Reports on a study of a pilot model of a laboratory training course that provides preservice secondary science teachers the opportunity to explore pedagogical possibilities and gain hands-on experience running a general chemistry lab. (DDR)

Explores connections between naive epistemology and everyday instructional practice. Reviews examples of naive epistemologies as made up of fine-grained, context-sensitive resources. Presents strategies designed to help students tap those resources for learning introductory physics. Reflects on this work as an example of interplay between two…

Outlines principles for holistic technology education by examining the following: (1) knowing and understanding through practical engagement with technology; (2) dialectics and praxis; and (3) the work of Dewey, Hegel, Feuerbach, and Marx. Identifies four interconnected factors: humans, applied setting, environment, and tools. (Contains 20…

This ethnographic study investigated first-graders' social construction of their classroom computer experience. Findings showed that children constantly negotiate between their own individual and collective goals in the classroom as they create their own definition of computer use while conforming to the teacher's rules. Considers the usefulness…

Used a children's story and interviews to compare how six-year-olds in three cultures conceptualize learning in their preschool environments. Found that Swedish and Japanese children who did not recall a coherent narrative relied on their own understanding of point of story rather than on words of story, whereas Chinese children looked for key to…

Presents case studies of three adolescent boys with progressive vision loss who gradually became blind during adolescence. Examines the relationship between the boys' psychological adjustment to their blindness and their acquisition of braille reading skills. (Author)

Provides a holistic model with five primary factors that affect the overall ecology of a distance-learning experience, including consideration for course delivery, instruction quality, student participation and involvement, course and program administration, and the culture of teaching and learning. (Author/LRW)

A study of an 11-year-old boy with speech-language disorders investigated the effectiveness of an intervention protocol designed to increase the child's elaborative word knowledge of sets of words for which he demonstrated naming problems but comprehended. The child was able to decrease his naming response time and error rate. (Author/CR)

Discusses the historical elements related to the U.S. kindergarten development. Notes that while parents disagree on kindergarten content and quality, they strongly favor its existence for offering their children an academically competitive edge. Questions if kindergarten is a first step in public primary education or a last step in developmental,…

Examines whether observers perceptions differ if they were informed of the proximal instructional goals than if they were not informed. Classifies music education majors written statements (n=120) after viewing one of three randomly assigned stimulus tapes. Found non-informed subjects wrote more teacher-directed, inferential, and positive…

Describes similarities and differences between modeling cycles and stages of development. Includes examples of relevant constructs underlying children's developing ways of thinking about fractions, ratios, rates, proportions, or other mathematical ideas. Concludes that modeling cycles appear to be local or situated versions of the general stages…

Describes a course that uses student-designed laboratory experiments for a one-semester, junior-level physiology course. Discusses advantages and pitfalls of using this methodology. (Author/KHR)

Assesses developmental changes in verbal memory from the beginning of elementary school to late adolescence on the basis of data from the Munich Longitudinal Study. Suggests that overall, individual differences in verbal memory performance develop very early in life and are relatively unaffected by differences in educational experiences. (Contains…

Investigates student learning in a mathematics enrichment program offered via the Internet. Describes a course aimed at fostering students' capabilities to work like a mathematician. Examines students' correspondence and work for evidence of how students were working mathematically. Explains how to design both face-to-face and on-line teaching to…

Discussion of the educational use of videoconferencing focuses on a videoconference in South Africa that showed the development of a puppetry production. Topics include scaffolding in the learning process; feedback from learners; assessing the use of videoconferencing, including cost issues; suggestions for using videoconferencing as an…