Education is naturally transformative, but the acquisition of new skills and construction of new knowledge are only possible when we empower students instead of forcing their conformity. Our current compliance-based teaching methodologies rely on coercion, conditioning and external motivators that engender submission and fear in students and…

Guided by the bright and dark side described in Self-Determination Theory, and following hierarchical and integrative conceptualisation of motivational climates, the primary objective of this research was to test the predictive relationships between pre-service teachers' perceptions of educator-created (dis-)empowering climates and need-based and…

A diverse democracy brings together people whose differences include partisan leanings, life experiences, histories, religious beliefs, racial identities, and sexual orientations to address common problems and build a shared future. Social studies educators can help prepare youth to pursue this goal by advancing core commitments to respectful and…

Get Smart Fast about the benefits of supporting student and staff well-being! Prioritizing well-being in schools creates environments where everyone feels valued and supported, which leads to better educational outcomes and a healthier, more supportive community. This infographic provides strategies, examples, and resources to effectively support…

Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, is accessed by over 1.5 billion users each month, yet remains stigmatized in the academic world. Many faculty demonstrate reluctance in allowing students to use Wikipedia as part of their research and writing projects due to the open access nature of the site and have all but banned its use in their…

Peer mentoring involves a reciprocal relationship of mutual benefits to both the mentee and mentor. To help first time in college students experience a smooth transition to college and empower at-risk college students, South Central University (all names in this paper are pseudonyms) implemented a pilot study for a FYE Peer Mentor Program in fall…

By means of a systematic comparison of three countries we investigate the origins and conditions for the diffusion of student evaluation of teaching (SET). We found that: (1) SET is present cross-nationally; (2) SET was initiated in the US during the 1950s by students and adopted in the 1970s by universities, while German and Colombian…

This paper explores the use of Lesson Study in primary schools in England as a powerful tool for developing teachers' pedagogical knowledge, and for shaping teaching practices that encourage children's engagement. Through Lesson Study, a critical space for dialogic engagement is generated, wherein children contribute to, and shape, teaching and…

Learner agency is a key factor in success with technology-infused Innovative Learning Environments (ILEs). Focussing on informal practices unrelated to the learning agenda (off-task practices) and considered undesirable by students (school--net-conflict), this paper explores how students who experience a school--net-conflict explain their off-task…

Persistently low graduation rates continue to leave educators in search of ways to promote the success of college students. One understudied factor that scholarship has linked to student persistence and success is students' confidence in their major and career paths--their major and career self-efficacy (MCSE). Ways to increase students' MCSE in…

The number of students accessing Alternative Provision (AP) in the UK is growing and the ways in which such provision is facilitated is evolving with the use of EdTech. However, there is very little evidence of such provisions being evaluated in terms of their educational impact nor regarding the way in which students engage with them. This…

This paper discusses high-school students' perspectives on their participation in educational survey research. Students responded to a Likert-style questionnaire about their school's social-educational portrait and were invited at its end to briefly comment on the survey itself. Qualitative analysis showed that a sizable proportion of students…

In 2014, the Nellie Mae Education Foundation began funding three projects that together comprise the Grassroots Portfolio: Civic and Family Engagement, Community Organizing, and Amplifying Student Voice and Leadership. This work was part of the Public Understanding and Demand component of NMEF's grantmaking strategy. Following a Foundation-wide…

This article aims to reject the assumption that philosophy causes children to reject authority. In this article, the authors take a different perspective on the issues of authority and moral order with regard to Philosophy for Children (P4C) in schools, presenting how the tension appeared in a specific classroom through data collected by the first…

Lyn Mikel Brown and Jenny Flaumenhaft describe the use of student-centered principles to engage in curricular reform in an under-resourced rural elementary school. With a specific focus on student empowerment and self-determination, and in collaboration with students and teachers, Transforming Rural Experience in Education (TREE) integrated…