In this paper we explore the portrayal of the "authentic" past in children's literature in Ghana, as well as the problems it poses for the achievement of the broader goal of moulding children to fit into tomorrow's society. We look at two main aspects: the social and moral settings portrayed in selected books. The social order refers to…

This paper explores the "social movement learning" operating within one site of critical public pedagogy and, specifically, examines how the anti-consumption activist group "Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping" encourages transitional spaces of learning through a "pedagogy of the unknown." Bill Talen, a.k.a. "Reverend Billy", is an…

Both content area teachers and reading teachers often see oral reading in epic proportions, as a hero in the struggle for the best way to motivate students to read. This article briefly reviews the reasons that are commonly given for supporting the use of oral reading in the classroom. The author then provides a rationale for opposing traditional…

Imagination might be understood as letting our senses, perceptions and sensibilities run free for no apparent reason. Here, for this special edition what might be "remarkable" is the "opening" of our imagination provided orally through storytelling. This opening involves the "placing" of our own and our listeners'…

Conceptualising difference is a key task for inclusive pedagogy, and vital to the politics of inclusion. My purpose in this paper is to consider the place that imagination has in helping us to conceptualise difference, and to argue that imagination has a key part to play in inclusive pedagogy. To do this I draw closely on the work of Maxine Greene…

The Cartoneras projects aim to promote the celebration of language, culture, and creativity through a collaboration between top literary minds and cardboard collectors in Buenos Aires and Lima. They produce and publish beautiful books with hand-painted cardboard covers that speak of the wonderful literature inside. Inspired by those projects, the…

In order to initiate and maintain meaningful interaction in a young learner L2 classroom, an adult teacher needs to approach children in ways consistent with their developmental profile and adjust teaching methodology so as to accommodate young learners' current skills. This requires the ability to predict the child's possible responses to…

This article presents an excerpt from a speech delivered by Dana Gioia, poet, critic, and chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, at the Stanford University commencement on June 17, 2007. In this speech, Gioia communicates his concerns about the diminished role of the arts in contemporary North American culture and the failure of school…

The aim of this study was to make visible, and understand, possible opportunities for school improvement based on schoolchildren's lived experience and visionary ideas of school. Schoolchildren aged 10-12 from the northern part of Sweden participated in the study. The phenomenological analysis resulted in three themes, with no particular order of…

Elementary children's sense of audience related to their multimodal information writing was examined. Forty-six third graders' interviews about the books that they created at the end of a science unit were analyzed to understand children's conception of audience, the connection between their sense of audience and their composing process, and their…

The use of drawings as representations of personal mental models or images is one method of analyzing personal beliefs. This article discusses the development of the Draw-An-Environment Test and Rubric (DAET-R) for assessing the mental models or images of the environment held by pre-service teachers. It also provides results of preliminary…

A multiple probe design was used to examine the relation between teachers' use of the system of least prompts, contingent imitation, and praise, and the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of pretend play by 4 children with disabilities. The teachers' use of the intervention package was functionally related to increases in the children's…

This not quite "final" ending of this special issue of "Environmental Education Research" traces a series of hopeful, if somewhat difficult and at times challenging, openings for researching experiences of environment and place through children's literature. In the first instance, we draw inspiration from the contributors who…

The paper describes the psychoanalytic psychotherapy of a patient who had originally been referred at the age of 15 because of his social isolation. In fact, he suffered from high-functioning Asperger's syndrome and lived in an almost delusional world populated by a number of imaginary companions, which he used to counteract a deep void and sense…

Liberation of self and society is the point of democracy. What does one need in teacher education and teaching to fulfill this democratic vision? For John Dewey, teacher educators need to practice associated living in the classroom. Talking about it will not fulfill the charge. They need to enable experiences of deliberation, thoughtful planning,…