This article discusses major theoretical debates and paradigms from the last decades in general education and their specific influences in mathematics education contexts. Behaviourism, cognitive science, constructivism, situated cognition, critical theory, place-based learning, postmodernism and poststructuralism and their significant aspects in…

Marck Prensky, an authority on teaching and learning especially with the aid of Information and Communication Technologies, has referred to 21st century children born after 1980 as "Digital Natives". This paper reviews literature of leaders in the field to shed some light on theoretical perspectives of how Digital Natives learn and how…

Within the context of re-evaluation of teacher education to meet the challenges of globalisation, the discourse about holistic understanding of teacher's professional mastery is essential. The objective of this paper is to provide theoretical and historical reflections about teacher's professional mastery, highlighting the emotional aspect as a…

There is an exponential growth in the number of schools that offer American Sign Language (ASL) for foreign language credit and the different ASL curricula that were published. This study analyzes different curricula in its assumptions regarding language, learning, and teaching of second languages. It is found that curricula vary in their…

This article attempts to trace the origins of competency-based training (CBT), the theory of vocational education that underpins the National Training Framework in Australia. A distinction is made between societal and theoretical origins. This paper argues that CBT has its societal origins in the United States of America during the 1950s, 60s and…

This investigation displays the findings of a 5 year longitudinal survey which uncovered a trend in data via a sample of 2600 pre-service education students. Each year 520 pre-service student teachers who were enrolled in a one-year full-time, after degree professional Bachelor of Education program in Ontario, Canada completed the survey.…

Replies to Trevor Maddock's philosophical critique of the authors' work. Explains authors' attempts to develop a new science of administration that incorporates values and human subjectivity and a new view of knowledge termed "naturalistic coherentism." Science is still being equated with a positivist version of empiricism. Maddock…

Questions whether materialist pragmatism is more coherent than alternative accounts of educational administration. The criteria provided by materialist pragmatists lack overall coherence; there is no way to choose between first- and second-order theories. Arguments against separation of factual and evaluative realms are unconvincing, and…

Five cooperative learning methods are described with the theories that support them. The five methods are: (1) Group Investigation (GI), developed by S. Sharan and others; (2) Jigsaw, developed by E. Aronson and others; (3) Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD), developed by R. E. Slavin and others; (4) Learning Together, developed by D. W.…

An instructional systems approach to learning draws on principles of instructional design and development but also draws from theories such as behaviorism, information processing, cognitive theory, adult education, and systems theory among others. This paper focuses on how instructional designers can benefit from awareness of different adult…