by a decorated teacher, we illustrate how instructional practices favor students seeking empirical patterns at the expense of using mechanistic reasoning. In the lesson, when students spontaneously come up with hypothetical mechanisms to explain why a light bulb in an electric circuit does or does not…

This study investigates the role of national culture in succession planning. Higher education institutions ought to learn from corporate succession planning practices; nevertheless, succession planning principles must be adapted as needed to meet the unique needs of each institution. Studies of the influence of culture on succession planning in…

Research and societal trends indicate the necessity and permanency of teamwork skills in the workplace thus investigating the relationship between satisfaction and students' experiences of team and group work is essential. Taking a novel and comprehensive approach the current research study examined the effect of multiple antecedent conditions on…

Incorporating scientific uncertainty as part of science teaching means acknowledging that there may be incomplete or potentially limited scientific information when scientists draw conclusions. In the geosciences, scientists routinely make inferences about the Earth based on observations of the present, and test those observations against…

This study explored the interrelationship between intolerance of uncertainty, sensory hyper-sensitivity and anxiety in Williams syndrome (WS). Thirty-two parents or guardians of individuals with WS (M[subscript age] = 24.76 years, SD = 7.55) were included. Associations between anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, sensory hyper-sensitivity, and ASD…

This paper reports on a study of how liminality relates to the facilitation of reflective practice in professional education. Liminality refers to sites and positions that exhibit 'in-betweenness', or bordering positions, that might draw together different institutional conditions. The present project aims to examine the role of liminality in…

Literature can sometimes tend to present context and culture almost as synonyms. This creates ambiguity, which can complicate the consideration of contextual and cultural variables in instructional design, learning, and teaching. From an ontological point of view, some clarification of these two concepts is essential as each may influence learning…

Open-mindedness is typically considered an intellectual virtue that brings humans into (closer) contact with reality and its complexities. In this essay, Susan Verducci expands the ways we typically think of cultivating open-mindedness in classrooms to include the practice of engagement with the visual and performing arts. Working with the arts…

Recognizing identity not only as an important educational outcome but also as being inter-related to students' knowledge and practice, this paper explores an affordance of proof scripts; exploring students' identities. Specifically, drawing on data from teaching experiments and the construct of perceptual ambiguity, this paper presents an analysis…

To effectively employ inquiry-based learning to enhance students' inquiry practices and encourage them to think and act like scientists, science teachers must have a deeper understanding of the factors that influence scientific research and attitudes about scientist practice. This research contains the experience of two postdoctoral researchers in…

Thesis writing is an endeavour that many undergraduate students have to surmount coupled with its inevitable challenges. Consequently, this study was conducted to investigate the diverse thesis writing challenges experienced by arts and humanities students enrolled in Bachelor of Arts degrees in Communication, English Language, and Filipino…