For decades researchers assessed sense of community (SOC), inclusion, and pluralism within academic settings. In the present study, 2,220 undergraduate students (1,442 women, 778 men; M age = 23.42 years; SD = 7.84) at two Catholic universities responded to perceived levels of school sense of community, inclusion, and religious pluralism. Analyses…

In "Education, liberation and the church," Paulo Freire uses the metaphor of "apprenticeship" to describe a form of liberative education for people of faith who begin to discover the ways in which they benefit from the systemic oppression of other human beings. As depicted in ten oral history interviews conducted with the…

Children and young people have the inalienable right to be part of a learning community. Nobody can learn on his/her own. Education is always a communal enterprise. In this article the concept of the "spiritual learning community" is developed as a contemporary answer to the socioeducational issues raised by Martin Buber and John Dewey…

Educators employed in devoutly religious institutions often teach students who view even their secular higher education through a uniquely religious lens. Based on his own experiences teaching psychological science at a Jewish university, the author suggests enhancing student interest and enthusiasm by wedding secular curricula with religious…

The author argues that adolescents are not only philosophers, as Kohlberg and Gilligan once claimed, but should also be viewed as theologians. This view corresponds to what has been called "lay theology" or "ordinary theology." Moreover, the article takes up the double question what adolescents might benefit from theology and…

In the evolution of the World Wide Web toward a more participatory experience, the blog is one opportunity with intriguing educational potential. Among its educational benefits, the blog can offer a platform for exercising the public voice, but does so in a way that is simultaneously private and public, giving the author a safe distance through…

The evolving narrative on internationalisation in higher education is complex and multi-layered. This overview explores the evolution of thinking about internationalisation among different stakeholder groups in universities. It parses out eight coexisting layers that progress from concerns based largely upon institutional survival and competition…

The huge increase in data being produced in the genomic era has produced a need to incorporate computers into the research process. Sequence generation, its subsequent storage, interpretation, and analysis are now entirely computer-dependent tasks. Universities from all over the world have been challenged to seek a way of encouraging students to…

The recent critical turn toward post-secularism, particularly on behalf of theorists working from the perspective of Christian societies, has highlighted the difficulty of approaching the history of the Middle East through the binary of religion and secularism. This article argues that such terms are of little explanatory value in and of…

Recently there has been a shift in the discourses of university policy from internationalisation towards the contested concept of global citizenship. This paper explores ways of challenging the current interpretation of international education policy through the concept of global citizenship drawing on the discussion forums of two cohorts of…

Background: Previously, the nature of teacher-child relationships (TCRs) has been explored through dimensions of close, conflicted, and dependent. However, this "variable-centred" approach is limited, as many relationships can be characterized by more than one characteristic or trait. A "person-centred" approach would allow for…

This article presents a problem-based learning (PBL) approach to teaching elementary biochemistry to undergraduate students. The activity was based on "the foods we eat." It was used to engage students' curiosity and to initiate learning about a subject that could be used by the future teachers in the high school. The experimental…

SoTL stands for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. The acronym, said "sottle" or "sote-all," describes research that involves rigorous examination of teaching and learning by faculty who are actively involved in the educational process. The number of natural-science faculty engaged in SoTL is increasing, and their…

Encouraging undergraduate students to access, read, and analyze current primary literature can positively impact learning, especially in advanced courses. The incorporation of literature into coursework typically involves reading and responding to full research reports. Such exercises have clear value as students make connections between…

To enhance the preparedness of graduates from the Biochemistry and Biotechnology (BCBT) Major at Minnesota State University Moorhead for employment in the bioscience industry we have developed a new Industry certificate program. The BCBT Industry Certificate was developed to address specific skill sets that local, regional, and national industry…