Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Factors Shaping The Graduate Assistantship Experience In Ncaa Division I Athletic Departments, Kelly P. Elliott, Kate Labate, Josh Tennant, Chris Espinosa

The COSMA Journal

Graduate Assistantships (GA) are a critical component of career preparation in sport management, yet little is known about how the GA experiences vary across institutions, and intercollegiate athletic departments. This exploratory study examined differences in intercollegiate athletic department GAs based on NCAA Division I subdivision, length of time the GA served in the position, and how the GA found the opportunity. Survey data were collected from GAs listed on athletic department staff directories. The instrument assessed functional areas, supervision, compensation, satisfaction, and perceived career impact. Chi-square analyses compared GA experiences across institutional and student-level variables. Overall, the findings suggest that …

Reimagining Education Through Intuitive Interspecies Communication: Listening, Learning, And Belonging Beyond The Human, Avantika Mathur, Megan Tucker, Anita Vallala, Cathrine Nyquist

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Conventional educational paradigms have long been shaped by worldviews that centre human rationality, and exclude the agency, intelligence, and communicative capacity of non-human beings. While holistic and contemplative education movements have begun to open space for alternative approaches, a broader reconceptualization is needed – one that embraces the living world as intelligent, interconnected, and full of meaning.

This submission explores intuitive interspecies communication (IIC), described as the direct, non-verbal exchange between humans and other animals that draws on intuitive capacities. IIC is widespread and growing rapidly as a global professional practice, and academic interest in this topic has expanded in …

Geopoetics: Expanding The Philosophy Of Teacher Education, Linda M. Craig Dr

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Amidst our accelerating ecological crisis, this essay argues for a fundamental reimagining of teacher education through Kenneth White's theory of geopoetics. Drawing on complexity science and Whitehead's process philosophy, I trace a paradigm shift from mechanistic models of education - characterised by fixed knowledge transmission and neoliberal performativity - toward a relational, orientation grounded in emergence and becoming. Geopoetics offers a transdisciplinary framework that dissolves boundaries between science, poetry, philosophy, and spirituality, positioning education not as content delivery but as participation in the creative unfolding of life. Through an exploration of Nan Shepherd's The Living Mountain as geopoetic spiritual practice. …

Poetry As Liminal Inquiry: Illuminating Complexity, Mysticism, And Embodied Knowing, Vicki Boley Dr.

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This paper explores poetry as a form of liminal inquiry, positioning poetic practice as an embodied, intuitive, and relational mode of meaning-making within the complexity of teaching and learning. Drawing on a reflective collection of poems written during a doctoral course on Mysticism and Activism in Education, the author revisits this work from a current perspective as an educator and scholar, using complexity theory to understand both the poetic process and classroom learning as nonlinear, emergent, and relational systems. Rather than yielding to linear thinking or single answers, the paper argues that poetic inquiry mirrors how insight develops in complex …

Can One Learn From Dreams?, Anastasia Lavrenyuk

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This reflective essay explores the educational significance of dream-based and intuitive knowledge through the lens of a field experience in the Peruvian Amazon. While participating in a course on sustainability and Indigenous knowledge, I encountered a member of the Ese Eja community who described how medicinal plant wisdom once came through dreams—through spiritual connection with the forest. This moment prompted a personal and scholarly inquiry into how non-rational, subjective ways of knowing have historically shaped both scientific and cultural breakthroughs, from the structure of chemical element benzene to Indigenous learning systems. Drawing on examples from physics, neuroscience, and Indigenous epistemologies, …

In The Problem Lies The Solution: How Digital Mindfulness Can Address The College Students’ Mental Health Crisis And Support Holistic Education, Steve Haberlin

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

The mental health of today’s college students remains a serious concern. The alarming trend of greater psychological distress among undergraduates shows no signs of slowing. Excessive smartphone usage, screen time, and social media have been attributed as partial factors. However, what if forms of digital mindfulness and technology-assisted contemplative practices are the key to assisting students with stress, anxiety, depression and other problems? In this article, the author posits that innovations, such as neurofeedback-loop meditation platforms that dramatically increase focus, virtual reality platforms featuring in depth-meditation instruction, and Artificial Intelligence have the potential to address the crisis, establishing a refreshed …

International Students And Spiritual Capital: Meditation As A Tool To Support Student Well-Being, Anna Grigoreva, Anna Lytkina

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

In a new academic environment, international students often face more than just academic challenges, as they also navigate cultural adjustment, identity shifts, digital overload and emotional stress. These multidimensional challenges are further intensified by performance pressures and rapidly evolving educational technologies. This article explores the role of meditation as a contemplative practice that may support international students’ adaptation within the American higher education system. The article focuses on how international students draw upon inner strength, purpose, and resilience to navigate and sustain themselves through periods of transition and difficulty. Using autoethnography as a primary methodological approach, the authors analyze their …

Nurturing The Spiritual Core In Teachers Within The Nexus Of Science And Spirituality, Sarina C. Molina

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This reflective essay explores the intersection of science and spirituality in nurturing teachers’ inner lives as a foundation for supporting student well-being. Against the backdrop of a global mental health crisis, it integrates insights from neuroscience, Indigenous wisdom traditions, and values-based education to advocate for a holistic mind–body–nature connection. Emerging research on neuroplasticity, heart–brain coherence, and self-transcendence has shown the physiological and psychological benefits of spiritual cultivation for educators. Drawing on Indigenous epistemologies, this essay highlights contemplative and heart-centered practices that foster self-transformation, resilience, and authentic relationality. Practical applications for teacher education, curriculum design, and community engagement illustrate how spiritual …

The Calculus Of Difference: Pluralism And Integration Through Education In India, Deepa Srikantaiah

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This paper introduces a calculus-based conceptual framework to examine how India sustains pluralistic integration across its extraordinary religious, linguistic, and cultural diversity. Drawing on mathematical principles of integration, continuity, and the Infinity Principle, the analysis demonstrates how social cohesion emerges from sustained attention to the infinitesimal: the localized communities, languages, and practices that constitute India's complex social fabric. The framework positions education as the primary integrative mechanism, functioning analogously to the mathematical process of integration by decomposing social complexity into comprehensible parts and reassembling them into collective understanding.

Through historical analysis spanning from the Indus Valley Civilization to contemporary India, …

Ancient Wisdom & Its Cultural Relevance: Reimagining Deeper Learning In Science Classrooms Through The Lens Of Yoga And Vedānta, Raaghav Pandya

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Contemporary calls to reconceptualize how science is taught and understood have brought deeper learning to the forefront of education at-large for its emphasis on critical perspectives, creativity, and student-centered inquiry. Yet this paper argues that its prevailing framework remains constrained by Cartesian dualism, a materialist foundation that disassociates the individual from self, other, and nature, and falls short of addressing the mental health, environmental, and cultural challenges facing youth today. To address this limitation, this paper proposes a complementary convergence between deeper learning and the contemplative traditions of Yoga and Vedānta, whose ancient paradigms of self-inquiry, interconnectedness, and well-being offer …

Toward A Post-Modern Daoist Pedagogy: Bridging Complexity And Dao Through Inner Cultivation And Autopoietic Currere, Jie Yu, Jingyu Liu

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This article first critically examines the call to reenchant the world as it resonates within a middle space between science and mysticism and then connects key ideas from complexity theory and systems thinking on complex adaptive systems with two seminal Daoist texts: the Neiye (《內業》, Inner Cultivation), a proto-Daoist chapter from the Guanzi anthology (4th–3rd century B.C.E.), and the Huangting Jing (《黃庭經》, Yellow Court Scripture), a later Daoist classic (3rd–4th century C.E.). Through this dialogue, the article advocates a post-modern Daoist pedagogy through inner cultivation and autopoietic currere—an autopoietic process wherein curriculum emerges organically through participatory dialogue …

When Quantum Physics Meets Laozi, Jing Lin

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This paper explores the profound convergence between quantum physics and Laozi’s Daoist philosophy, proposing a quantum-Daoist cosmology as a transformative foundation for reimagining education. Drawing on core principles of quantum physics—such as wave-particle duality, entanglement, and the observer effect, and Laozi’s teachings on Dao and De, the paper argues for a cosmology in which reality is energetic, relational, and morally ordered. While quantum science reveals the unseen, interconnected nature of existence, Laozi advances this view by emphasizing the role of virtue as an energetic and ethical force that sustains the universe. The paper proposes that meditative practice and the cultivation …

Bridging The Abyss: Reclaiming Spirituality In Academic Knowledge Production, Neil Boland

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Over recent decades, Western academia has shown a growing interest in spirituality, accompanied by methodological innovations and epistemological expansion. Nevertheless, spiritual inquiry continues to be subtly subordinated to scientific rationalism, with Western science often presiding as gatekeeper over what is considered legitimate knowledge. Drawing on Boaventura de Sousa Santos’ concept of abyssal thinking, this article argues that spiritual and experiential forms of knowing remain largely relegated to the far side of an epistemic divide, valued only insofar as they can be reframed within scientific norms. Despite increasing institutional recognition of spirituality in fields such as education, psychology, and medicine, …

The Thousand Mysteries That Bind Us: The Multiverse As Spiritualverse And The Holism Of Mystery, Giovanni Rossini

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

While we exist historically within evolving worldviews, we live amid the paradoxical necessity of mystery; one shared by scientists and non-scientists, theologians and atheists, and artists and philosophers alike. A thousand mysteries bind us with their imperative presence. While pre modern astronomers pondered the mysterious randomness of the night sky, today our sense of cosmological awe is fuelled not only by its randomness, but by a new scientific theory that says multiple skies inhabit the creation. The multiverse — a thesis emerging from cosmological science, wherein parallel worlds are posited to coexist — augments mystery. In this paper, I explore …

Editors’ Introduction, Kathleen R. Kesson Dr., Susan H. Edgerton, Jing Lin

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This is the introduction to the Special Issue

Exploring The Motivations Of Undergraduate Sport Management Students, Kyle J. Brannigan, Tyler J. Hajek

The COSMA Journal

This study explored the motivations of undergraduate sport management in four university programs. Convergent mixed-methods research through the theoretical framework of Self-Determination Theory was incorporated with an adapted questionnaire of the Academic Motivation Scale and semi-structured interviews through Thematic Analysis. Ninety-six surveys with nine interviews were deemed usable across four regionally focused, vocationally minded, and accessible universities. Overall, students reported higher levels of extrinsic motivation than intrinsic motivation. The findings suggested intrinsic motivation to know and extrinsic motivation through regulation for identification scored highest with the participants. No significant differences were found between classes and ethnicities. However, male students experienced …

Revisiting The Flutie Effect: The Impact Of Collegiate Athletics On College Choice, Robin Hardin, Michelle L. Childs, Win G-Y Koo

The COSMA Journal

This study revisits the Flutie Effect by examining factors that influence a student’s college choice which includes the role of athletics and its brand. The study assessed items related to academics, interpersonal influences, campus culture, and athletics through a survey of first-year students. An exploratory factor analysis produced a seven-factor model explaining 71.51% of the variance. The strongest factor was emotional and behavioral identification with university athletics, reflecting fandom, affiliation, and pride in athletic success. Athletics significantly influenced college choice, but their impact extends beyond athletic success to include broader dimensions of branding, fandom, and affiliation. For institutions seeking to …

Centering As Contemplative Inquiry And Practice: Teaching, Learning, And Living In The Anthropocene, Jennifer L. Schneider

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

The Anthropocene may be an inescapable trap—one unwittingly shaped by human ways of relating to self, others, and the more-than-human world. While dominant discourses surrounding this epoch often evoke fear, apocalypse, or blame, how might it also invite us, as humans, into an opportunity for more holistic and contemplative education. This paper explores “centering,” a contemplative concept and practice introduced by curriculum theorist James Macdonald (1995), as a regenerative way of engaging with the Anthropocene through lived experience. Drawing from research on a graduate-level place-based course and an arts-based, pragmatic inquiry, I explore how centering can foster attunement to place, …

Nil And Contract Law: Advising A Prospective College Athlete Through Competing Name, Image, And Likeness Agreements, Jason Kight, Marcy Faircloth, Lori Mikl, Rachel Silverman

The COSMA Journal

Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) agreements have created significant financial opportunities for amateur and collegiate athletes while also introducing complex legal, ethical, and strategic decision-making challenges. This decision-focused teaching case places students in the role of trusted advisors to Archie Stafford, a highly recruited high school athlete who must evaluate and compare multiple NIL contract offers connected to his preferred college options. By analyzing NIL agreements, students assess contract enforceability, identify key legal and business risks, weigh legal, contractual, ethical, and reputational disclosure obligations, and formulate a reasoned recommendation aligned with Archie’s academic, athletic, financial, and long-term career goals. The …

Can Ungrading Make Sport Management Education More Practical And Engaging?, Michael A. Odio

The COSMA Journal

In this essay I take on the subject of grades in sport management education. While grades are used as a measure of success across higher education, they are an imperfect measure of achievement and learning and have major limitations in terms of student employability. The ungrading movement brings attention to the ways grades can harm learning by shifting attention away from students’ development, and instructor or peer feedback, and intrinsic motivation, while incentivizing compliance and risk-aversion. These harms directly affect what are arguably some of the most important aspects of sport management education, as when grades are the main incentive, …

Aligning Sport Management Programs With The Evolving Needs Of Hopeful Intercollegiate Athletic Administrators., Kelly P. Elliott, Don Rockey

The COSMA Journal

Pathways to becoming an Athletic Director (AD) vary considerably across intercollegiate athletics, highlighting the need for sport management programs to better align academic preparation with evolving professional expectations. While prior research has explored AD roles across NCAA divisions, limited attention has been given to how academic curricula and experiential learning opportunities support students pursuing these careers. This study examines differences in sport management curricula and experiential offerings across programs affiliated with Division I FBS, Division I FCS, Division II, Division III, and NAIA institutions. Two research questions guided the study: (1) What differences exist in required coursework across divisions? and …

Beyond The Classroom: Leveraging Community Engaged Learning To Teach Corporate Social Responsibility In Sport Management, Amanda Greene Dr., Charles Jones, Natalie Smith

The COSMA Journal

This manuscript presents a case study exploring the use of community engaged learning (CEL) to teach corporate social responsibility (CSR) in an upper-level sport management course. The purpose of this study is to examine how participation in a semester long community engaged learning experience influences student understanding of corporate social responsibility, civic identity, and theory-to-practice application. Students partnered with a local nonprofit affiliated with a professional sport organization to design and execute a donor engagement event addressing youth needs in the community. Guided by experiential learning theory, the course emphasized out-of-classroom learning, industry mentorship, and reflective practice. A longitudinal qualitative …

Measuring Strategic Plans In Cosma Accredited Programs, Coral Bender, Michael Smucker, Zachary Beldon, Jay Jisha, Dene Williamson

The COSMA Journal

Strategic planning is an important part of ensuring efficiency across industries, despite this, many struggle with writing measurable and appropriately aligned strategic planning documents. Summatively, strategic planning documents should be a guiding force for all things, including budgeting. The present paper analyzes every Operational Effectiveness Goal (OEG) and corresponding measure made publicly available for COSMA Accredited programs during the 2023-2024 reporting to gain a better understanding of what accredited sport management programs priorities in the measurement of their strategic plans. Emphases on community affiliations and feedback as well as a reliance on institutional level data emerged. Practical applications for sport …

In Response To Children’S Literature, Fourth-Grade Students Interview A Vietnam War Veteran Through Distance Learning, Danielle L. Defauw, Gordon Bourland

The Great Lakes Social Studies Journal

This study explores virtual, student–author interviews fourth-grade students led with Vietnam Veteran, [VETERAN] in response to the following three picture books: Eve Bunting’s (1992) The Wall, Walter Dean Myer’s (2005) Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam, and Jeanne Walker Harvey’s (2017) Maya Lin: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines. The opportunity to interview a Vietnam veteran motivated students to read the picture books, craft questions for [VETERAN], and engage in the interview process. Ultimately, this article supports reader-response pedagogy to include virtual or in-person student–specialist interviews with guest speakers to motivate literacy engagement.

A Practitioner’S Perspective On Teaching Ap Comparative Government And Politics, Edgar Díaz

The Great Lakes Social Studies Journal

In this paper, I share my perspective and experiences as an Advanced Placement (AP) Comparative Government and Politics teacher during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. To engage students with the content and strengthen their literacy skills, I adopted the Teaching and Learning Cycle (TLC), a pedagogical framework for scaffolded instruction, in combination with technological tools. This article includes a sample lesson plan illustrating how the TLC was implemented in an AP Comp Gov course to support students’ content understanding and their ability to express their ideas through structured, purposeful writing. My goal is to highlight practical strategies for effectively …

Walking The Map: Exploring Illinois Using Giant Traveling Maps, Irenea Walker, Kim Carthans

The Great Lakes Social Studies Journal

While it is common for any social studies discipline to receive limited instructional time in the elementary classroom, geography would be among the least taught (Bauml, 2023; Hinde, 2014). As a result, many students lack even the basic knowledge of geography, such as state capitals, geographical locations, and major landmarks. It is even more alarming that elementary students are unaware of the geography of their own state. National Geographic Society introduced giant floor traveling maps over a decade ago through each state’s National Geographic Alliance (2025). The gigantic floor map helps students get a sense of the map's places through …

Contemplative Classrooms For Ecological Wisdom: Reimagining K-12 Education In Pakistan, China, And Beyond, Maha Shoaib, Jing Lin, Yueyue Wang

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This paper explores the transformative potential of contemplative environmental education in addressing the growing disconnection between humans and the natural world, particularly within K-12 education systems shaped by anthropocentric and capitalist paradigms. Modern schooling often frames nature as an object of study, rather than a sacred, living presence, contributing to ecological alienation amid intensifying environmental crises. We propose a radical shift toward contemplative, holistic education that draws on spiritual, Indigenous, and ecological knowledge systems. Grounded in Daoist philosophy, Islamic teachings on stewardship, Hindu ethics, and Indigenous worldviews, we reimagine education as a relational and sacred engagement with the Earth. We …

Reimagining Masculinities Through Australian Indigenous Pedagogies, Ben Campbell, Anna Rumjahn

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

In the face of intersecting ecological crises and persistent gender inequality, this paper explores how dominant norms of masculinity—marked by control, detachment, conquest, and other ideals rooted in Western, hegemonic paradigms—contribute to environmental degradation. Drawing on ecofeminist theory, Australian Indigenous pedagogies, and contemplative education, we examine how relational, place-based approaches may offer transformative alternatives for boys in schooling contexts. Central to this inquiry is the Learning from Country framework, which positions land as teacher and emphasizes practices of deep listening, reciprocity, and ethical engagement with the more-than-human world.

We argue that this pedagogical approach challenges dominant masculinities by fostering care …

Challenging Stem Learning Spaces: The Paradigm Of Contemplative Traditions As The Bedrock Of Creativity And Healing, Raaghav Pandya, Christopher Emdin

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

As the post-pandemic classroom and pedagogy evolve to remedy oppressive norms, young people’s mental health and alienation has taken front stage (Rahmani & Zitouni, 2022). Traditional STEM learning spaces often teach inquiry as a linear, non-deviated approach to problems about self and nature (Hrisa & Psillos, 2022). Furthermore, because our classrooms often strip students and educators of their inherent creative abilities through constant assessments, improvement scales, and market-driven expectations, classrooms cease to become places of healing (Pandya, 2021). Eastern wisdom traditions and their associated philosophies provide a unique pedagogical lens that emphasizes a deep inquiry into self, empathy, and creativity …

Journeys Of Two Children From West To East: Notes Of A Teacher-Parent, Katherine E. Khan Dr

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This essay, explores the transformative educational journeys of two children across five countries, viewed through the dual lens of a teacher and parent. Grounded in the principles of Contemplative Education (CE), it draws on over two decades of the author’s experience in global education, weaving personal and professional insights into a narrative that examines how context, culture, and pedagogy intersect in shaping young learners.

The journey begins in the inquiry-rich, nature-based kindergartens of Germany and the nurturing early primary years of the United Kingdom, moves through the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary and Middle Years Programmes, and Big Picture education in …