Background: This paper re-conceptualizes issues related to teacher authority by integrating the constructivist (including social constructivist) and critical perspectives. The traditional perspectives perceive that teacher authority inhibits children's autonomy of learning. This perspective has been largely challenged by two groups of studies--the…

Background: Action research (AR) for school-based curriculum innovations (SCI) has been ardently pursued in Singapore schools for the past few years, leading to a plethora of project reports published as monographs and in a new journal, the "North Star". Training workshops were conducted at the national, zonal, and school levels to equip teachers…

Background: Globally, there is an increased prevalence of preschool and school-age children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Current reports show that about one in every 110 children fall within this category of disorders. Consequently, the successful inclusion of these children in both regular and special education classes is becoming a…

Background: Under the impact of globalization and the coming of the Information Age, there is a paradigm shift occurring in the engineering curriculum and academic structure. Apart from the creation of new programs for the emerging fields in engineering, the approach and orientation have also been shifted from objective-based/input-based education…

Background: Despite years of intense criticism of contrastive (intercultural) rhetoric, theoretical debate, and controversy, there has been a recent resurgence in the number of high quality pedagogical studies concerning the teaching of intercultural rhetoric in university writing classes for East-Asian (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) writers.…

Background: Under the challenge of many post-modern theories and critics on art and art history, the boundaries and definition of art has becoming more diverse. Conventional art appreciation no longer covers all the debates and issues arising from the complex meaning of art in the modern world. Art education today must widen students' vision of…

Background: Master teachers in Singapore have been recognised on the basis of their invaluable contribution in their field of teaching, and are deemed to be at the pinnacle of their career. A national programme for incumbent and potential master teachers, Advanced Senior Teachers Programme (ASTP), was inaugurated in 2005. Conducted by the National…

Background: Media education is the study of the media with the aim of cultivating people's media literacy. In the past four decades, media education has rapidly developed in school systems and communities all over the world. Each country has its own developmental trajectory. With the rise of the interactive new media, media education is going to…

Background: The Asian region accounts for the highest number of internet and mobile cell phones consumers among the regions of the world. As the use of information and communications technology becomes more and more widespread, the misuse of such technology becomes a concern. Cyberbullying, or bullying using information and communications…

Background: In response to the changing demands of new times, media literacy has been incorporated into the current English Language Syllabus 2010 in Singapore. Although media literacy is mentioned in the syllabus, what this term means needs more clarification. What is clear from the current English Language Syllabus 2010 in Singapore is the…

Background: Isabella Thoburn College at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India has initiated Service Learning Program for its students through 4 issue based centers. One of the centers AIDS Awareness Center for Counseling, Education, and Training (AACCET) is in the field of HIV/AIDS. It follows 6 pronged approach to achieve its objectives and one of the…

Background: In recent years, more and more secondary schools in Hong Kong begin to employ service learning in designing student learning activities. A vast majority of these attempts is developed based on the philanthropic ideas of altruism, love and care; it involves serving elderly people living in the elderly homes far away from the school…

Background: The concept of linking academic study with the practical experience of community service has been considered since the first university in Indonesia had been founded in 1949 but has been realized since 1951. This program evolved to be a community service and was called Kuliah Kerja Nyata (KKN) or Student Study-Service. Since 1973, KKN…

Background: This paper is based on a graduate course entitled, "Toward an integrative approach to equity in higher education" offered at a Canadian university for the first time in 2002. The course attempted to integrate critical pedagogy theories with notions of embodied learning in order to develop an integrative praxis of educational equity.…

Background: A concern for scientific rigor has directed most recent research on creativity towards the study of unambiguous expressions of talent. This is problematic for educators and anyone else who is interested in children's creative potential. Focus of discussion: Creative potential should be the primary concern for educators. Theories of and…