Creating Connections in Teaching and Learning

A volume in Research on Teaching and LearningThis book explores the wide range of contexts in which research into creating connections in learning andteaching may take place. Creating connections can encompass making links crossing divides forming relationshipsbuilding frameworks and generating new knowledge. The cognitive cultural social emotionaland/or physical aspects of understanding meaning-making motivating acting researching and evaluatingare explored as constituent forms of creativity in relation to such connections.From this exploration the authors identify varied connective contexts and means which include the learnerthe educator the organisation and the relevant community. The crossing of divides forming learner-educatorrelationships bringing together diverse groups of learners establishing networks and partnerships amongeducators and establishing links between organisations and communities are all considered as connections which can be created by and within thelearning and teaching dynamic.By examining the factors which help to facilitate and/or restrict the possibilities for creating connections in educational contexts implications for andoutcomes of learning and/or teaching arise from the connections created. The final chapter of this book will explicate the realisations that haveemerged for educators and researchers working to create connections. These offer suggestions for future directions and enunciate what and how connectionsmight contribute to both educational institutions and the broader society.