Artigos de revistas sobre o tema "Life (Biology) – Study and teaching (Elementary) – United States"

In the United States, beginning teacher retention rates are extraordinarily low; only 50% of teachers remain in the classroom after five years. In particular, the State of Arizona has been recruiting significant numbers of teachers from out of state and attempting to retain them with minimal success. This persistent problem has led the neediest of students to have teachers with lower levels of professional experience, leaving those students with continually lower achievement gains. Drawing on integrated action research and grounded theory methodology, this study’s took place in a large kindergarten to eighth grade elementary school district located in a high-poverty neighborhood in Arizona. The study invited six new teachers in their first year of teaching to explore innovative strategies to increase these teachers’ retention in the profession. The ultimate goal was to understand how such support might alter a beginning teacher’s perceptions of their own persistence and resilience in dealing with the challenges of first-year teaching, thereby reducing beginning teacher attrition. The study finds that teachers must be nurtured and cared for in order for them to fully devote their time and energy to effectively care for the students in their classroom. Increasing self-awareness and resiliency has the potential to create a ripple effect to retain more beginning teachers, as they become more likely to persevere, ask for help, connect with others, and achieve a healthy life/work balance while positively impacting students and their community.

Abstract INTRODUCTION: Patients with hemophilia are prone to life threatening bleeds and central line associated morbidities. It is pivotal that emergency departments (ED) are both equipped and trained to address these complications with acuity. The purpose of this study is to determine the utilization of ED for hemophilia related complaints. METHODS: Retrospective review of information collected from the National Emergency Department Database Sample (NEDS) was performed. The NEDS is a stratified sample of hospital-based ED visits and publically available for purchase as a component of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. We are presenting the results of comparative analysis and frequencies computed from the database. The ED visits with hemophilia, listed as one of the diagnoses, were selected. Patient demographics and hospital stratification variables were recorded. A snapshot of these variables from years 2006 to 2013 was obtained but due to large sample size, we elected to perform detailed analysis on data from the year 2012. Hospital charges and other variables were computed from the database and projected to national levels using the discharge weighted variables. Study was funded by "Bayer Healthcare, Investigator Initiated Research Grant". RESULTS: During the 8 years period studied, ~163,000 ED visits were made by hemophilia patients. This represented 0.016% of total visits to EDs nationwide. The two age groups that were most likely to utilize ED were children under 18 years and adults under 45 years (37% each). More than half of these patients resided in large metropolitan cities or their suburbs. Interestingly 20% of patients had annual household income greater than $63,000. Although Medicaid and Medicare were the largest primary payers (54%), 30% had private insurance listed as primary payer. About 45% of the ED visits were at a non-teaching hospital. As a snap shot of frequencies the trends in above mentioned results had remained unchanged from 2006 to 2013. Detailed analysis of the purchased database for the year 2012 was performed. Out of 31 million ED visits in the year 2012; 4,488 visits were made by patients with hemophilia and 84% of them had hemophilia A (Sample representing 20% of target universe). Mean age at presentation was 29 years. There was not a significant difference in the number of ED visits among different months of the year or days of the week. Most visits were made in June (358) and least visits during February (294). Average charge per visit was $4,000; the highest charge for a single ED visit was $150,000. National estimate of total charges for ED visits by patients with hemophilia in the year 2012 was over 60 million dollars. Average charge for ED visits at a private hospital was $2,988 compared to $2,254 at a public hospital (p=0.03). The cost of ED utilization by lower income group patients was greater than patients from higher income group; however the difference in average charges was not statistically significant. There were over 21,000 diagnoses codes recorded during 4,488 ED visits by hemophilia patients. Cardiovascular complaints (n=2060) were the most frequently reported, followed by injuries and poisoning (n=2038). Hemorrhage was the presenting complaint 32% (n=1452) of times. The breakdown of bleeds included 682 contusions, 317 hemarthrosis, 163 gastrointestinal bleeds, 96 hematuria, 83 epistaxis, 47 intracranial bleeds and 18 menstrual bleeds. Injuries were reported as primary diagnosis, 26% of times. Septicemia was diagnosed during 147 visits. Around 70% of patients were treated and released from the ED. Two patients reportedly died in the ED while 35 died after being admitted to the hospital. Cause of death included Sepsis and brain hemorrhage in 26 and 4 patients respectively. In pediatric patients only, injuries were the most frequent complaints (n=870) followed by joint and soft tissue disorders (n=366); fever (n=92) and central line complications (n=63). CONCLUSION: Hemophilia is a rare hematologic disease but patients with hemophilia have a high tendency to utilize ED. Proper education of patients and ED staff could help reduce the economic burden and ensure optimum care delivery in the ED. To our knowledge this is the first study to analyze ED utilization by hemophilia patients from a national database. Based on our study results, patients were evenly distributed in low and high income groups and utilized teaching and non-teaching hospital EDs alike. Disclosures Zakieh: Bayer Healthcare Investigator Initiated research Grant: Research Funding. Al-Ghafry:Bayer Healthcare Investigator Initiated research Grant: Research Funding. Siddiqui:Bayer Healthcare Investigator Initiated research Grant: Research Funding.

In this study, we developed and applied SSI writing teaching-learning lesson plans for middle school biology gifted students on the subject of plastic waste problem, seed war, etc. In this process, we aimed to solve students’ given problems creatively. In this study, a systematic teaching-learning process was presented through the development of a teaching plan, and a series of curriculums such as teaching-learning-evaluation were carried out by performing SSI writing in the evaluation process. The theme of the first teaching-learning lesson plan is ‘Plastic Age, How to solve it’, and the reason for the selection is to recognize the seriousness of environmental pollution caused by discarded plastic through the recognition of the problem of plastic items that are easily used and discarded, and to seek experimental and social countermeasures to solve them. The class was conducted by exploring the current status of plastic appliances, starting with plastic, and finding ways to solve problems through the study of larva eating plastic. The learning objectives were to recognize environmental and social problems caused by plastic, to find ways to reduce plastic waste, and to present scientific methods for problem solving through argumentation. The second subject of the teaching-learning lesson plan was selected as ‘Seeds, Dominate the World’, and the reason for the selection is to examine the seed patent rights of multinational corporations and analyze the problems caused by them, and ultimately to think about why biodiversity is important between the universal interests of mankind and the interests of specific companies. The class established the concepts of species diversity, biodiversity, seed banks, and life patents, identified the current status and problems of agriculture around the world due to patented seeds, and established their own claims through advocacy or refutation of seed bank establishment. The purpose of the study was to identify the current status and problems of the cotton industry in India, identify the seed industry in Korea, identify the status of GMO seeds in the United States, and identify the problems of life patents in multinational companies such as Monsanto. In SSI writing, or evaluation after teaching-learning, students were aware of given social science problems, sought ways to solve problems, and presented scientific methods for problem solving through argumentation.

The aim of this study is to reveal the content analysis and trends of studies on misconceptions in biology education. Within the scope of the research, articles containing misconceptions about biology were accessed from the Scopus database. “Biology and misconception” was searched in the title, abstract and keywords in the Scopus database on September 13, 2022. A total of 410 publications about misconceptions in biology education were found in the search. The years of accessed publications were determined between 1970 and 2022. A total of 410 publications were analyzed in the research, regardless of language. According to the data obtained, 53 countries and 143 journals published articles on misconceptions in biology. However, in order to obtain clearer data, 3 articles were determined as the minimum number of articles for a country, and 31 countries and 27 journals were considered in this research. According to this research, in terms of the number of documents, the USA is the most published country with 199 articles, and Turkey is the second most published country with 39 studies. It was also revealed that the most cited countries were the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, respectively. “CBE Life Sciences Education” and “American Biology Teacher” journals were determined as the journals with the most publications on the subject. In addition, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, CBE Life Sciences Education, International Journal of Science Education, Journal of Biological Education, Evolution: Education and Outreach were identified as the most cited journals in the studies. The results of this study are thought to be important for the future development of studies on misconceptions in biology education.

Abstract Introduction: Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) comprise a group of clonal hematopoietic disorders characterized by ineffective hematopoiesis, cytopenias, dysplasia in ≥ 1 cell line, cytogenetic and molecular abnormalities, and variable risk of progression to acute myeloid leukemia. Treatment goals for MDS classified as lower-risk (LR-MDS) include transfusion independence, improvement in hemoglobin (Hb) levels, and maintenance of or improvement in quality of life. Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) are the first-line (1L) treatment for anemia in most patients with LR-MDS lacking del(5q), but a proportion of patients do not respond to ESA treatment, or experience progression of anemia despite ESA treatment. The objective of this real-world analysis was to describe patient characteristics, treatment patterns (including ESA use), and outcomes in patients with LR-MDS. Methods: A retrospective, observational, US multisite, cohort study was conducted among adult patients initially diagnosed with LR-MDS between January 1, 2017 and June 25, 2020. Eligible patients had ≥ 1 year of follow-up after diagnosis (unless the patient died during this time) and did not receive luspatercept or any MDS treatment as part of a randomized, controlled trial. Community oncologists abstracted data from medical records, and descriptive statistics were used to summarize patient characteristics, treatment patterns, and outcomes. Data presented are from an interim analysis of an ongoing study; the last date of data collection for this analysis was July 6, 2021. Results: Among 125 eligible patients with LR-MDS, median follow-up time was 16 months, and 83% of patients were still alive at the time of data collection. In the 8 weeks prior to diagnosis, 54% of patients did not receive any red blood cell (RBC) or platelet transfusions, while 42% and 4% had low or moderate transfusion burden, respectively. Overall, 75% of patients were negative for del(5q), and 80% of patients were negative for ring sideroblasts (RS). At diagnosis of LR-MDS, serum erythropoietin levels were < 200 U/L in 49% of patients, ≥ 200 U/L in 25%, and unknown in 26%. In terms of disease management, 35% of patients did not receive any systemic therapy or transfusions, 14% received RBC and/or platelet transfusions, but no systemic therapy for MDS, and 50% were reported to have received ≤ 2 lines of systemic therapy following LR-MDS diagnosis (Table). Of the 42% of patients who received an ESA, 70% received an ESA for MDS as a single agent (SA) only, 15% as combination therapy only, and 8% as both SA and combination therapy. A further 8% received SA ESA followed by a non-ESA-based regimen. Among 45 patients who received SA ESA as 1L treatment, 18% went on to receive a hypomethylating agent (HMA) or immunomodulatory imide drug as an SA, or ESA combined with HMA or a granulocyte or granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF/GM-CSF) in a subsequent line. Among patients who received an ESA, 72% were still on ESA-based therapy at the time of data collection. Abstracting physicians reported that 17% of patients who received an ESA failed ESA treatment. Among these patients, physicians' determination of ESA failure was based on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines/International Working Group 2006 response criteria for 78% of patients, and on physicians' own clinical judgement for 22%. At data collection, ESA was still being administered to 22% of patients considered to have failed ESA treatment. Finally, 34% of those who received an ESA also received RBC transfusion(s) during ESA-based treatment and therefore were not transfusion independent for the entire duration of ESA-based treatment (Table). Conclusions: Results from this real-world cohort study indicate that over a third of patients with LR-MDS have been managed using watchful waiting only, with no systemic treatment or transfusions received; among those patients who received treatment, most received an ESA. Nearly one-fifth of patients in this study treated with an ESA were considered to have failed ESA treatment by abstracting physicians, though this proportion is likely to be higher with extended follow-up; 2 of 9 patients who failed ESA treatment were still receiving an ESA. Further research including longer follow-up is warranted to understand how patients with LR-MDS respond to different treatment regimens. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Zimmerman Savill: Cardinal Health: Current Employment; Roche/Genentech: Ended employment in the past 24 months. Gajra: Cardinal Health: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Price: Bristol Myers Squibb: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Kish: Cardinal Health: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Research Funding. Brown-Bickerstaff: Cardinal Health: Current Employment. Falkenstein: Cardinal Health: Current Employment. Miller: Cardinal Health: Current Employment. Laney: Cardinal Health: Current Employment. Mukherjee: Acceleron: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Novartis: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Research/Independent Contractor, Research Funding; McGraw Hill: Honoraria, Other: Editor of Hematology Oncology Board Review (ongoing); Celgene Corporation: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Research/Independent Contractor, Research Funding; AbbVie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Genentech: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; AAMDS in Joint Partnership with Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute: Honoraria; Eusa Pharma: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Teaching and Speaking; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding; Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; BioPharm: Consultancy; Partnership for Health Analytic Research: Honoraria; Blueprint Medicines: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.

Introduction: In both high and low income countries, life span in sickle cell disease (SCD) is increasing and quality of life is improving. Recent research activities have focused on decreasing SCD-related morbidities. However, limited research has been done on clinical epidemiology of priapism, sexual dysfunction and libido in men with SCD. As part of our ongoing Priapism in Nigeria (PIN) cohort to assess knowledge gap in clinical epidemiology of priapism and sexual dysfunction in men with SCD, we tested the hypothesis that sexual dysfunction is high in men with SCD compared to age/race matched men without SCD. Methods: We utilized a mixed method study design (cross-sectional survey and focus group discussions) in men, aged 18-40 years, with confirmed SCD and men without SCD as comparators for the survey. Participants were recruited from the adult sickle cell clinic and general outpatients department of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) and Murtala Mohammed Specialists Hospital (MMSH) in Kano, Nigeria from February to July 2019. Priapism is defined as a purposeless painful erection, unrelated to sexual desire; and mostly occurs in the stuttering or recurrent ischemic form, which lasts less than 4 hours. We used the validated International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) questionnaire to assess erectile dysfunction in this population. Additionally, we conducted 6 focus group discussions in Nigeria (3 sessions) and United States (3 sessions), respectively; in which we asked open ended questions about symptoms, experiences, beliefs and life impacts of priapism. Data were presented as means ± standard deviation or proportions with 95% Confidence Intervals. The t-test and Chi square test were used to compare demographic data. Similarly, domain-specific scores, which included: 1) erectile function, 2) sexual desire, 3) orgasmic function, 4) overall satisfaction with sex life, and 5) intercourse satisfaction- were compared between the two groups using t-test; where higher scores indicate better sexual function. Erectile domain was further sub-classified into normal (26-30), mild ED (22-25), mild-moderate ED (17-21), moderate ED (11-16) and severe ED (0-10). We considered alpha level of significance to be <0.05. The focus group data was analyzed using an iterative inductive/deductive approach. Results: A total of 353 men with SCD and 250 men without SCD were evaluated; for the demographic features the only significant difference was in monthly income (p 0.007) with SCD being higher, table 1. The prevalence of any priapism episode (major or stuttering) in men with and without SCD was 31.72% (112 of 353) and 2% (5 of 250). Among men with SCD, 25.9% (29 of 112) and 74.1% (83 of 112) had major and stuttering priapism episodes, respectively. Based on the IIEF, the men with SCD when compared to men without SCD had significantly lower total mean scores (24.9 vs 29.6, p 0.0002), erectile function (9.9 vs 11.5, p 0.005), sexual desire (5.8 vs 7.1, p<0.0001), and overall satisfaction with sex life (2.3 vs 3.5, p<0.0001). No significant difference in orgasmic function (p=0.29) and intercourse satisfaction (p=0.12) was observed. Among the married men with and without SCD, 55% (21 of 38) and 84% (22 of 26) had normal erectile function, and 26.3% (10 of 38) and 11.5% (3 of 26) had severe erectile dysfunction, respectively. Based on the data from our focus groups with a total of 28 and 7 participants (n=35), in Nigeria and United States respectively, we were guided by biopsychosocial and socio-ecological models to develop a conceptual framework (not shown). We identified themes on cultural context, priapism (triggers, schema, episodes and coping strategies), emotional and sexual function impacts, with respective quotes (results not shown). Conclusions: In the largest cross-sectional and qualitative study of priapism in men with SCD to date, we demonstrated that priapism and sexual dysfunction are significant cause of morbidity when compared to men without SCD. Married participants with SCD have 2-fold greater proportion of severe erectile dysfunction than those without SCD. Our qualitative results revealed tremendous impact of priapism and sexual dysfunction in men with SCD. Participants with priapism experience shame, anxiety and depression, and declined sexual function. There was diversity in causal attribution and coping strategies of priapism. Disclosures Idris: Fogarty International Center: Research Funding.

Language skills are essential for early childhood, being able to speak clearly and process speech sounds, understand others, express ideas, and interact with others are the building blocks for a child's development. Therefore, this study will examine the effect of the Inside Outside Circle (IOC) instructional strategies with media images on children's language skills. This research is a quasi-experimental design with a posttest only and using a control group. The sample in this study were children in two kindergartens in the village of Banjar Tegal. Data analysis in this study was carried out by quantitative descriptive methods using t-test analysis techniques. The results of this study in kindergarten students in Banjar Tegal Village show that there is an influence of the IOC learning model with picture media on children's language skills (tcount = 6.28> ttable = 2.00). 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Aim/Purpose: In this study, the authors examine how an online word processing tool can be used to encourage participation among students of different language back-grounds, including English Language Learners. To be exact, the paper discusses whether student participation in anonymous collaborative writing via Google Docs can lead to more successful products in a linguistically diverse eighth-grade English Language Arts classroom. Background: English Language Learners (ELLs) make up a considerable portion of elementary and secondary public school students, as language and ethnic diversity has become the norm in the United States. The research literature finds that ELLs are statistically behind their monolingual peers on such key language and academic development indicators as writing. Educators and researchers then turn to collaborative writing with the assistance of online technology. Although it is shown in literature to be a worthwhile endeavor for students of all ages and ability levels, no studies have investigated the differences it makes, namely, in comparison to traditional face-to-face collaboration in the classroom, and to anonymous online collaboration in the virtual space. Methodology: Through face-to-face, online, and anonymous writing activities, a rubric, and a survey, this quantitative study asks if anonymous collaborative writing, com-pared to other modalities, equalizes participation among students of varying language fluencies, and if anonymous collaborative writing, compared to other modalities, affect student comfort levels. Contribution: This builds on research of online collaborative writing tools and suggests that using such tools (Google Docs in particular) is beneficial, especially for students who are building their language abilities. The study further reveals varied degree of success and student comfort level in participating writing tasks in three modalities. Findings: We ascertain that students of varying language fluencies participated more equally when they were able to remain anonymous. Face-to-face writing exhibited the highest overall scores, and students enjoyed working on Google Docs. Recommendations for Practitioners: Future and current teachers are encouraged to be open to new technologies and be creative in the use of technology to facilitate student learning. They should have the opportunity to participate in the discussion on how, not if, integrating technology impacts the cognitive, social, and cultural dimensions of teaching. Recommendation for Researchers: After this initial quantitative study on students’ reactions to various modalities of technology-supported writing formats, the next questions to ask may be how students were engaging in dialogues during face-to-face sessions or chat features of Google Docs trials, and what types of edits students are making. Researchers should turn their focus on secondary school classrooms where there is an increasing impact of technology-assisted collaborative writing on student learning and teaching pedagogy. Impact on Society: As online technology has become an integral part of daily life, it is beneficial to educators, policy makers, and classroom teachers to understand how technology can be integrated in writing programs and to what extent the integration can help boost student motivation and participation. Future Research: More longitudinal research on online assisted collaborative writing and addi-tional quantitative data are needed to further understand the complexities of the writing process in-group online writing and the nature of collaboration.

Background: Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) developing in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) has been reported infrequently in case studies to date (1). Prevalent thought relates its infrequency to the shortened life expectancy in the SCD population. However, with advancements in medical care, longevity of these patients has been increasing. Resultingly, risk factors for CML related to their disease and its treatments may accumulate, including chronic inflammation, heightened cell turnover, iron overload, immunomodulation from frequent transfusions, blood and marrow transplantation, and hydroxyurea use (2,3). Most specifically, the elevated and continuous inflammatory cell stimulation due to vaso-occlusion may enhance changes in granulocytic cell differentiation, increasing the risk for CML (3). By leveraging a nationwide database, we aim to describe characteristics associated with the development of CML in SCD patients. Methods: Hospitalizations for SCD and CML were identified using ICD-10 coding from the 2020 National Inpatient Sample (NIS). Those hospitalizations with a co-diagnosis of SCD and CML were included in this study, and further evaluated for demographics, comorbidities, transfusion status, length of stay, mortality, and charges during admission. The NIS is the largest all-payer inpatient database in the US and approximates a 20% stratified sample of inpatient discharges from &gt;5000 hospitals across 48 states (98% of U.S. population). Sampling weights were applied to generate nationally representative estimates. Results: In the 2020 NIS sample upon weighting, there were 60 hospitalizations with a co-diagnosis of SCD and CML. The vast majority of these patients presented with active CML (92%) and in sickle cell crisis (83%). Overall, half of the sample comprised those patients who were between the ages of 29.5-49 years old, with a median age of 40.5. Fifty percent (n=30) of the hospitalizations were female; 92% (n=55) were African American; 58% were hospitalized in the Southern region; 25% in the West, and 17% in the Northeastern United States. The majority of hospitalizations (92%) occurred in teaching hospitals and 83% were in large-bed size hospitals. Common comorbidities were similar to that expected in the general SCD population, including history of transient ischemic attack (42%), history of pulmonary embolism/venous thromboembolism (42%), chronic kidney disease (33%), anemia (33%), and pulmonary hypertension (33%). Seventeen percent of patients had a transfusion during the hospitalization (n=15). The mean length of stay among these hospitalizations was 4.25 days. There were no deaths during these hospitalizations. Mean charges during hospitalization were $53,973. Conclusion: Previously observed in rare case studies, here we present an exploratory analysis from a national inpatient database demonstrating a population of 60 adult patients with SCD and a co-diagnosis of CML. Specifically, we observe concomitant development of CML in the SCD patient population correlated with a younger age (median age 40.5) than expected compared to traditional CML patients (median age 64). There is some evidence to suggest that chronic inflammation associated with sickle cell with extended life expectancies and treatment burden may be associated with myeloid cancers. These studies will need to be followed up with prospective analyses to investigate a potential increased risk of CML in the SCD population. Literature Cited: 1. Chen L et al., Chronic myelogenous leukemia in sickle cell anemia. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2005;129(3):423-424. doi:10.5858/2005-129-423-CMLISC 2. Brunson A et al., Increased risk of leukemia among sickle cell disease patients in California. Blood. 2017;130(13):1597-1599. doi:10.1182/blood-2017-05-78323. 3. Stankovic et al., Chronic myeloid leukaemia and sickle cell disease: could imatinib prevent vaso-occlusive crisis?. Br J Haematol. 2011;155(2):271-272. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2141.2011.08670.x

Ocean literacy is currently at the forefront of the development of the notion of marine environmental sustainability. It is critical to compare ocean literacy ideas in curriculum standards. Comics Convey various messages of maritime insight content on integrated, contextual, and meaningful learning. This study aims to design STEAM (to R-SLAMET; Religion, Science, Literacy, Art, Math, Engineer, and Technology) learning that contains ocean literacy messages in a comic media. Through the qualitative research method with study case type, researchers seek to aid early childhood education (ECE) educators in designing R-SLAMET learning through the media to overcome maritime cultural literacy problems. The participants of this study consisted of three educators and 43 children. The findings show that the natural play experience of early childhood can be a source of inspiration to find ocean literacy through R-SLAMET learning activities. Contextual play by children becomes a reference for designing comic-based R-SLAMET learning. Comic media can integrate R-SLAMET learning in improving children's ocean literacy. Keywords: children ocean literacy, comic media, STEAM to R-SLAMET learning design References: Arthur, J. (1990). Cultural Literacy. College English, 52(3), 281–281. JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.2307/377758 Campbell, D. T., & Stanley, J. C. (2015). Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research. Ravenio Books. https://books.google.co.id/books?id=KCTrCgAAQBAJ Castek, E. J., Hagerman, M. S., Woodard, R., Bonine, K., Coiro, J., Graville, C., Jordan, M., Mencher, R., Olivares, M., Smith, B. E., Stornaiuolo, A., Sult, L., Tan, E., Tucker-raymond, E., & Wen, W. (2019). Principles for Equity-centered Design of STEAM Learning-through-Making. 34–35. Chang, C.-C., Hirenkumar, T. C., & Wu, C.-K. (2021). The Concept of Ocean Sustainability in Formal Education—Comparative Ocean Literacy Coverage Analysis of the Educational Standards of India and the USA. Sustainability, 13(8), 4314. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084314 Chujan, W., Kilenthong, W. T., Patricia, A., Robert, J., Richard, C., Charles, D., John, D., Jere, E., Leslie, A., Jerome, S., Robert, C., Bancroft, K., Lee, J., Carol, S., Lees, N., Mills, R., Haley, S., Eleanor, E., Robert, P., … Erden, F. T. (2019). An early evaluation of a HighScope-based curriculum intervention in rural Thailand. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 12(103), 17–25. https://doi.org/10.7822/omuefd.604939 Creswell, J. W. (2015). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (Fifth edition). Pearson. Fortner, R. W., & Mayer, V. J. (1989). Marine and aquatic education – a challenge for science educators. Science Education, 73(2), 135–154. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.3730730203 Hapidin, Gunarti, W., Pujianti, Y., & Siti Syarah, E. (2020). STEAM to R-SLAMET Modification: An Integrative Thematic Play Based Learning with R-SLAMETS Content in Early Child-hood Education. JPUD - Jurnal Pendidikan Usia Dini, 14(2), 262–274. https://doi.org/10.21009/jpud.142.05 Hapidin, Nurjannah, S. H. (Universitas N. J. (2018). Pengembangan Model Pembelajaran Tematik Seribu. Pendidikan Usia Dini, 12(Marine Education), 51–65. https://doi.org/10.21009/JPUD.121 Hartley, B. L., Thompson, R. C., & Pahl, S. (2015). Marine litter education boosts children’s understanding and self-reported actions. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 90(1), 209–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.10.049 Hawthorne, M., & Alabaster, T. (1999). Citizen 2000: Development of a model of environmental citizenship. Global Environmental Change, 9(1), 25–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0959-3780(98)00022-3 Hermawanti, O., & Susilaningsih, S. (2020). Development of Educational Comic Media Based on PowerPoint Class III Indonesian Language Content. Elementary School Teacher, 4(2), 5. https://doi.org/10.15294/est.v4i2.29027 Hidayat, S., & Ridwan. (2017). Kebijakan poros maritim dan keamanan nasional indonesia: Tantangan dan harapan. Pertahanan & Bela Negara, 7(3), 107–121. Koutníková, M. (2018). The Application of Comics in Science Education. Acta Educationis Generalis, 7(3), 88–98. https://doi.org/10.1515/atd-2017-0026 Melliou, K., Moutafidou, A., & Bratitsis, T. (2014). Digital Comics Use to Develop Thinking Dispositions in Early Childhood Education. 2014 IEEE 14th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 502–504. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICALT.2014.148 Mogias, A., Boubonari, T., Realdon, G., Previati, M., Mokos, M., Koulouri, P., & Cheimonopoulou, M. Th. (2019). Evaluating Ocean Literacy of Elementary School Students: Preliminary Results of a Cross-Cultural Study in the Mediterranean Region. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6, 396. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00396 Mokos, M., Realdon, G., & Zubak Čižmek, I. (2020). How to Increase Ocean Literacy for Future Ocean Sustainability? The Influence of Non-Formal Marine Science Education. Sustainability, 12(24). https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410647 Ntobuo, N. E., Arbie, A., & Amali, L. N. (2018). The Development of Gravity Comic Learning Media Based on Gorontalo Culture. Jurnal Pendidikan IPA Indonesia, 7(2), 246–251. https://doi.org/10.15294/jpii.v7i2.14344 Oliver, K. L. (1998). A Journey into Narrative Analysis: A Methodology for Discovering Meanings. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 17(2), 244–259. https://doi.org/10.1123/jtpe.17.2.244 Pramitasari, M., Yetti, E., & Hapidin, H. (2018). Pengembangan Media Sliding Book Untuk Pengenalan Sains Kehidupan (Life Science) Kelautan Untuk Anak Usia 6-7 Tahun. JPUD - Jurnal Pendidikan Usia Dini, 12(2), 281–290. https://doi.org/10.21009/jpud.122.09 Puspitorini, R., Prodjosantoso, A. K., Subali, B., & Jumadi, J. (2017). Penggunaan Media Komik Dalam Pembelajaran Ipa Untuk Meningkatkan Motivasi Dan Hasil Belajar Kognitif Dan Afektif. Jurnal Cakrawala Pendidikan, 3(3). https://doi.org/10.21831/cp.v3i3.2385 Rahmatullah, R., Inanna, I., Rakib, M., Mustari, M., & Rabania, R. (2020). Developing Tematic Economic Comic with Characters for Early Childhood. Journal of Educational Science and Technology (EST), 293–300. https://doi.org/10.26858/est.v6i3.14949 Rina, N., Suminar, J. R., Damayani, N. A., & Hafiar, H. (2020). Character education based on digital comic media. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies, 14(3), 107–127. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v14i03.12111 Santoro, F., Santin, S., Gail, S., Fauville, G., & Tuddenham, P. (2017). Ocean Literacy for All; A toolkit. UNESCO United Nations Educational. Steel, B. 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Education in Oceania continues to reflect the embedded implicit and explicit colonial practices and processes from the past. This paper conceptualises a cultural approach to education and leadership appropriate and relevant to the Republic of the Marshall Islands. As elementary school leaders, we highlight Kanne Lobal, a traditional Marshallese navigation practice based on indigenous language, values and practices. We conceptualise and develop Kanne Lobal in this paper as a framework for understanding the usefulness of our indigenous knowledge in leadership and educational practices within formal education. Through bwebwenato, a method of talk story, our key learnings and reflexivities were captured. We argue that realising the value of Marshallese indigenous knowledge and practices for school leaders requires purposeful training of the ways in which our knowledge can be made useful in our professional educational responsibilities. Drawing from our Marshallese knowledge is an intentional effort to inspire, empower and express what education and leadership partnership means for Marshallese people, as articulated by Marshallese themselves. Introduction As noted in the call for papers within the Waikato Journal of Education (WJE) for this special issue, bodies of knowledge and histories in Oceania have long sustained generations across geographic boundaries to ensure cultural survival. For Marshallese people, we cannot really know ourselves “until we know how we came to be where we are today” (Walsh, Heine, Bigler & Stege, 2012). Jitdam Kapeel is a popular Marshallese concept and ideal associated with inquiring into relationships within the family and community. In a similar way, the practice of relating is about connecting the present and future to the past. Education and leadership partnerships are linked and we look back to the past, our history, to make sense and feel inspired to transform practices that will benefit our people. In this paper and in light of our next generation, we reconnect with our navigation stories to inspire and empower education and leadership. Kanne lobal is part of our navigation stories, a conceptual framework centred on cultural practices, values, and concepts that embrace collective partnerships. Our link to this talanoa vā with others in the special issue is to attempt to make sense of connections given the global COVID-19 context by providing a Marshallese approach to address the physical and relational “distance” between education and leadership partnerships in Oceania. Like the majority of developing small island nations in Oceania, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) has had its share of educational challenges through colonial legacies of the past which continues to drive education systems in the region (Heine, 2002). The historical administration and education in the RMI is one of colonisation. Successive administrations by the Spanish, German, Japanese, and now the US, has resulted in education and learning that privileges western knowledge and forms of learning. This paper foregrounds understandings of education and learning as told by the voices of elementary school leaders from the RMI. The move to re-think education and leadership from Marshallese perspectives is an act of shifting the focus of bwebwenato or conversations that centres on Marshallese language and worldviews. The concept of jelalokjen was conceptualised as traditional education framed mainly within the community context. In the past, jelalokjen was practiced and transmitted to the younger generation for cultural continuity. During the arrival of colonial administrations into the RMI, jelalokjen was likened to the western notions of education and schooling (Kupferman, 2004). Today, the primary function of jelalokjen, as traditional and formal education, it is for “survival in a hostile [and challenging] environment” (Kupferman, 2004, p. 43). Because western approaches to learning in the RMI have not always resulted in positive outcomes for those engaged within the education system, as school leaders who value our cultural knowledge and practices, and aspire to maintain our language with the next generation, we turn to Kanne Lobal, a practice embedded in our navigation stories, collective aspirations, and leadership. The significance in the development of Kanne Lobal, as an appropriate framework for education and leadership, resulted in us coming together and working together. Not only were we able to share our leadership concerns, however, the engagement strengthened our connections with each other as school leaders, our communities, and the Public Schooling System (PSS). Prior to that, many of us were in competition for resources. Educational Leadership: IQBE and GCSL Leadership is a valued practice in the RMI. Before the IQBE programme started in 2018, the majority of the school leaders on the main island of Majuro had not engaged in collaborative partnerships with each other before. Our main educational purpose was to achieve accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), an accreditation commission for schools in the United States. The WASC accreditation dictated our work and relationships and many school leaders on Majuro felt the pressure of competition against each other. We, the authors in this paper, share our collective bwebwenato, highlighting our school leadership experiences and how we gained strength from our own ancestral knowledge to empower “us”, to collaborate with each other, our teachers, communities, as well as with PSS; a collaborative partnership we had not realised in the past. The paucity of literature that captures Kajin Majol (Marshallese language) and education in general in the RMI is what we intend to fill by sharing our reflections and experiences. To move our educational practices forward we highlight Kanne Lobal, a cultural approach that focuses on our strengths, collective social responsibilities and wellbeing. For a long time, there was no formal training in place for elementary school leaders. School principals and vice principals were appointed primarily on their academic merit through having an undergraduate qualification. As part of the first cohort of fifteen school leaders, we engaged in the professional training programme, the Graduate Certificate in School Leadership (GCSL), refitted to our context after its initial development in the Solomon Islands. GCSL was coordinated by the Institute of Education (IOE) at the University of the South Pacific (USP). GCSL was seen as a relevant and appropriate training programme for school leaders in the RMI as part of an Asia Development Bank (ADB) funded programme which aimed at “Improving Quality Basic Education” (IQBE) in parts of the northern Pacific. GCSL was managed on Majuro, RMI’s main island, by the director at the time Dr Irene Taafaki, coordinator Yolanda McKay, and administrators at the University of the South Pacific’s (USP) RMI campus. Through the provision of GCSL, as school leaders we were encouraged to re-think and draw-from our own cultural repository and connect to our ancestral knowledge that have always provided strength for us. This kind of thinking and practice was encouraged by our educational leaders (Heine, 2002). We argue that a culturally-affirming and culturally-contextual framework that reflects the lived experiences of Marshallese people is much needed and enables the disruption of inherent colonial processes left behind by Western and Eastern administrations which have influenced our education system in the RMI (Heine, 2002). Kanne Lobal, an approach utilising a traditional navigation has warranted its need to provide solutions for today’s educational challenges for us in the RMI. Education in the Pacific Education in the Pacific cannot be understood without contextualising it in its history and culture. It is the same for us in the RMI (Heine, 2002; Walsh et al., 2012). The RMI is located in the Pacific Ocean and is part of Micronesia. It was named after a British captain, John Marshall in the 1700s. The atolls in the RMI were explored by the Spanish in the 16th century. Germany unsuccessfully attempted to colonize the islands in 1885. Japan took control in 1914, but after several battles during World War II, the US seized the RMI from them. In 1947, the United Nations made the island group, along with the Mariana and Caroline archipelagos, a U.S. trust territory (Walsh et al, 2012). Education in the RMI reflects the colonial administrations of Germany, Japan, and now the US. Before the turn of the century, formal education in the Pacific reflected western values, practices, and standards. Prior to that, education was informal and not binded to formal learning institutions (Thaman, 1997) and oral traditions was used as the medium for transmitting learning about customs and practices living with parents, grandparents, great grandparents. As alluded to by Jiba B. Kabua (2004), any “discussion about education is necessarily a discussion of culture, and any policy on education is also a policy of culture” (p. 181). It is impossible to promote one without the other, and it is not logical to understand one without the other. Re-thinking how education should look like, the pedagogical strategies that are relevant in our classrooms, the ways to engage with our parents and communities - such re-thinking sits within our cultural approaches and frameworks. Our collective attempts to provide a cultural framework that is relevant and appropriate for education in our context, sits within the political endeavour to decolonize. This means that what we are providing will not only be useful, but it can be used as a tool to question and identify whether things in place restrict and prevent our culture or whether they promote and foreground cultural ideas and concepts, a significant discussion of culture linked to education (Kabua, 2004). Donor funded development aid programmes were provided to support the challenges within education systems. Concerned with the persistent low educational outcomes of Pacific students, despite the prevalence of aid programmes in the region, in 2000 Pacific educators and leaders with support from New Zealand Aid (NZ Aid) decided to intervene (Heine, 2002; Taufe’ulungaki, 2014). In April 2001, a group of Pacific educators and leaders across the region were invited to a colloquium funded by the New Zealand Overseas Development Agency held in Suva Fiji at the University of the South Pacific. The main purpose of the colloquium was to enable “Pacific educators to re-think the values, assumptions and beliefs underlying [formal] schooling in Oceania” (Benson, 2002). Leadership, in general, is a valued practice in the RMI (Heine, 2002). Despite education leadership being identified as a significant factor in school improvement (Sanga & Chu, 2009), the limited formal training opportunities of school principals in the region was a persistent concern. As part of an Asia Development Bank (ADB) funded project, the Improve Quality Basic Education (IQBE) intervention was developed and implemented in the RMI in 2017. Mentoring is a process associated with the continuity and sustainability of leadership knowledge and practices (Sanga & Chu, 2009). It is a key aspect of building capacity and capabilities within human resources in education (ibid). Indigenous knowledges and education research According to Hilda Heine, the relationship between education and leadership is about understanding Marshallese history and culture (cited in Walsh et al., 2012). It is about sharing indigenous knowledge and histories that “details for future generations a story of survival and resilience and the pride we possess as a people” (Heine, cited in Walsh et al., 2012, p. v). This paper is fuelled by postcolonial aspirations yet is grounded in Pacific indigenous research. This means that our intentions are driven by postcolonial pursuits and discourses linked to challenging the colonial systems and schooling in the Pacific region that privileges western knowledge and learning and marginalises the education practices and processes of local people (Thiong’o, 1986). A point of difference and orientation from postcolonialism is a desire to foreground indigenous Pacific language, specifically Majin Majol, through Marshallese concepts. Our collective bwebwenato and conversation honours and values kautiej (respect), jouj eo mour eo (reciprocity), and jouj (kindness) (Taafaki & Fowler, 2019). Pacific leaders developed the Rethinking Pacific Education Initiative for and by Pacific People (RPEIPP) in 2002 to take control of the ways in which education research was conducted by donor funded organisations (Taufe’ulungaki, 2014). Our former president, Dr Hilda Heine was part of the group of leaders who sought to counter the ways in which our educational and leadership stories were controlled and told by non-Marshallese (Heine, 2002). As a former minister of education in the RMI, Hilda Heine continues to inspire and encourage the next generation of educators, school leaders, and researchers to re-think and de-construct the way learning and education is conceptualised for Marshallese people. The conceptualisation of Kanne Lobal acknowledges its origin, grounded in Marshallese navigation knowledge and practice. Our decision to unpack and deconstruct Kanne Lobal within the context of formal education and leadership responds to the need to not only draw from indigenous Marshallese ideas and practice but to consider that the next generation will continue to be educated using western processes and initiatives particularly from the US where we get a lot of our funding from. According to indigenous researchers Dawn Bessarab and Bridget Ng’andu (2010), doing research that considers “culturally appropriate processes to engage with indigenous groups and individuals is particularly pertinent in today’s research environment” (p. 37). Pacific indigenous educators and researchers have turned to their own ancestral knowledge and practices for inspiration and empowerment. Within western research contexts, the often stringent ideals and processes are not always encouraging of indigenous methods and practices. However, many were able to ground and articulate their use of indigenous methods as being relevant and appropriate to capturing the realities of their communities (Nabobo-Baba, 2008; Sualii-Sauni & Fulu-Aiolupotea, 2014; Thaman, 1997). At the same time, utilising Pacific indigenous methods and approaches enabled research engagement with their communities that honoured and respected them and their communities. For example, Tongan, Samoan, and Fijian researchers used the talanoa method as a way to capture the stories, lived realities, and worldviews of their communities within education in the diaspora (Fa’avae, Jones, & Manu’atu, 2016; Nabobo-Baba, 2008; Sualii-Sauni & Aiolupotea, 2014; Vaioleti, 2005). Tok stori was used by Solomon Islander educators and school leaders to highlight the unique circles of conversational practice and storytelling that leads to more positive engagement with their community members, capturing rich and meaningful narratives as a result (Sanga & Houma, 2004). The Indigenous Aborigine in Australia utilise yarning as a “relaxed discussion through which both the researcher and participant journey together visiting places and topics of interest relevant” (Bessarab & Ng’andu, 2010, p. 38). Despite the diverse forms of discussions and storytelling by indigenous peoples, of significance are the cultural protocols, ethics, and language for conducting and guiding the engagement (Bessarab & Ng’andu, 2010; Nabobo-Baba, 2008; Sualii-Sauni & Aiolupotea, 2014). Through the ethics, values, protocols, and language, these are what makes indigenous methods or frameworks unique compared to western methods like in-depth interviews or semi-structured interviews. This is why it is important for us as Marshallese educators to frame, ground, and articulate how our own methods and frameworks of learning could be realised in western education (Heine, 2002; Jetnil-Kijiner, 2014). In this paper, we utilise bwebwenato as an appropriate method linked to “talk story”, capturing our collective stories and experiences during GCSL and how we sought to build partnerships and collaboration with each other, our communities, and the PSS. Bwebwenato and drawing from Kajin Majel Legends and stories that reflect Marshallese society and its cultural values have survived through our oral traditions. The practice of weaving also holds knowledge about our “valuable and earliest sources of knowledge” (Taafaki & Fowler, 2019, p. 2). The skilful navigation of Marshallese wayfarers on the walap (large canoes) in the ocean is testament of their leadership and the value they place on ensuring the survival and continuity of Marshallese people (Taafaki & Fowler, 2019; Walsh et al., 2012). During her graduate study in 2014, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner conceptualised bwebwenato as being the most “well-known form of Marshallese orality” (p. 38). The Marshallese-English dictionary defined bwebwenato as talk, conversation, story, history, article, episode, lore, myth, or tale (cited in Jetnil Kijiner, 2014). Three years later in 2017, bwebwenato was utilised in a doctoral project by Natalie Nimmer as a research method to gather “talk stories” about the experiences of 10 Marshallese experts in knowledge and skills ranging from sewing to linguistics, canoe-making and business. Our collective bwebwenato in this paper centres on Marshallese ideas and language. The philosophy of Marshallese knowledge is rooted in our “Kajin Majel”, or Marshallese language and is shared and transmitted through our oral traditions. For instance, through our historical stories and myths. Marshallese philosophy, that is, the knowledge systems inherent in our beliefs, values, customs, and practices are shared. They are inherently relational, meaning that knowledge systems and philosophies within our world are connected, in mind, body, and spirit (Jetnil-Kijiner, 2014; Nimmer, 2017). Although some Marshallese believe that our knowledge is disappearing as more and more elders pass away, it is therefore important work together, and learn from each other about the knowledges shared not only by the living but through their lamentations and stories of those who are no longer with us (Jetnil-Kijiner, 2014). As a Marshallese practice, weaving has been passed-down from generation to generation. Although the art of weaving is no longer as common as it used to be, the artefacts such as the “jaki-ed” (clothing mats) continue to embody significant Marshallese values and traditions. For our weavers, the jouj (check spelling) is the centre of the mat and it is where the weaving starts. When the jouj is correct and weaved well, the remainder and every other part of the mat will be right. The jouj is symbolic of the “heart” and if the heart is prepared well, trained well, then life or all other parts of the body will be well (Taafaki & Fowler, 2019). In that light, we have applied the same to this paper. Conceptualising and drawing from cultural practices that are close and dear to our hearts embodies a significant ontological attempt to prioritize our own knowledge and language, a sense of endearment to who we are and what we believe education to be like for us and the next generation. The application of the phrase “Majolizing '' was used by the Ministry of Education when Hilda Heine was minister, to weave cultural ideas and language into the way that teachers understand the curriculum, develop lesson plans and execute them in the classroom. Despite this, there were still concerns with the embedded colonized practices where teachers defaulted to eurocentric methods of doing things, like the strategies provided in the textbooks given to us. In some ways, our education was slow to adjust to the “Majolizing '' intention by our former minister. In this paper, we provide Kanne Lobal as a way to contribute to the “Majolizing intention” and perhaps speed up yet still be collectively responsible to all involved in education. Kajin Wa and Kanne Lobal “Wa” is the Marshallese concept for canoe. Kajin wa, as in canoe language, has a lot of symbolic meaning linked to deeply-held Marshallese values and practices. The canoe was the foundational practice that supported the livelihood of harsh atoll island living which reflects the Marshallese social world. The experts of Kajin wa often refer to “wa” as being the vessel of life, a means and source of sustaining life (Kelen, 2009, cited in Miller, 2010). “Jouj” means kindness and is the lower part of the main hull of the canoe. It is often referred to by some canoe builders in the RMI as the heart of the canoe and is linked to love. The jouj is one of the first parts of the canoe that is built and is “used to do all other measurements, and then the rest of the canoe is built on top of it” (Miller, 2010, p. 67). The significance of the jouj is that when the canoe is in the water, the jouj is the part of the hull that is underwater and ensures that all the cargo and passengers are safe. For Marshallese, jouj or kindness is what living is about and is associated with selflessly carrying the responsibility of keeping the family and community safe. The parts of the canoe reflect Marshallese culture, legend, family, lineage, and kinship. They embody social responsibilities that guide, direct, and sustain Marshallese families’ wellbeing, from atoll to atoll. For example, the rojak (boom), rojak maan (upper boom), rojak kōrā (lower boom), and they support the edges of the ujelā/ujele (sail) (see figure 1). The literal meaning of rojak maan is male boom and rojak kōrā means female boom which together strengthens the sail and ensures the canoe propels forward in a strong yet safe way. Figuratively, the rojak maan and rojak kōrā symbolise the mother and father relationship which when strong, through the jouj (kindness and love), it can strengthen families and sustain them into the future. Figure 1. Parts of the canoe Source: https://www.canoesmarshallislands.com/2014/09/names-of-canoe-parts/ From a socio-cultural, communal, and leadership view, the canoe (wa) provides understanding of the relationships required to inspire and sustain Marshallese peoples’ education and learning. We draw from Kajin wa because they provide cultural ideas and practices that enable understanding of education and leadership necessary for sustaining Marshallese people and realities in Oceania. When building a canoe, the women are tasked with the weaving of the ujelā/ujele (sail) and to ensure that it is strong enough to withstand long journeys and the fierce winds and waters of the ocean. The Kanne Lobal relates to the front part of the ujelā/ujele (sail) where the rojak maan and rojak kōrā meet and connect (see the red lines in figure 1). Kanne Lobal is linked to the strategic use of the ujelā/ujele by navigators, when there is no wind north wind to propel them forward, to find ways to capture the winds so that their journey can continue. As a proverbial saying, Kanne Lobal is used to ignite thinking and inspire and transform practice particularly when the journey is rough and tough. In this paper we draw from Kanne Lobal to ignite, inspire, and transform our educational and leadership practices, a move to explore what has always been meaningful to Marshallese people when we are faced with challenges. The Kanne Lobal utilises our language, and cultural practices and values by sourcing from the concepts of jouj (kindness, love), kautiej (respect), and jouj eo mour eo (reciprocity). A key Marshallese proverb, “Enra bwe jen lale rara”, is the cultural practice where families enact compassion through the sharing of food in all occurrences. The term “enra” is a small basket weaved from the coconut leaves, and often used by Marshallese as a plate to share and distribute food amongst each other. Bwe-jen-lale-rara is about noticing and providing for the needs of others, and “enra” the basket will help support and provide for all that are in need. “Enra-bwe-jen-lale-rara” is symbolic of cultural exchange and reciprocity and the cultural values associated with building and maintaining relationships, and constantly honouring each other. As a Marshallese practice, in this article we share our understanding and knowledge about the challenges as well as possible solutions for education concerns in our nation. In addition, we highlight another proverb, “wa kuk wa jimor”, which relates to having one canoe, and despite its capacity to feed and provide for the individual, but within the canoe all people can benefit from what it can provide. In the same way, we provide in this paper a cultural framework that will enable all educators to benefit from. It is a framework that is far-reaching and relevant to the lived realities of Marshallese people today. Kumit relates to people united to build strength, all co-operating and working together, living in peace, harmony, and good health. Kanne Lobal: conceptual framework for education and leadership An education framework is a conceptual structure that can be used to capture ideas and thinking related to aspects of learning. Kanne Lobal is conceptualised and framed in this paper as an educational framework. Kanne Lobal highlights the significance of education as a collective partnership whereby leadership is an important aspect. Kanne Lobal draws-from indigenous Marshallese concepts like kautiej (respect), jouj eo mour eo (reciprocity), and jouj (kindness, heart). The role of a leader, including an education leader, is to prioritise collective learning and partnerships that benefits Marshallese people and the continuity and survival of the next generation (Heine, 2002; Thaman, 1995). As described by Ejnar Aerōk, an expert canoe builder in the RMI, he stated: “jerbal ippān doon bwe en maron maan wa e” (cited in Miller, 2010, p. 69). His description emphasises the significance of partnerships and working together when navigating and journeying together in order to move the canoe forward. The kubaak, the outrigger of the wa (canoe) is about “partnerships”. For us as elementary school leaders on Majuro, kubaak encourages us to value collaborative partnerships with each other as well as our communities, PSS, and other stakeholders. Partnerships is an important part of the Kanne Lobal education and leadership framework. It requires ongoing bwebwenato – the inspiring as well as confronting and challenging conversations that should be mediated and negotiated if we and our education stakeholders are to journey together to ensure that the educational services we provide benefits our next generation of young people in the RMI. Navigating ahead the partnerships, mediation, and negotiation are the core values of jouj (kindness, love), kautiej (respect), and jouj eo mour eo (reciprocity). As an organic conceptual framework grounded in indigenous values, inspired through our lived experiences, Kanne Lobal provides ideas and concepts for re-thinking education and leadership practices that are conducive to learning and teaching in the schooling context in the RMI. By no means does it provide the solution to the education ills in our nation. However, we argue that Kanne Lobal is a more relevant approach which is much needed for the negatively stigmatised system as a consequence of the various colonial administrations that have and continue to shape and reframe our ideas about what education should be like for us in the RMI. Moreover, Kannel Lobal is our attempt to decolonize the framing of education and leadership, moving our bwebwenato to re-framing conversations of teaching and learning so that our cultural knowledge and values are foregrounded, appreciated, and realised within our education system. Bwebwenato: sharing our stories In this section, we use bwebwenato as a method of gathering and capturing our stories as data. Below we capture our stories and ongoing conversations about the richness in Marshallese cultural knowledge in the outer islands and on Majuro and the potentialities in Kanne Lobal. Danny Jim When I was in third grade (9-10 years of age), during my grandfather’s speech in Arno, an atoll near Majuro, during a time when a wa (canoe) was being blessed and ready to put the canoe into the ocean. My grandfather told me the canoe was a blessing for the family. “Without a canoe, a family cannot provide for them”, he said. The canoe allows for travelling between places to gather food and other sources to provide for the family. My grandfather’s stories about people’s roles within the canoe reminded me that everyone within the family has a responsibility to each other. Our women, mothers and daughters too have a significant responsibility in the journey, in fact, they hold us, care for us, and given strength to their husbands, brothers, and sons. The wise man or elder sits in the middle of the canoe, directing the young man who help to steer. The young man, he does all the work, directed by the older man. They take advice and seek the wisdom of the elder. In front of the canoe, a young boy is placed there and because of his strong and youthful vision, he is able to help the elder as well as the young man on the canoe. The story can be linked to the roles that school leaders, teachers, and students have in schooling. Without each person knowing intricately their role and responsibility, the sight and vision ahead for the collective aspirations of the school and the community is difficult to comprehend. For me, the canoe is symbolic of our educational journey within our education system. As the school leader, a central, trusted, and respected figure in the school, they provide support for teachers who are at the helm, pedagogically striving to provide for their students. For without strong direction from the school leaders and teachers at the helm, the students, like the young boy, cannot foresee their futures, or envisage how education can benefit them. This is why Kanne Lobal is a significant framework for us in the Marshall Islands because within the practice we are able to take heed and empower each other so that all benefit from the process. Kanne Lobal is linked to our culture, an essential part of who we are. We must rely on our own local approaches, rather than relying on others that are not relevant to what we know and how we live in today’s society. One of the things I can tell is that in Majuro, compared to the outer islands, it’s different. In the outer islands, parents bring children together and tell them legends and stories. The elders tell them about the legends and stories – the bwebwenato. Children from outer islands know a lot more about Marshallese legends compared to children from the Majuro atoll. They usually stay close to their parents, observe how to prepare food and all types of Marshallese skills. Loretta Joseph Case There is little Western influence in the outer islands. They grow up learning their own culture with their parents, not having tv. They are closely knit, making their own food, learning to weave. They use fire for cooking food. They are more connected because there are few of them, doing their own culture. For example, if they’re building a house, the ladies will come together and make food to take to the males that are building the house, encouraging them to keep on working - “jemjem maal” (sharpening tools i.e. axe, like encouraging workers to empower them). It’s when they bring food and entertainment. Rubon Rubon Togetherness, work together, sharing of food, these are important practices as a school leader. Jemjem maal – the whole village works together, men working and the women encourage them with food and entertainment. All the young children are involved in all of the cultural practices, cultural transmission is consistently part of their everyday life. These are stronger in the outer islands. Kanne Lobal has the potential to provide solutions using our own knowledge and practices. Connie Joel When new teachers become a teacher, they learn more about their culture in teaching. Teaching raises the question, who are we? A popular saying amongst our people, “Aelon kein ad ej aelon in manit”, means that “Our islands are cultural islands”. Therefore, when we are teaching, and managing the school, we must do this culturally. When we live and breathe, we must do this culturally. There is more socialising with family and extended family. Respect the elderly. When they’re doing things the ladies all get together, in groups and do it. Cut the breadfruit, and preserve the breadfruit and pandanus. They come together and do it. Same as fishing, building houses, building canoes. They use and speak the language often spoken by the older people. There are words that people in the outer islands use and understand language regularly applied by the elderly. Respect elderly and leaders more i.e., chiefs (iroj), commoners (alap), and the workers on the land (ri-jerbal) (social layer under the commoners). All the kids, they gather with their families, and go and visit the chiefs and alap, and take gifts from their land, first produce/food from the plantation (eojōk). Tommy Almet The people are more connected to the culture in the outer islands because they help one another. They don’t have to always buy things by themselves, everyone contributes to the occasion. For instance, for birthdays, boys go fishing, others contribute and all share with everyone. Kanne Lobal is a practice that can bring people together – leaders, teachers, stakeholders. We want our colleagues to keep strong and work together to fix problems like students and teachers’ absenteeism which is a big problem for us in schools. Demetria Malachi The culture in the outer islands are more accessible and exposed to children. In Majuro, there is a mixedness of cultures and knowledges, influenced by Western thinking and practices. Kanne Lobal is an idea that can enhance quality educational purposes for the RMI. We, the school leaders who did GCSL, we want to merge and use this idea because it will help benefit students’ learning and teachers’ teaching. Kanne Lobal will help students to learn and teachers to teach though traditional skills and knowledge. We want to revitalize our ways of life through teaching because it is slowly fading away. Also, we want to have our own Marshallese learning process because it is in our own language making it easier to use and understand. Essentially, we want to proudly use our own ways of teaching from our ancestors showing the appreciation and blessings given to us. Way Forward To think of ways forward is about reflecting on the past and current learnings. Instead of a traditional discussion within a research publication, we have opted to continue our bwebwenato by sharing what we have learnt through the Graduate Certificate in School Leadership (GCSL) programme. Our bwebwenato does not end in this article and this opportunity to collaborate and partner together in this piece of writing has been a meaningful experience to conceptualise and unpack the Kanne Lobal framework. Our collaborative bwebwenato has enabled us to dig deep into our own wise knowledges for guidance through mediating and negotiating the challenges in education and leadership (Sanga & Houma, 2004). For example, bwe-jen-lale-rara reminds us to inquire, pay attention, and focus on supporting the needs of others. Through enra-bwe-jen-lale-rara, it reminds us to value cultural exchange and reciprocity which will strengthen the development and maintaining of relationships based on ways we continue to honour each other (Nimmer, 2017). We not only continue to support each other, but also help mentor the next generation of school leaders within our education system (Heine, 2002). Education and leadership are all about collaborative partnerships (Sanga & Chu, 2009; Thaman, 1997). Developing partnerships through the GCSL was useful learning for us. It encouraged us to work together, share knowledge, respect each other, and be kind. The values of jouj (kindness, love), kautiej (respect), and jouj eo mour eo (reciprocity) are meaningful in being and becoming and educational leader in the RMI (Jetnil-Kijiner, 2014; Miller, 2010; Nimmer, 2017). These values are meaningful for us practice particularly given the drive by PSS for schools to become accredited. The workshops and meetings delivered during the GCSL in the RMI from 2018 to 2019 about Kanne Lobal has given us strength to share our stories and experiences from the meeting with the stakeholders. But before we met with the stakeholders, we were encouraged to share and speak in our language within our courses: EDP05 (Professional Development and Learning), EDP06 (School Leadership), EDP07 (School Management), EDP08 (Teaching and Learning), and EDP09 (Community Partnerships). In groups, we shared our presentations with our peers, the 15 school leaders in the GCSL programme. We also invited USP RMI staff. They liked the way we presented Kannel Lobal. They provided us with feedback, for example: how the use of the sail on the canoe, the parts and their functions can be conceptualised in education and how they are related to the way that we teach our own young people. Engaging stakeholders in the conceptualisation and design stages of Kanne Lobal strengthened our understanding of leadership and collaborative partnerships. Based on various meetings with the RMI Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL) team, PSS general assembly, teachers from the outer islands, and the PSS executive committee, we were able to share and receive feedback on the Kanne Lobal framework. The coordinators of the PREL programme in the RMI were excited by the possibilities around using Kanne Lobal, as a way to teach culture in an inspirational way to Marshallese students. Our Marshallese knowledge, particularly through the proverbial meaning of Kanne Lobal provided so much inspiration and insight for the groups during the presentation which gave us hope and confidence to develop the framework. Kanne Lobal is an organic and indigenous approach, grounded in Marshallese ways of doing things (Heine, 2002; Taafaki & Fowler, 2019). Given the persistent presence of colonial processes within the education system and the constant reference to practices and initiatives from the US, Kanne Lobal for us provides a refreshing yet fulfilling experience and makes us feel warm inside because it is something that belongs to all Marshallese people. Conclusion Marshallese indigenous knowledge and practices provide meaningful educational and leadership understanding and learnings. They ignite, inspire, and transform thinking and practice. The Kanne Lobal conceptual framework emphasises key concepts and values necessary for collaborative partnerships within education and leadership practices in the RMI. The bwebwenato or talk stories have been insightful and have highlighted the strengths and benefits that our Marshallese ideas and practices possess when looking for appropriate and relevant ways to understand education and leadership. Acknowledgements We want to acknowledge our GCSL cohort of school leaders who have supported us in the development of Kanne Lobal as a conceptual framework. A huge kommol tata to our friends: Joana, Rosana, Loretta, Jellan, Alvin, Ellice, Rolando, Stephen, and Alan. References Benson, C. (2002). Preface. In F. Pene, A. M. Taufe’ulungaki, & C. Benson (Eds.), Tree of Opportunity: re-thinking Pacific Education (p. iv). Suva, Fiji: University of the South Pacific, Institute of Education. Bessarab, D., Ng’andu, B. (2010). Yarning about yarning as a legitimate method in indigenous research. International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies, 3(1), 37-50. Fa’avae, D., Jones, A., & Manu’atu, L. (2016). Talanoa’i ‘a e talanoa - talking about talanoa: Some dilemmas of a novice researcher. AlterNative: An Indigenous Journal of Indigenous Peoples,12(2),138-150. Heine, H. C. (2002). A Marshall Islands perspective. In F. Pene, A. M. Taufe’ulungaki, & C. 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AbstractIn March 2020, the rapid spread of COVID-19 led to physical school closures across the United States. Schools quickly transitioned to a remote and/or virtual learning environment. This transition had implications for students at all levels of education, especially for those most vulnerable and school-dependent for ancillary resources. The goal of this qualitative exploratory research study was to examine how public elementary schools in Georgia adapted their learning environments for students in kindergarten through third grade during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data collection activities included school demographic surveys, parent surveys, interviews with twelve school administrators, and six focus groups with twenty-six parents. The participants discussed schools’ preparation capabilities, implementation of learning modalities, and resources for students and families. Most school personnel described the new virtual teaching demands as a hurdle for their teachers and identified several academic consequences stemming from inadequate technology access or training, such as student absenteeism and lower teaching performance. Schools lacked appropriate preparation as well as limited resources to transition to virtual learning. The COVID-19 pandemic aggravated pre-existing education and technology resource disparities for students and families of low socio-economic status or who live in rural areas. Findings from this study provide educators with information regarding deficiencies in the learning environment and provide recommendations for ongoing academic remedial efforts. Additionally, this study provides important context for the shortcomings of the COVID-19 learning environments and highlights the need to strengthen school community infrastructure and emergency planning.

PurposeModeling is a potentially productive activity in which coaches can engage teachers to support teaching and learning (Gibbons and Cobb, 2017). Yet, there is a lack of empirical research that describes how coaches can productively implement this activity with teachers. The overarching purpose of this study was to explore the challenges and support coaches faced while modeling instruction for teachers.Design/methodology/approachTwenty-nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with five coaches and six elementary teachers in two different school districts in the United States. The data were qualitatively coded using a combination of literature-driven and emergent codes.FindingsParticipants identified 16 distinct challenges they faced during coaching cycles involving modeling, and 11 supports that could ultimately enhance the success of the modeled lesson for all involved parties. These challenges and support spanned the broad categories of contextual factors, management and logistics, pedagogical dilemmas and teacher learning.Originality/valueAlthough modeling is a popular coaching activity, researchers have only an emerging understanding of the challenges associated with modeling instruction, as well as the support that can enhance the modeled lesson's success. By having a thorough understanding of such challenges and support, coaches can effectively leverage modeling to support teaching and learning at their schools. Hence, the findings from this study will importantly inform coaching practice, as well as future research directions.

Alexey Borisovich Shipunov Alexey Shipunov was an outstanding person in many ways. An accomplished botanist, he was also a programmer and a teacher. One of his many impressive features was his universality. Indeed, he was interested in a vast range of things, and his professional scope accordingly tended to be universal: for example, as a taxonomist, he studied a few groups of plants, but, unlike almost any taxonomist today (and like Linnaeus), he was keenly interested in the global system of life, and had his own opinion about how it should look like. Alexey was born and grew up in Moscow. He graduated from the Department of Higher Plants, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, in 1990. In 1998, he defended his candidate of sciences (PhD) thesis on taxonomy of the genera Plantago L. and Psyllium Mill. (Plantaginaceae) in European Russia and adjacent areas. Alexey’s thesis was supervised by Professor Vadim Nikolayevich Tikhomirov, who at that time was the head of the Department of Higher Plants. Having spent some years after his PhD in Moscow with no success in getting a research or teaching position at the University, in 2002–2003, he moved for a year to Kew Gardens, United Kingdom, then briefly returned to his hometown, and finally emigrated to the United States in 2006. He worked first at the university of another, much smaller, Moscow (Idaho), then in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and then in Minot, North Dakota, where he got his tenure. However, restless as he was, in 2019, Alexey left the USA for a temporary position at Kyoto University, Japan. Kyoto was his last place of residence. During his last few years, he travelled all around Japan, from Hokkaido to Okinawa, but mainly lived in the Old Capital. Alexey dedicated much of his time to education. He was a long-time member of the organising committee of the most informal of Russian biology contests for school students, the School Biology Olympics at Moscow State University. He taught at Moscow South-West High School No. 1543 (1992 – 2006), where he established a system of scientific projects for children of the specialised biology class; both the class and the system survived to this day. Alexey also taught in each of the several universities where he worked. Additionally, he recorded a lot of short educational videos for YouTube, and even during the last evening of his life he was preparing for an online lecture for students of Moscow University. Alexey was also into programming and considerably helped to develop and popularise the R software environment, which is widely used among researchers worldwide. Alexey published a series of manuals on employment of this programming language in biological studies. Alexey travelled across the world to study the flora of all its regions. One of his most impressive accomplishments was the re-discovery (together with his daughter, Ekaterina) of the poorly known plant Haptanthus Goldberg & C. Nelson in Honduras described as recently as in 1989. The plant was known from a few poorly preserved herbarium specimens, and its phylogenetic position and floral morphology remained unclear. Alexey’s re-discovery was instrumental in establishing the actual phylogenetic and structural relationships of this enigmatic and highly endangered monospecific genus. A video of his seminar talk on Haptanthus is available (see https://msu-botany.ru/ seminar-biology-2020/). The list of publications by Alexey provided here (Electronic appendix) and mainly compiled by himself demonstrates the enormous diversity of his scientific interests. He was always interested in any new techniques and ideas and, most importantly, had a unique and extremely broad knowledge of literature and scientific problems. Apart from his books, papers and other traditional publications, Alexey left some web resources, including two highly important and widely used ones: his Manual for the Plants of the World (http://herba.msu.ru/shipunov/school/f/index.htm) and the Flora and Fauna fundamental electronic library (http:// herba.msu.ru/shipunov/school/sch-ru.htm). Alexey Shipunov's materials (http://herba.msu.ru/ shipunov/index-en.htm) include diverse information that will be of continuous use for many teachers and researchers in biology. In particular, they comprise a series of versions of Alexey’s classification of flowering plants. This classification continuously was in the focus of Alexey’s interest. It provides an example of his ability to go against the mainstream. While nearly all the current classifications are illustrated or can be illustrated by cladograms, he continued the tradition of presenting a diagram of taxonomic relationships in the form of a two-dimensional map. This tradition was introduced in the 18th century by Paul Dietrich Giseke (inspired by Carl Linnaeus) and developed in the 20th century by Rolf Dahlgren. Alexey’s choice is related to the fact that, in the time of almost universal dominance of the cladistic concept of monophyly, he continued accepting paraphyletic taxa. In doing this, he followed the views of several major taxonomists of the 20th century, such as Armen Takhtajan, Arthur Cronquist, Rolf Dahlgren, and Robert Thorne. At the same time, he was using, as much as possible, any new pieces of phylogenetic evidence, including, of course, the molecular ones. As a result, Alexey’s system provides a unique opportunity to observe the pure impact of molecular data on angiosperm taxonomy because the classification of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group incorporated changes made according to the new molecular evidence as well as the cladistic interpretation of the idea of monophyly. Alexey’s diagram of classification (Fig. 2) can be used as a modern analogue of the famous Dahlgrenograms. The Flora and Fauna fundamental electronic library is one of the parts of Alexey’s heritage that will save the memory about him for a long time. In this project, which was upheld without any funding but with the enthusiastic help of numerous colleagues from various cities and countries, Alexey managed to compile an outstanding collection of literature on the biodiversity (and related topics) of the countries of the former Soviet Union. It is difficult to imagine any formally organised programme that has achieved a comparable enormous outcome. Apart from the pure scientific value, this library, and entire life of Alexey, served to save the remains of the Soviet scientific community and to maintain scientific links between experts in natural history from different countries. We will remember Alexey as a lively, bright, and kind person. For example, we will remember his self-ironic story about how he came to the Botanical Congress in Melbourne and rented a car. “I’m driving out of the airport and I see something is wrong; everyone is driving towards me. Oh… In Australia, you drive on the left side of the road.” Alexey died last year: he drowned while swimming in the Pacific Ocean near the coast of the Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyushu Island, Japan. We, his colleagues, lost in him a dear friend and a priceless source of knowledge. We will miss him, and will try to do our best to preserve his heritage.

Photograph by Gonzalo Echeverria (2010)“I must plunge again and again in the water of doubt” (Wittgenstein 1e). The Holy Grail in the phenomenology of religion (and, to a lesser extent, the sociology of religion) is a definition of religion that actually works, but, so far, this seems to have been elusive. Classical definitions of religion—substantive (e.g. Tylor) and functionalist (e.g. Durkheim)—fail, in part because they attempt to be in three places at once, as it were: they attempt to distinguish religion from non-religion; they attempt to capture what religions have in common; and they attempt to grasp the “heart”, or “core”, of religion. Consequently, family resemblance definitions of religion replace certainty and precision for its own sake with a more pragmatic and heuristic approach, embracing doubt and putting forward definitions that give us a better understanding (Verstehen) of religion. In this paper, I summarise some “new” definitions of religion that take this approach, before proposing and defending another one, defining religion as non-propositional and “apophatic”, thus accepting that doubt is central to religion itself, as well as to the analysis of religion.The question of how to define religion has had real significance in a number of court cases round the world, and therefore it does have an impact on people’s lives. In Germany, for example, the courts ruled that Scientology was not a religion, but a business, much to the displeasure of the Church of Scientology (Aldridge 15). In the United States, some advocates of Transcendental Meditation (TM) argued that TM was not a religion and could therefore be taught in public schools without violating the establishment clause in the constitution—the separation of church and state. The courts in New Jersey, and federal courts, ruled against them. They ruled that TM was a religion (Barker 146). There are other cases that I could cite, but the point of this is simply to establish that the question has a practical importance, so we should move on.In the classical sociology of religion, there are a number of definitions of religion that are quite well known. Edward Tylor (424) defined religion as a belief in spiritual beings. This definition does not meet with widespread acceptance, the notable exception being Melford Spiro, who proposed in 1966 that religion was “an institution consisting of culturally patterned interaction with culturally postulated super-human beings” (Spiro 96, see also 91ff), and who has bravely stuck to that definition ever since. The major problem is that this definition excludes Buddhism, which most people do regard as a religion, although some people try to get round the problem by claiming that Buddhism is not really a religion, but more of a philosophy. But this is cheating, really, because a definition of religion must be descriptive as well as prescriptive; that is, it must apply to entities that are commonly recognised as religions. Durkheim, in The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, proposed that religion had two key characteristics, a separation of the sacred from the profane, and a gathering together of people in some sort of institution or community, such as a church (Durkheim 38, 44). However, religions often reject a separation of the sacred from the profane. Most Muslims and many Calvinist Christians, for example, would insist strongly that everything—including the ostensibly profane—is equally subject to the sovereignty of God. Also, some religions are more oriented to a guru-pupil kind of relationship, rather than a church community.Weber tried to argue that religion should only be defined at the end of a long process of historical and empirical study. He is often criticised for this, although there probably is some wisdom in his argument. However, there seems to be an implicit definition of religion as theodicy, accounting for the existence of evil and the existence of suffering. But is this really the central concern of all religions?Clarke and Byrne, in their book Religion Defined and Explained, construct a typology of definitions, which I think is quite helpful. Broadly speaking, there are two types of classical definition. Firstly, there are substantive definitions (6), such as Tylor’s and Spiro’s, which posit some sort of common “property” that religions “have”—“inside” them, as it were. Secondly, functionalist definitions (Clarke and Byrne 7), such as Durkheim’s, define religion primarily in terms of its social function. What matters, as far as a definition of religion is concerned, is not what you believe, but why you believe it.However, these classical definitions do not really work. I think this is because they try to do too many things. For a strict definition of religion to work, it needs to tell us (i) what religions have in common, (ii) what distinguishes religion on the one hand from non-religion, or everything that is not religion, on the other, and (iii) it needs to tell us something important about religion, what is at the core of religion. This means that a definition of religion has to be in three places at once, so to speak. Furthermore, a definition of religion has to be based on extant religions, but it also needs to have some sort of quasi-predictive capacity, the sort of thing that can be used in a court case regarding, for example, Scientology or Transcendental Meditation.It may be possible to resolve the latter problem by a gradual process of adjustment, a sort of hermeneutic circle of basing a definition on extant religions and applying it to new ones. But what about the other problem, the one of being in three places at once?Another type identified by Clarke and Byrne, in their typology of definitions, is the “family resemblance” definition (11-16). This derives from the later Wittgenstein. The “family resemblance” definition of religion is based on the idea that religions commonly share a number of features, but that no one religion has all of them. For example, there are religious beliefs, doctrines and mythos—or stories and parables. There are rituals and moral codes, institutions and clergy, prayers, spiritual emotions and experiences, etc. This approach is of course less precise than older substantive and functional definitions, but it also avoids some of the problems associated with them.It does so by rethinking the point of defining religion. Instead of being precise and rigorous for the sake of it, it tries to tell us something, to be “productive”, to help us understand religion better. It eschews certainty and embraces doubt. Its insights could be applied to some schools of philosophy (e.g. Heideggerian) and practical spirituality, because it does not focus on what is distinctive about religion. Rather, it focuses on the core of religion, and, secondarily, on what religions have in common. The family resemblance approach has led to a number of “new” definitions (post-Durkheim definitions) being proposed, all of which define religion in a less rigorous, but, I hope, more imaginative and heuristic way.Let me provide a few examples, starting with two contrasting ones. Peter Berger in the late 1960s defined religion as “the audacious attempt to conceive of the entire universe as humanly significant”(37), which implies a consciousness of an anthropocentric sacred cosmos. Later, Alain Touraine said that religion is “the apprehension of human destiny, existence, and death”(213–4), that is, an awareness of human limitations, including doubt. Berger emphasises the high place for human beings in religion, and even a sort of affected certainty, while Touraine emphasises our place as doubters on the periphery, but it seems that religion exists within a tension between these two opposites, and, in a sense, encompasses them both.Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh in the Scottish Episcopal Church and arch-nemesis of the conservative Anglicans, such as those from Sydney, defines religion as like good poetry, not bad science. It is easy to understand that he is criticising those who see religion, particularly Christianity, as centrally opposed to Darwin and evolution. Holloway is clearly saying that those people have missed the point of their own faith. By “good poetry”, he is pointing to the significance of storytelling rather than dogma, and an open-ended discussion of ultimate questions that resists the temptation to end with “the moral of the story”. In science (at least before quantum physics), there is no room for doubt, but that is not the case with poetry.John Caputo, in a very energetic book called On Religion, proposes what is probably the boldest of the “new” definitions. He defines religion as “the love of God” (1). Note the contrast with Tylor and Spiro. Caputo does not say “belief in God”; he says “the love of God”. You might ask how you can love someone you don’t believe in, but, in a sense, this paradox is the whole point. When Caputo says “God”, he is not necessarily talking in the usual theistic or even theological terms. By “God”, he means the impossible made possible (10). So a religious person, for Caputo, is an “unhinged lover” (13) who loves the impossible made possible, and the opposite is a “loveless lout” who is only concerned with the latest stock market figures (2–3). In this sense of religious, a committed atheist can be religious and a devout Catholic or Muslim or Hindu can be utterly irreligious (2–3). Doubt can encompass faith and faith can encompass doubt. This is the impossible made possible. Caputo’s approach here has something in common with Nietzsche and especially Kierkegaard, to whom I shall return later.I would like to propose another definition of religion, within the spirit of these “new” definitions of religion that I have been discussing. Religion, at its core, I suggest, is non-propositional and apophatic. When I say that religion is non-propositional, I mean that religion will often enact certain rituals, or tell certain stories, or posit faith in someone, and that propositional statements of doctrine are merely reflections or approximations of this non-propositional core. Faith in God is not a proposition. The Eucharist is not a proposition. Prayer is not, at its core, a proposition. Pilgrimage is not a proposition. And it is these sorts of things that, I suggest, form the core of religion. Propositions are what happen when theologians and academics get their hands on religion, they try to intellectualise it so that it can be made to fit within their area of expertise—our area of expertise. But, that is not where it belongs. Propositions about rituals impose a certainty on them, whereas the ritual itself allows for courage in the face of doubt. The Maundy Thursday service in Western Christianity includes the stripping of the altar to the accompaniment of Psalm 22 (“My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me”), ending the service without a dismissal (Latin missa, the origin of the English “mass”) and with the church in darkness. Doubt, confusion, and bewilderment are the heart and soul of this ritual, not orthodox faith as defined propositionally.That said, religion does often involve believing, of some kind (though it is not usually as central as in Christianity). So I say that religion is non-propositional and apophatic. The word “apophatic”, though not the concept, has its roots in Greek Orthodox theology, where St Gregory Palamas argues that any statement about God—and particularly about God’s essence as opposed to God’s energies—must be paradoxical, emphasising God’s otherness, and apophatic, emphasising God’s essential incomprehensibility (Armstrong 393). To make an apophatic statement is to make a negative statement—instead of saying God is king, lord, father, or whatever, we say God is not. Even the most devout believer will recognise a sense in which God is not a king, or a lord, or a father. They will say that God is much greater than any of these things. The Muslim will say “Allahu Akhbar”, which means God is greater, greater than any human description. Even the statement “God exists” is seen to be well short of the mark. Even that is human language, which is why the Cappadocian fathers (Saints Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory Naziansus) said that they believed in God, while refusing to say that God exists.So to say that religion is at its core non-propositional is to say that religious beliefs are at their core apophatic. The idea of apophasis is that by a process of constant negation you are led into silence, into a recognition that there is nothing more that can be said. St Thomas Aquinas says that the more things we negate about God, the more we say “God is not…”, the closer we get to what God is (139). Doubt therefore brings us closer to the object of religion than any putative certainties.Apophasis does not only apply to Christianity. I have already indicated that it applies also to Islam, and the statement that God is greater. In Islam, God is said to have 99 names—or at least 99 that have been revealed to human beings. Many of these names are apophatic. Names like The Hidden carry an obviously negative meaning in English, while, etymologically, “the Holy” (al-quddu-s) means “beyond imperfection”, which is a negation of a negation. As-salaam, the All-Peaceful, means beyond disharmony, or disequilibrium, or strife, and, according to Murata and Chittick (65–6), “The Glorified” (as-subbuh) means beyond understanding.In non-theistic religions too, an apophatic way of believing can be found. Key Buddhist concepts include sunyata, emptiness, or the Void, and anatta, meaning no self, the belief or realisation that the Self is illusory. Ask what they believe in instead of the Self and you are likely to be told that you are missing the point, like the Zen pupil who confused the pointing finger with the moon. In the Zen koans, apophasis plays a major part. One well-known koan is “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” Any logical answers will be dismissed, like Thomas Aquinas’s statements about God, until the pupil gets beyond logic and achieves satori, or enlightenment. Probably the most used koan is Mu—Master Joshu is asked if a dog has Buddha-nature and replies Mu, meaning “no” or “nothing”. This is within the context of the principle that everything has Buddha-nature, so it is not logical. But this apophatic process can lead to enlightenment, something better than logic. By plunging again and again in the water of doubt, to use Wittgenstein’s words, we gain something better than certainty.So not only is apophasis present in a range of different religions—and I have given just a few examples—but it is also central to the development of religion in the Axial Age, Karl Jaspers’s term for the period from about 800-200 BCE when the main religious traditions of the world began—monotheism in Israel (which also developed into Christianity and Islam), Hinduism and Buddhism in India, Confucianism and Taoism in China, and philosophical rationalism in Greece. In the early Hindu traditions, there seems to have been a sort of ritualised debate called the Brahmodya, which would proceed through negation and end in silence. Not the silence of someone admitting defeat at the hands of the other, but the silence of recognising that the truth lay beyond them (Armstrong 24).In later Hinduism, apophatic thought is developed quite extensively. This culminates in the idea of Brahman, the One God who is Formless, beyond all form and all description. As such, all representations of Brahman are equally false and therefore all representations are equally true—hence the preponderance of gods and idols on the surface of Hinduism. There is also the development of the idea of Atman, the universal Self, and the Buddhist concept anatta, which I mentioned, is rendered anatman in Sanskrit, literally no Atman, no Self. But in advaita Hinduism there is the idea that Brahman and Atman are the same, or, more accurately, they are not two—hence advaita, meaning “not two”. This is negation, or apophasis. In some forms of present-day Hinduism, such as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (commonly known as the Hare Krishnas), advaita is rejected. Sometimes this is characterised as dualism with respect to Brahman and Atman, but it is really the negation of non-dualism, or an apophatic negation of the negation.Even in early Hinduism, there is a sort of Brahmodya recounted in the Rig Veda (Armstrong 24–5), the oldest extant religious scripture in the world that is still in use as a religious scripture. So here we are at the beginning of Axial Age religion, and we read this account of creation:Then was not non-existent nor existent: there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it.Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal.Darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness this All was indiscriminated chaos.All that existed then was void and form less.Sages who searched with their heart's thought discovered the existent's kinship in the non-existent.Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation?The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into being?He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it,Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps he knows not.(Rig Veda Book 10, Hymn 129, abridged)And it would seem that this is the sort of thought that spread throughout the world as a result of the Axial Age and the later spread of Axial and post-Axial religions.I could provide examples from other religious traditions. Taoism probably has the best examples, though they are harder to relate to the traditions that are more familiar in the West. “The way that is spoken is not the Way” is the most anglicised translation of the opening of the Tao Te Ching. In Sikhism, God’s formlessness and essential unknowability mean that God can only be known “by the Guru’s grace”, to quote the opening hymn of the Guru Granth Sahib.Before I conclude, however, I would like to anticipate two criticisms. First, this may only be applicable to the religions of the Axial Age and their successors, beginning with Hinduism and Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, and early Jewish monotheism, followed by Jainism, Christianity, Islam and so on. I would like to find examples of apophasis at the core of other traditions, including Indigenous Australian and Native American ones, for example, but that is work still to be done. Focusing on the Axial Age does historicise the argument, however, at least in contrast with a more universal concept of religion that runs the risk of falling into the ahistorical homo religiosus idea that humans are universally and even naturally religious. Second, this apophatic definition looks a bit elitist, defining religion in terms that are relevant to theologians and “religious virtuosi” (to use Weber’s term), but what about the ordinary believers, pew-fillers, temple-goers? In response to such criticism, one may reply that there is an apophatic strand in what Niebuhr called the religions of the disinherited. In Asia, devotion to the Buddha Amida is particularly popular among the poor, and this involves a transformation of the idea of anatta—no Self—into an external agency, a Buddha who is “without measure”, in terms of in-finite light and in-finite life. These are apophatic concepts. In the Christian New Testament, we are told that God “has chosen the foolish things of this world to shame the wise, the weak to shame the strong…, the things that are not to shame the things that are” (1 Corinthians 1:27). The things that are not are the apophatic, and these are allied with the foolish and the weak, not the educated and the powerful.One major reason for emphasising the role of apophasis in religious thought is to break away from the idea that the core of religion is an ethical one. This is argued by a number of “liberal religious” thinkers in different religious traditions. I appreciate their reasons, and I am reluctant to ally myself with their opponents, who include the more fundamentalist types as well as some vocal critics of religion like Dawkins and Hitchens. However, I said that I would return to Kierkegaard, and the reason is this. Kierkegaard distinguishes between the aesthetic, the ethical and the religious. Of course, religion has an aesthetic and an ethical dimension, and in some religions these dimensions are particularly important, but that does not make them central to religion as such. Kierkegaard regarded the religious sphere as radically different from the aesthetic or even the ethical, hence his treatment of the story of Abraham going to Mount Moriah to sacrifice his son, in obedience to God’s command. His son was not killed in the end, but Abraham was ready to do the deed. This is not ethical. This is fundamentally and scandalously unethical. Yet it is religious, not because it is unethical and scandalous, but because it pushes us to the limits of our understanding, through the waters of doubt, and then beyond.Were I attempting to criticise religion, I would say it should not go there, that, to misquote Wittgenstein, the limits of my understanding are the limits of my world, whereof we cannot understand thereof we must remain silent. Were I attempting to defend religion, I would say that this is its genius, that it can push back the limits of understanding. I do not believe in value-neutral sociology, but, in this case, I am attempting neither. ReferencesAldridge, Alan. Religion in the Contemporary World. Cambridge: Polity, 2000.Aquinas, Thomas. “Summa of Christian Teaching”. An Aquinas Reader. ed. Mary Clarke. New York: Doubleday, 1972.Armstrong, Karen. The Great Transformation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.Barker, Eileen. New Religious Movements: a Practical Introduction. London: HMSO, 1989.Berger, Peter. 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