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Full-Text Articles in Education

Democratic Disagreements. A Book Review Of Lived Democracy In Education. Young Citizens’ Democratic Lives In Kindergarten, School And Higher Education, Sonja Helkala, Julia Jaakkola, Tuukka Tomperi May 2023

Democratic Disagreements. A Book Review Of Lived Democracy In Education. Young Citizens’ Democratic Lives In Kindergarten, School And Higher Education, Sonja Helkala, Julia Jaakkola, Tuukka Tomperi

Democracy and Education

As the title Lived Democracy in Education suggests, the predominantly Norwegian writers of the book share a deep and robust vision of democracy. Drawing on deliberative democratic theory and many other theoretical perspectives, the authors blend theory, practice, and empirical case studies to illuminate these modes of “lived democracy” in educational contexts. In particular, the book’s chapters examine different communicative interactions between children and young people, presenting these as examples of learning to live with controversies in communities of disagreement. The book contains valuable perspectives on democratic discussion in education. As several authors are experts in mathematics and science education, …


Moving Toward Critical Political Education With Elementary Preservice Teachers. A Response To “The Impact Of Polarization On The Political Engagement Of Generation Z Elementary Preservice Teachers And Their Teaching", Sara B. Demoiny May 2023

Moving Toward Critical Political Education With Elementary Preservice Teachers. A Response To “The Impact Of Polarization On The Political Engagement Of Generation Z Elementary Preservice Teachers And Their Teaching", Sara B. Demoiny

Democracy and Education

In “The Impact of Polarization on the Political Engagement of Generation Z Elementary Preservice Teachers and Their Teaching,” Keegan and Vaughan engaged with questions of preparing Gen Z, elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) in political education. Their much-needed study confirmed the continued call for social studies teacher educators to cultivate critical, civically active elementary PSTs who will intentionally attend to political education in the classroom. In this response, I situate Keegan and Vaughan's findings in white discomfort (Zembylas, 2018) as a way to consider a path forward in elementary teacher preparation, moving from a centering of white PSTs’ individual responses to …


The Impact Of Polarization On The Political Engagement Of Generation Z Elementary Preservice Teachers And Their Teaching, Patrick Keegan, Kelly P. Vaughan May 2023

The Impact Of Polarization On The Political Engagement Of Generation Z Elementary Preservice Teachers And Their Teaching, Patrick Keegan, Kelly P. Vaughan

Democracy and Education

This instrumental case study of Generation Z preservice teachers enrolled in elementary teaching methods courses in social studies and literacy explores the impact of polarization on their political engagement and teaching. Using the 2020 presidential election as a teachable moment, participants developed and taught literacy-infused civics units in order to bring to light their understandings of their role in preparing elementary students as political actors. This study has important implications for how teacher educators can better facilitate elementary preservice teachers’ own political engagement, thereby ensuring equitable democratic learning opportunities for students.


Expanding The Landscape Of Wholeness: The Spirituality Of Teacher Preparation. A Response To "Reconstituting Teacher Education: Toward Wholeness In An Era Of Monumental Challenges", Paul A. Michalec Oct 2022

Expanding The Landscape Of Wholeness: The Spirituality Of Teacher Preparation. A Response To "Reconstituting Teacher Education: Toward Wholeness In An Era Of Monumental Challenges", Paul A. Michalec

Democracy and Education

This article is a response to a paper arguing for a shift from “oneness” to “wholeness” as a democratic principle when reconceptualizing teacher education in a time of large-scale social change. While the paper provides compelling arguments for wholeness as a tool to address social injustice, the discussion is framed primarily through a humanist lens. This response is an invitation to expand the definition of wholeness to include spirituality as core to what it means to be human and whole. It addresses the importance of spirituality in teacher education when considering culturally responsive pedagogy, the religion-spirit distinction, the source of …


Reconstituting Teacher Education: Toward Wholeness In An Era Of Monumental Challenges, Jessica E. Masterson, Lauren Gatti Oct 2022

Reconstituting Teacher Education: Toward Wholeness In An Era Of Monumental Challenges, Jessica E. Masterson, Lauren Gatti

Democracy and Education

Speaking to the political and social upheaval of our present moment, and drawing on discourses of democratic education, we argue that the U.S.’s racial reckoning propelled by recent events constitutes a sort of “founding” for our democracy and that this founding has important implications for reconfiguring citizenship within institutions and practices of teacher education. In building this argument, the authors articulate the aims of teacher education in a democracy and expand upon political scientist Danielle Allen’s theoretical concepts of "sacrifice," "reconstitution," and "wholeness," demonstrating their urgent utility within our “thinning” democracy (Hess & McAvoy, 2015). We then draw on relevant …


Hearing Silence: Understanding The Complexities Of Silence In Democratic Classrooms And Our Responsibility As Teachers And Teacher Educators. A Response To "Creating A Democratic Mathematics Classroom: The Interplay Of The Rights And Responsibilities Of The Learner.", Kersti Tyson, Allison Hintz, Andrea English, Diana Murdoch May 2022

Hearing Silence: Understanding The Complexities Of Silence In Democratic Classrooms And Our Responsibility As Teachers And Teacher Educators. A Response To "Creating A Democratic Mathematics Classroom: The Interplay Of The Rights And Responsibilities Of The Learner.", Kersti Tyson, Allison Hintz, Andrea English, Diana Murdoch

Democracy and Education

This response to Priya Prasad’s and Crystal Kalinec-Craig’s article on the interplay of the Rights and Responsibilities of the Learner aims to engage with and add on to the authors’ exploration of learners overexercising or opting out of their rights. While grappling with these challenges alongside the authors, our curiosity deepened about a significant and understudied facet of democratic classrooms: silence. Through this response, we consider the multifaceted dimension of silence and how a focus on silence may help us more fully understand the tension between learners’ rights and responsibilities to self, each other, and the collective. Specifically, we engage …


A Book Review Of The Art Of Reflective Teaching: Practicing Presence, Jeff Frank Oct 2021

A Book Review Of The Art Of Reflective Teaching: Practicing Presence, Jeff Frank

Democracy and Education

No abstract provided.


Scientifically Based Research And Teacher Agency: Combating “Conspiracies Of Certainty”, Kurt Stemhagen, Brionna C. Nomi Oct 2021

Scientifically Based Research And Teacher Agency: Combating “Conspiracies Of Certainty”, Kurt Stemhagen, Brionna C. Nomi

Democracy and Education

This project considers how certain types of educational research position teachers as problems to be managed or worked around. We start with a discussion of scientifically based research (SBR), particularly how the quest for generalization/objectivity are often pursued at the expense of relevance. We use the way teachers are positioned in the growing field of Implementation Science as an example of what’s wrong with SBR. A fundamental tension emerges—researchers’ need for scientific control is inescapably at odds with the idea of teacher as professional. Finally, we provide an example of an approach that has potential to counter the SBR-influenced idea …


A Call For A Third Wave Of Ethnic Studies Curriculum. A Book Review Of Transformative Ethnic Studies In Schools: Curriculum, Pedagogy, & Research, Robert G. Unzueta Ii May 2021

A Call For A Third Wave Of Ethnic Studies Curriculum. A Book Review Of Transformative Ethnic Studies In Schools: Curriculum, Pedagogy, & Research, Robert G. Unzueta Ii

Democracy and Education

Transformative Ethnic Studies in Schools: Curriculum, Pedagogy, & Research calls on our faculty, educators, community members, students, activists, and allies to usher in the third wave of ethnic studies curriculum into compulsory school conversation. At the center of ethnic studies curriculum, according to the authors, is a push for the humanization of our most dehumanized students in our society. At a time when institutions are grappling with how to move forward in response to the multiple national pandemics, this text offers a practical, sustainable, and evidence-based research, why we need ethnic studies curriculum in every classroom, including STEM.


Creating A Democratic Mathematics Classroom: The Interplay Of The Rights And Responsibilities Of The Learner, Priya V. Prasad, Crystal Kalinec-Craig May 2021

Creating A Democratic Mathematics Classroom: The Interplay Of The Rights And Responsibilities Of The Learner, Priya V. Prasad, Crystal Kalinec-Craig

Democracy and Education

One way in which democratic classrooms can reflect a democracy is by guaranteeing students some inalienable rights; Kalinec-Craig (2017) outlined Olga Torres’s Rights of the Learner (Torres’s RotL) in mathematics classrooms. However, democracies rely not only on citizens’ rights, but on their willingness to take up certain responsibilities as well. We extend this idea to mathematics classrooms to explore the consequences of the interplay of learners’ rights and responsibilities, in the context of the preparation of elementary mathematics teachers. In addition, we explore ways in which learners may overexercise their rights of the learner or opt out of exercising them …


Teacher Learning And The Difficulties Of Moving Civic Education Forward. A Response To “Beyond The Invisible Barriers Of The Classroom: Iengage And Civic Praxis”, Avner Segall Oct 2020

Teacher Learning And The Difficulties Of Moving Civic Education Forward. A Response To “Beyond The Invisible Barriers Of The Classroom: Iengage And Civic Praxis”, Avner Segall

Democracy and Education

In “Beyond the Invisible Barriers of the Classroom: iEngage and Civic Praxis,” the authors reported on the experiences teachers encountered during a weeklong Youth Engage Civic Institute Camp and the degree to which what teachers learned in the camp was able to move their thinking and practice toward a more critical, justice-oriented approach to civic education. The authors’ analysis thus “considers the ideological shifts the counselors [teachers] made and the likelihood that they will teach beyond the formal classroom as they return to more traditional environments” (Magill et al., 2020, p. 2). In that, the authors were interested not only …


The Value Of Conflict And Disagreement In Democratic Teacher Education, Kiel F. Harell May 2020

The Value Of Conflict And Disagreement In Democratic Teacher Education, Kiel F. Harell

Democracy and Education

Deliberative democracy surfaces disagreements so that people holding conflicting stances understand each other’s reasons for the purpose of decision-making. Democratic education approaches should provide students with the opportunity to learn and practice how to address conflict in the collective decision-making process. In this paper, I examine the Foxfire Course for Teachers, a professional development retreat in which teachers learn to practice democratic teaching by themselves experiencing democratic decision-making. In particular, a series of disagreements among course participants is analyzed in detail to understand the learning that resulted and the conditions that supported that learning. As a result of this experiential …


Envisioning Democratic Education In Neoliberal Times: A Book Review Of Radical Schooling For Democracy: Engaging Philosophy Of Education For The Public Good, Jessica Lussier, Samuel D. Rocha May 2020

Envisioning Democratic Education In Neoliberal Times: A Book Review Of Radical Schooling For Democracy: Engaging Philosophy Of Education For The Public Good, Jessica Lussier, Samuel D. Rocha

Democracy and Education

In Radical Schooling for Democracy: Engaging Philosophy of Education for the Public Good, Neil Hooley (2017) sets out to reexamine formal education by highlighting six competing ideologies that contemporary schooling must contend with and respond to (religious, conservative, neoliberal, social-democratic, scientific, and Marxist). Under the political and economic dictates of neoliberalism, Hooley argues, the scope of learning has become narrow and constrained to the frustration and alienation of many students and teachers. Reflecting on these concerns within the many issues of education today, Hooley’s project positions philosophy of education as a meaningful tool in our globalized context. …


Restoring The Political: Exploring The Complexities Of Agonistic Deliberation In Classrooms, John Ambrosio May 2019

Restoring The Political: Exploring The Complexities Of Agonistic Deliberation In Classrooms, John Ambrosio

Democracy and Education

This article is a response to a theoretical and philosophical examination of agonistic deliberation in classrooms, which requires accepting the legitimacy of perspectives that are outside of prevailing societal norms and the expression of political emotion. The author argues that students must develop certain dispositions to achieve productive ends in negotiations and that the role of teachers in the deliberative process must be clarified. He concludes that modifying instructional practices to include agonistic deliberation can potentially open up public spaces in classrooms for more inclusive and equitable deliberative practices.


Democratic Spaces: How Teachers Establish And Sustain Democracy And Education In Their Classrooms, Julia Collins, Michael E. Hess, Charles L. Lowery May 2019

Democratic Spaces: How Teachers Establish And Sustain Democracy And Education In Their Classrooms, Julia Collins, Michael E. Hess, Charles L. Lowery

Democracy and Education

Democratic education focuses on developing students using democratic principles and processes in the classroom. In this study, we aim to understand how self-identified democratic educators practice democratic education in public-school classrooms. Nine participants, teachers in K12 schools, were interviewed for this qualitative study. In investigating how public-school teachers implemented and sustained democratic education in their classrooms, six themes emerged—fostering relationships, empowering students, and teaching and using democratic skills, democratic educative structure, democratic teacher praxis, and obstacles.


Response To “Seeking Democracy Inside And Outside Of Education”, Catherine Broom Dec 2017

Response To “Seeking Democracy Inside And Outside Of Education”, Catherine Broom

Democracy and Education

This response considers the strengths of Carr and Thesee's paper and explores further areas of research related to education for democracy or citizenship education.


Democracy Dies In Dualisms. A Response To “Dewey And Democracy”, Dan Sarofian-Butin Dec 2017

Democracy Dies In Dualisms. A Response To “Dewey And Democracy”, Dan Sarofian-Butin

Democracy and Education

This essay reviews Atkinson’s article “Dewey and Democracy” and argues that while Dewey and the social foundations classroom may indeed be important for teacher preparation, it is not in the way Atkinson suggests. Namely, I argue that Atkinson’s essay has three distinct (yet interrelated) issues: his problematic oversimplifications, what I term as “Dewey doesn’t do dualisms”; his misreading of Dewey, where I point out that “Dewey doesn’t do debate”; and his unexamined positionality, where I make clear that “Dewey doesn’t do Descartes.” I conclude this essay with a different perspective of a way forward with Dewey: that Dewey’s antifoundationalism serves …


The Rights Of The Learner: A Framework For Promoting Equity Through Formative Assessment In Mathematics Education, Crystal A. Kalinec-Craig Dec 2017

The Rights Of The Learner: A Framework For Promoting Equity Through Formative Assessment In Mathematics Education, Crystal A. Kalinec-Craig

Democracy and Education

An elementary mathematics teacher once argued that she and her students held four Rights of the Learner in the classroom: (1) the right to be confused; (2) the right to claim a mistake; (3) the right to speak, listen and be heard; and (4) the right to write, do, and represent only what makes sense. Written as an emerging framework to promote equity in the mathematics classroom through divergent formative assessment, the RotL assumes that students can take more explicit ownership of their learning, both in writing and in oral communication. Foregrounded in the literature, this paper discusses how the …


Seeking Democracy Inside, And Outside, Of Education: Re-Conceptualizing Perceptions And Experiences Related To Democracy And Education, Paul R. Carr, Gina Thésée Dec 2017

Seeking Democracy Inside, And Outside, Of Education: Re-Conceptualizing Perceptions And Experiences Related To Democracy And Education, Paul R. Carr, Gina Thésée

Democracy and Education

This conceptual article underscores the importance of critical engagement in and through education with a view to enhancing education for democracy (EfD). As a centerpiece to illustrating this connection, we refer to our research project, which engages international actors through an analysis of the perceptions, experiences and perspectives of education students, educators and others in relation to EfD. The article presents the Thick-Thin Spectrum of EfD and a Spectrum for Critical Engagement for EfD to re(present) the problematic of political engagement and literacy on the part of teacher-education students. The findings of our study highlight a necessity for education to …


What Kind Of Teacher For Our Citizens? A Book Review Of What Kind Of Citizen? Educating Our Children For The Common Good, Tony Decesare Nov 2016

What Kind Of Teacher For Our Citizens? A Book Review Of What Kind Of Citizen? Educating Our Children For The Common Good, Tony Decesare

Democracy and Education

Westheimer’s central argument in What Kind of Citizen? Educating our Children for the Common Good is that the current climate around public education—marked, in general, by standardization in our schools—is not conducive to the development of thoughtful and critically engaged public citizens. Westheimer demonstrated convincingly that schools—in response to recent education reform and, in some cases, pressure from parents and other education stakeholders—have increasingly emphasized individual goals at the expense of educating children for the common good. Furthermore and related, in this age of standardized testing, school curricula have become more narrowly focused on achievement in math and literacy at …


Deliberative Democracy: A Contested Interactive Space. A Response To "Deliberative Democracy In English Language Education: Cultural And Linguistic Inclusion In The School Community", Esperanza De La Vega Nov 2016

Deliberative Democracy: A Contested Interactive Space. A Response To "Deliberative Democracy In English Language Education: Cultural And Linguistic Inclusion In The School Community", Esperanza De La Vega

Democracy and Education

This is a response to Liggett’s (2014) call to implement “deliberate democracy” in English language education classrooms. While the concept of participating in deliberate democracy is a solid ideal and worthy of pursuit, I present questions and scenarios that illustrate the complicated nature of the tasks. By sharing my testimonio along with the research, I propose that in order for teachers to guide their students' participation in deliberate democratic activities, they must step back and understand the context of the sociocultural interactive space created in the classroom and whether ELL students are able to and/or prepared to speak in an …


The Cultural Contours Of Democracy: Indigenous Epistemologies Informing South African Citizenship, Patricia K. Kubow, Mina Min Nov 2016

The Cultural Contours Of Democracy: Indigenous Epistemologies Informing South African Citizenship, Patricia K. Kubow, Mina Min

Democracy and Education

Drawing upon the African concept of ubuntu, this article examines the epistemic orientations toward individual-society relations that inform democratic citizenship and identity in South Africa. Findings from focus group interviews conducted with 50 Xhosa teachers from all seven primary and intermediate schools in a township outside Cape Town depict the cultural contours of democracy and how the teachers reaffirm and question the dominant Western-oriented democratic narrative. Through ubuntu, defined as the virtue of being human premised upon respect, the Xhosa teachers interrupt the prevailing rights-and-responsibilities discourse to interpose a conception of democracy based on rights, responsibilities, and respect. …


The Challenges Of Gaming For Democratic Education: The Case Of Icivics, Jeremy Stoddard, Angela M. Banks, Christine Nemacheck, Elizabeth Wenska Nov 2016

The Challenges Of Gaming For Democratic Education: The Case Of Icivics, Jeremy Stoddard, Angela M. Banks, Christine Nemacheck, Elizabeth Wenska

Democracy and Education

Video games are the most recent technological advancement to be viewed as an educational panacea and a force for democracy. However, this medium has particular affordances and constraints as a tool for democratic education in educational environments. This paper presents results from a study of the design and content of four iCivics games and their potential to meet the goals of democratic education. Specifically, we focus on the games as designed experiences, the nature and accuracy of the content, and the nature of intellectual engagement in the games. We find that the games, while easily accessible and aligned with standardized …


Critical Pedagogy And Participatory Democracy: Creating Classroom Contexts That Challenge "Common Sense." A Response To "The Political Nuances Of Narratives And An Urban Educator's Response", Lilia D. Monzó, P. Zitlali Morales May 2016

Critical Pedagogy And Participatory Democracy: Creating Classroom Contexts That Challenge "Common Sense." A Response To "The Political Nuances Of Narratives And An Urban Educator's Response", Lilia D. Monzó, P. Zitlali Morales

Democracy and Education

In this response to “The Political Nuances of Narratives and an Urban Educator’s Response,” the authors applaud Pearman’s critical approach to deconstructing and challenging narratives of heroic figures who single-handedly change the world and agree with him that these narratives restrict the sense of agency that may propel citizens to become actively involved in social change efforts. We argue that it is important to question why these narratives exist and to understand them in light of the hegemonic capitalist structure that exploits the masses in service to the capitalist class. Although we agree with Pearman that democracy is best served …


Problematizing Assumptions, Examining Dilemmas, And Exploring Promising Possibilities In Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. A Response To “'I Didn’T See It As A Cultural Thing': Supervisors Of Student Teachers Define And Describe Culturally Responsive Supervision", Maria Dantas-Whitney, R. Dana Ulveland May 2016

Problematizing Assumptions, Examining Dilemmas, And Exploring Promising Possibilities In Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. A Response To “'I Didn’T See It As A Cultural Thing': Supervisors Of Student Teachers Define And Describe Culturally Responsive Supervision", Maria Dantas-Whitney, R. Dana Ulveland

Democracy and Education

In response to the study and recommendations presented in the article “'I Didn’t See it as a Cultural Thing,'” written by Linda Griffin, Dyan Watson and Tonda Liggett, we explore three interrelated topics. First, we seek to problematize some of the assumptions in the study. We review some of the authors’ approaches and assertions that seem to reflect a hierarchical power structure and a deficit model. Second, we examine our own dilemmas and struggles in enacting culturally relevant practices within our teacher education program. Our reflections derive from our recent experience preparing for a reaccreditation site visit by NCATE. Third, …


“I Didn’T See It As A Cultural Thing”: Supervisors Of Student Teachers Define And Describe Culturally Responsive Supervision, Linda B. Griffin, Dyan Watson, Tonda Liggett May 2016

“I Didn’T See It As A Cultural Thing”: Supervisors Of Student Teachers Define And Describe Culturally Responsive Supervision, Linda B. Griffin, Dyan Watson, Tonda Liggett

Democracy and Education

Student teaching supervisors can play an integral role in teacher candidates’ ability to understand and enact culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP). However, supervisors may lack the awareness, knowledge, skill, or willingness to serve as culturally responsive supervisors. This paper reports the findings from a qualitative study to find out how supervisors described and supported CRP. We found that supervisors hold unsophisticated views of CRP and face the following challenges enacting culturally responsive supervision: feelings of inadequacy, difficulty talking about race, color-blind orientations, and a tendency to purposefully avoid race talk. We provide recommendations for professional development to address these challenges and …


Necessary But Not Sufficient: Deweyan Dialogue And The Demands Of Critical Citizenship. A Book Review Of The Political Classroom: Evidence And Ethics In Democratic Education, Joseph C. Wegwert Nov 2015

Necessary But Not Sufficient: Deweyan Dialogue And The Demands Of Critical Citizenship. A Book Review Of The Political Classroom: Evidence And Ethics In Democratic Education, Joseph C. Wegwert

Democracy and Education

This is a book review of The Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in Democratic Education, by Hess and McAvoy.


The Value Of Student Choice In Reading. A Book Review Of Keep Them Reading: An Anti-Censorship Handbook For Educators, Christi R. Keelen Apr 2015

The Value Of Student Choice In Reading. A Book Review Of Keep Them Reading: An Anti-Censorship Handbook For Educators, Christi R. Keelen

Democracy and Education

Keep Them Reading: An Anti-Censorship Handbooks for Educators is a must-have for elementary and secondary English and reading teachers, administrators, and librarians or media specialists. While the focus for this text is how to handle and avoid challenges on books, how to create an environment where reading is important and the students' ability to choose what they want to read is part of the classroom culture is also addressed.


Media And Democracy. A Response To "The Need For Media Education In Democratic Education", Lance E. Mason Apr 2015

Media And Democracy. A Response To "The Need For Media Education In Democratic Education", Lance E. Mason

Democracy and Education

This response supports Stoddard’s (2014) assertion that media education should be considered a crucial factor of democratic education and offers both extensions and cautions related to that end. Extensions include practical suggestions for studying the non-neutrality of technology. The author also cautions educators that if media education and democratic education are to be productively merged, a more substantive consideration of the relationship between digital technologies and dispositional factors is warranted.


“If You Cannot Live By Our Rules, If You Cannot Adapt To This Place, I Can Show You The Back Door.” A Response To "New Forms Of Teacher Education: Connections To Charter Schools And Their Approaches", Barrett A. Smith Apr 2015

“If You Cannot Live By Our Rules, If You Cannot Adapt To This Place, I Can Show You The Back Door.” A Response To "New Forms Of Teacher Education: Connections To Charter Schools And Their Approaches", Barrett A. Smith

Democracy and Education

Stitzlein and West (2014) are primarily concerned with how Relay and Match risk failing to prepare their residents to practice democratic education. My aim is to provide a more thorough account of specific practices employed by Match and their no-excuses approach in order to illustrate and support points made by Stitzlein and West. It is my hope that this deeper examination will substantiate the concerns of Stitzlein and West while further problematizing the practices employed by and advocated for throughout Match.