This paper is comprised of written text and photographs of wild experiences that relive a series of ontological experiments. The text represents reflections on these experiences. The photographs, artistic expressions of the same experiences, have been made with a homemade pinhole camera--without a lens and viewfinder--thus demanding special…

Phenomenological experiences based on an openness to the synesthesia of natural environments are a powerful pathway to the development of erotic relationships with and within a place. These relationships are beneficial for beginning scholars and those taking new jobs who find themselves adapting to a new place and career. First, I describe the…

We address the nature of mindfulness and its salience to education generally and to science education specifically. In a context of the historical embeddedness of mindfulness in Buddhism we discuss research in social neuroscience, presenting evidence for neuronal plasticity of the brain and six emotional styles, which are not biologically…

Embracing the best ideals of Victory Gardens, this essay celebrates Friendship Gardens. The latter go further: collapsing the dualisms separating victors from losers. Friendships that transcend differences and honor diversity are among the many fruits and organic gifts harvested and shared in the commons created by Friendship Gardens. This essay…

In this essay, the author responds to Madhu Prakash's piece on friendship gardens and healing our "Mother" through Prakash's central question, "How to birth a world in which many worlds flourish and complement each other in their wild, divine diversity; all equally enjoying Ahimsa flourishing and happiness?" Coming…

In this tribute, I articulate the contributions Michiel van Eijck made to science education, as experienced through our relation, which ranged from supervisor and colleague to friend. His ecological thinking about human knowing, which was reflected in his spiritual inclinations, constitutes his legacy that will have an impact on our field for…

The following comments are intended as a constructive critique of the questions posed by Lima, Osterman and Rezende. The issues raised by the authors advocate for a return in research and teaching to the impetus of dialectical materialist approaches in the originators of the sociocultural school, including Vygotsky. The focus of this response is…

In the first three sections of this paper we comment on some of the ideas developed in the forum papers, pointing out possible misunderstandings and constructing new explanations that clarify arguments we made in the original article. In the last section we expand the discussion raised in the original paper, elaborating on the limits of the use of…

In this response to Tom G. K. Bryce and Stephen P. Day's ("Cult Stud Sci Educ." doi:10.1007/s11422-013-9500-0, 2013) original article, I share with them their interest in the teaching of climate change in school science, but I widen it to include other contemporary complex socio-scientific issues that also need to be discussed. I…

The focus of this response to the original article by Tom G. H. Bryce and Stephen P. Day ("Cult Stud Sci Educ." doi:10.1007/s11422-012-9407-1, 2013) is the use of empirical data to illustrate and expand the understanding of key points of their argument. Initially, I seek to discuss possible answers to the three questions posed by the…

In this forum we engage in a dialogue with Allison Gonsalves's paper '"Physics and the girly girl--there is a contradiction somewhere": Doctoral students' positioning around discourses of gender and competence in physics'. In her paper Gonsalves uses a sociocultural approach to examine women doctoral students'…

This paper is a commentary to a paper by Anne Solli, Frank Bach and Björn Åkerman on how students at a technical university learn to argue as biotechnologists. Solli and her colleagues report from an ethnographic study performed during the first semester of a 5-year program in biotechnology at a technical university in Sweden. Their study…

This paper describes the multiple school and school science experiences of eight Latina students of Central American descent in a tracked, urbanized, middle school setting. Framed by a sociocultural perspective, I describe how eight seventh and eighth grade Latino girls interacted with school science. Implications for the concept "science for…

In this article, I describe how Jane Butler Kahle's intellectual curiosity, commitment to equity and her ability to use various research approaches, to establish research and networking groups comprised of scholars from diverse backgrounds, theoretical perspectives and geographic locations, to disseminate research outcomes and findings…

A theoretical framework is an important component of a research study. It grounds the study and guides the methodological design. It also forms a reference point for the interpretation of the research findings. This paper conceptually examines the process of constructing a multi-focal theoretical lens for guiding studies that aim to accommodate…