Editorial
Patrick Lewis
University of Regina
Welcome to the Spring 2017 issue of in education. I think some folk might say that it would be an understatement to suggest the world has recently been living through interesting times. However, I am not so naïve as to realize that human existence is “always already” interesting. Perhaps at such times in our thoughts it may prove helpful to stop a moment and contemplate the immediate, of just being, so that insight may come into view. Many of the works held within this issue of the journal seem to do just that, not so much in a Robert Frost way to ponder the snow and the woods one evening, but rather to look carefully into not the way things are, but the way things might be.
In 1983, my spouse and I were travelling through North Africa living in an old VW bus. We had met some other travelers and traded books from our scant collection. We acquired Henry Miller’s (1961), Tropic of Cancer amongst the four books we traded. Reading it in the northern Sahara of Algeria, I was struck by a passage that has stayed with me since:
I believe that today more than ever a book should be sought after even if it has only one great page in it. We must search for fragments, splinters, toenails, anything that has ore in it, anything that is capable of resuscitating the body and the soul. (p. 257)
in education has always welcomed researchers/authors to think of the journal as a place to explore the notion of education in a broad and inclusive way that allows for a discussion that augments the latitude and significance of what education could mean. This has always included encouraging works that travel across disciplines, research methods—both qualitative and quantitative—and thoughtful and innovative works that help expand the conversation about and in education. This current issue continues that work providing nine articles that demonstrate the depth and breadth of research that moves through the field of education.
I encourage readers to peruse the abstracts within, finding those that resonate with your imagination and delve into the full articles. You should not be disappointed; from working with Christian Social Studies teachers who take up social justice issues in their teaching practice; to studying the impact of SNAP® For Schools (Stop Now And Plan) an empirically supported cognitive behavioural program for children; to the borderlands of possibility as preservice teachers live in the ecotone, the space in between being a student and becoming a teacher; and the many other pieces in this issue will no doubt inform and inspire.
Reference
Miller, H. (1961). Tropic of cancer. New York, NY: Grove Press.