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Many elementary teachers teach students to write, but this writing tends to focus only on students writing about themselves or writing short stories. Because students do not spend enough time in the early grades reading nonfiction in science and history, they lack the knowledge--of both content and the nature of nonfiction writing--necessary to undertake research papers in middle and high school. To really teach students how to write, educators must give them examples of good writing found in nonfiction books and require students to read them, not skim them, cover to cover. Reading nonfiction contributes powerfully to the knowledge that students need in order to read more difficult material--the kind they will surely face in college. But more importantly, the work of writing a research paper will lead students to read more and become more knowledgeable in the process. As any good writer knows, the best writing emerges from a rich store of knowledge that the author is trying to pass on. Without that knowledge and the motivation to share it, all the literacy strategies in the world will not make much difference. In this article, the author suggests that schools start assigning a page per year: each first-grader would be required to write a one-page paper on a subject other than himself or herself, with at least one source. At least one page and one source would be added each year to the required academic writing, so that fifth-graders, for example, would have to write a five-page paper with five sources, ninth-graders would have to write a nine-page paper with nine sources, and so on, until each and every high school senior could be asked to prepare a 12-page history research paper with 12 sources. Such a plan would gradually prepare students for future academic writing and could also reduce the need for remedial instruction in writing (and perhaps in remedial reading as well) when students enroll in college. The author contends that if school districts adopted such a plan, it would not take high school teachers nearly as much time as it does now to teach students to write history research papers; students could draw on the knowledge they gained in previous grades to distinguish between primary and secondary sources, formulate an argument or a narrative based on those sources, develop a bibliography, and write and revise numerous drafts. (Contains 1 footnote.)

This paper considers how "knowledge" of China was presented for Victorian and Edwardian children in "The Boy's Own Paper" ("BOP") between 1879 and 1914. It considers how genre affects the representation of China in the "BOP" by comparing travel narratives and adventure stories. First, it focuses on non-fiction about China, examining the rhetorical strategies employed by the authors of travel narratives. The travellers express confidence in their ability to survey the land and present readers with the idea that China is abundant in resources awaiting British discovery. Second, the article discusses adventure stories about opium and piracy written during a period when the tension between the British and the Chinese was particularly fraught over these issues. While the authors of the adventure stories created a strong contrast between the Chinese as villains and the British as heroes, the "BOP" travel writers provide contradictory statements within their narratives, reflecting an ambivalence about China and the Chinese. However, because the "BOP" contributors sought to instil a sense of patriotism, to inspire their readers to serve the British Empire, both the non-fiction travel narratives and the fictional adventure stories related to China were published not only to entertain readers with exotic facts and thrilling stories, but more importantly, to persuade them of the necessity of British intervention.

This paper shows how a significant, but short-lived, episode in Scotland's educational history--the rise and decline of Socialist Sunday Schools (SSSs) in the first half of the twentieth century--provoked controversial debates about issues that continue to have relevance today. The first half of the paper explains the origins of SSSs, their links to adult political groups, the form and content of their meetings, and publications designed to advance their agenda. It also describes the criticisms they received from religious leaders and Conservative politicians, on the grounds that they undermined faith and preached revolution. This leads into the second part, which considers whether SSSs might be regarded as agencies of indoctrination, promoting a version of citizenship that sought to subvert existing institutions and disrupt the social order. It is argued that complete neutrality in educational systems is not possible and that a study of the SSS movement has considerable potential as an educational resource, particularly for teachers of history, politics and social studies.

Background: Provided that coaches play a key role in shaping the sport experiences of athletes with a disability, they represent an important point of intervention for enhancing the quality of athletes' participation in disability sport. Despite the importance of their role, few evidence-informed learning resources are available to support the development of disability sport coaches. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to produce a novel evidence-informed learning tool for disability sport coaches in entry level and developmental coaching domains. The goal of this tool was to demonstrate and provide information about coach behaviours that facilitate quality experiences for athletes with disabilities. Methodology: The format selected for this tool was a creative nonfiction (i.e. an evidence-informed story). Using the Knowledge to Action Framework as a guide, the tool was developed through a four-stage process: (1) identifying and creating primary sources of knowledge through a literature review and original research; (2) synthesizing primary sources of knowledge to select target behaviours and behavioural determinants; (3) crafting the story to demonstrate and provide information about target behaviours and related outcomes; and (4) obtaining feedback from stakeholders (i.e. disability sport athletes, coaches, and administrators) to tailor the knowledge included in the story to the appropriate context. Findings: In the first stage, 23 studies focused on quality experiences and/or coaches in disability sport were identified through a review of the literature. The findings of these studies were combined with the results of three original studies conducted by the research team. A synthesis of these findings resulted in the selection of two behavioural determinants (confidence and attitudes) and 13 coach behaviours (aligning with transformational leadership theory) for inclusion in the tool (Stage 2). The story that formed the basis for the tool was crafted in Stage 3, which combined the behaviours and behavioural determinants identified in Stage 2 with a plotline, setting, and characters based on the experience of the first author and stakeholder input. The tool was revised several times to incorporate stakeholder feedback in Stage 4. Implications: This paper describes the development of a practical resource for coaches and coach educators in disability sport. As such, we provide a detailed and rigorous procedure for translating evidence into a narrative format with the potential for application in diverse learning contexts. In addition, we reviewed and synthesized evidence that may contribute to enhanced theoretical understandings of coaching effectiveness in disability sport. Taken together, the information presented in this paper offers important theoretical, methodological, and practical implications for researchers, coaches, and coach developers in disability sport.