Argues for learning communities as a fruitful milieu for cognitive development and knowledge construction. Provides a metaphor of a constructivist learning community organization grounded on French scientist and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's theory of evolution. Asserts that Teilhardian thought is useful for conceptualizing a…

An interview with American Indian educator Karen Gayton Swisher explores the learning styles of American Indian children and the application of ideas about these learning styles in the programs at Haskell Indian Nations University. Native American children should be taught from a constructivist, rather than a deficit, point of view. (SLD)

This paper describes the philosophy, implementation, and assessment of the Natural Sciences (NatSci) Program at the University of New Mexico which is designed to provide preservice elementary and middle school teachers with the understanding of science content and processes necessary to teach science confidently and competently in their future…