Discusses online course design in higher education and cautions against blindly accepting constructivist and collaborative learning strategies. Explains many of the problems associated with these strategies, including the use of technology; considers social change; and describes groupthink and its influence in online courses. (LRW)

Argues, based on a constructivist view of learning, that if knowledge is constructed rather than recorded as received, instruction must be viewed as creating learning environments that enhance the process of knowledge construction, and should guide, support, and accompany students in constructing an increasingly sophisticated understanding of…

Argues that mathematical learning should be viewed as a process of active individual construction and a process of enculturation into the mathematical practices of wider society. It further argues that the sociocultural perspective theorizes the conditions for the possibility of learning, whereas constructivist perspectives focus on what students…

Examines three ways that constructivism is aligned with multicultural education in formal educational environments: (1) learners organize ideas in unique ways; (2) learners' self-awareness and self-concept influence learning; and (3) a learner's personal history filters new information. (GR)

Discussion of situated cognition and legitimate peripheral participation focuses on responses to criticism of an earlier article. Highlights include postmodernism; modern rationalism; educational technology; the distinction between information and judgment; feminist and critical theories; knowledge creation; constructivism; and instructional…

Responding to an article about the function of the Australian university (EJ 476 127), an educator criticizes the idea that faculty transmit knowledge to students. It is argued that knowledge and interpretations are not given to or acquired by students but rather that learning and education are processes of inquiry and creation. (MSE)

Considers how to integrate theory, research, and practice in human performance technology. Discusses human learning; market pull versus knowledge push; using inquiry to connect theory, research, and practice; constructivist examples; behavioral and cognitive approaches; and differences in research methodologies. (Contains 13 references.) (LRW)

Inquisitiveness is what drives children's learning. Cognitive scientists have devised constructivist theory to explain how an individual progresses from curiosity to new knowledge. Formal schooling has struggled unsuccessfully to simulate real-life learning situations. Emerging brain research supports bringing the community into the learning…

Describes a study of Taiwanese 14-year-olds' (n=48) cognitive structures derived from the instruction of basic atomic physics. Finds that even academically above-average students tended to use relatively lower-level modes of knowledge construction, focusing on reciting or describing specific factual knowledge in physics. (Contains 27 references.)…

The role that affective states play in learning was investigated from the perspective of a constructivist learning framework. We observed six different affect states (frustration, boredom, flow, confusion, eureka and neutral) that potentially occur during the process of learning introductory computer literacy with AutoTutor, an intelligent…

This article presents a new classification scheme for learning environments in secondary education, based on a review of recent literature on new learning and a review of existing classification schemes. This new classification scheme emphasizes new forms of learning and is organized around three main aspects of learning environments that may be…

This chapter explores the dynamics and processes of peer group influences in learning settings from a social constructivist perspective. A two-tiered model of peer influences is presented, in which environments for learning are linked with mechanisms and processes most likely to underpin student learning. A distinction is drawn between more…

This study focused on effective teaching strategies for university professors. The researchers studied the relationship between teaching effectiveness and the dynamics of student demographics. An examination of the changes in the composition of the college population over the last few decades, based on statistical data, as well as an overview of…

A questionnaire was administered to 313 teacher education students of the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore to examine their conceptions about teaching and learning. Two dimensions were identified, viz. traditional and constructivist conceptions about teaching and learning. While both conceptions were…

In this article we present and discuss an integrated system of continuous assessment (ISCA) in higher education, designed to collect multiple evidences of students' knowledge and abilities, and to facilitate monitoring and support of their learning processes. Inspired by a socio-constructivist approach, which assumes a close relation between…