Differentiates traditional education, progressive education, constructivism, and the Montessori approach. Examines the role of motivation in constructivism and in Montessori's planes of development. Concludes that Montessorians and constructivists are allies in the struggle to liberate children from conventional educational methods, which blunt…

Discussion of elementary school children who have a preferred visual learning style focuses on a study that investigated the impact of the use of computers and a visually rich software program in a constructivist classroom environment on their writing. Results show an increase in volume and linguistic complexity in their writing skills. (LRW)

At the Lisbon summit in 2000 the European Council set the strategic goal of becoming the most dynamic and competitive region in the world within 10 years. One of the responses of the Dutch government to this ambition is to invest in vocational education. Strengthening vocational education in the Netherlands must result in a second main route into…

The basic tenet of constructivism is that learners construct their knowledge on their own by associating new with prior information. The significance of the learner's interaction with his/her social and physical environment is here of great importance; the learner is at the center of the learning process while the tutor is seen as a facilitator, a…

A socio-constructivist account of learning and emotions stresses the situatedness of every learning activity and points to the close interactions between cognitive, conative and affective factors in students' learning and problem solving. Emotions are perceived as being constituted by the dynamic interplay of cognitive, physiological, and…

Twenty-one in-service early childhood students participated in a teaching practicum in Australia as part of the final year of a Bachelor of Arts in Hong Kong. Students spent two weeks visiting a university and early childhood settings in Australia. The university based component of the program included workshops and discussions with lecturing…

The convergence of the teaching as assessment movement and Total Quality Management (TQM) has implications for higher education, and communication department should adapt their pedagogy to the best of the thrusts in higher education. The Department of Communication at Central Missouri State University contains 2 of the original 10 programs that…

This paper describes the the Reggio Emilia Approach and recommends adopting the curriculum for teaching science in U.S. schools. The underlying philosophy of this approach is its uniqueness within the constructivist paradigm and its potential as an exemplary early childhood program that can be adapted to teach young children science. The educators…

Examines to what extent constructivist theory explains interactions that occurred during group work on a teacher education project in foreign languages. Content analysis was used to examine dialog journals and self-reports on the group process and on each student's role in the group. Findings address division of labor, role taking, desire for…

Discusses two current monograph publications that provide frameworks for adult learning approaches that stress active, participatory, and reflective learning experiences for early care and education professionals, in an effort to eliminate passive learning by adults. A constructivist teacher-education approach is drawn from both works. (SD)

Survey of 279 students entering the Faculty of Education at the University of Western Ontario revealed a structure of beliefs about learning and knowledge having 10 factors that were nearly orthogonal with each other. Most students endorsed a view of learning that included both constructivist and transmission-oriented themes. Contains 58…

Presents fundamental concepts of the Reggio Emilia philosophy of early childhood education, focusing on the importance of "research" as a learning strategy for constructing knowledge for both children and adults. Describes the pertinent image of the child, the school, learning, and knowledge. Details components of a pedagogy of…

Examined 8- and 10-year olds' understanding of the unique features of and potential relations among mental activities. Found a developing tendency to organize mental activities on the degree to which memory was a component of the activity. Results suggest that a constructivist theory of mind develops in later childhood. (AA)

Presents a framework used in shaping two major mathematics teacher education research and development projects, built on a framework for mathematics learning derived from a social constructivist view of learning and incorporating aspects of French didactical theory. Describes interconnections between different domains of teacher knowledge.…

Presents evidence that early and primary school learning exhibits features that previously were thought typical of adult learners only. Reconceptualizes child-centered primary education in light of theories on expertise, conceptual change, and epistemological development. Explores a theoretical approach to learning called progressive inquiry…