Many important human activities involve accomplishing goals without a script. There is no formula for true problem-solving. Heuristic, cognitive "rules of thumb" are the problem-solver's best guide. Learners should understand heuristic tools such as means-end analysis, working backwards, successive approximation, and external representation. Since…

Defines discovery learning and explains five learning architectures, or models, including case-based learning, incidental learning, learning by exploring, learning by reflection, and simulation-based learning. Discusses obstacles in applying discovery learning to library instruction and outlines strategies for overcoming the obstacles. (LRW)

Describes a teacher's creative teaching method in an art class. Introduces a summer workshop called the Artist's Workshop for teachers who are interested in infusing art into their classroom. Claims that teachers must push their own boundaries to find out their strategies and to listen to students. Provides 25 strategies to bring art into…

Describes a model of instructional simulation design where designers create models in a system dynamics package and then transfer them into a general instructional authoring system for the addition of instructional support features. Topics include building versus using simulations; procedural versus conceptual simulations; and discovery versus…

Describes a simulation that can be used to give concrete analogies of collision theory and the factors that affect reaction rates including temperature, concentration, catalyst, and molecular orientation. The simulation works best if done as an introduction to the concepts to help prevent misconceptions about reaction rates and collision theory.…

Inquiry-based instruction teaching helps students to think independently and scientifically, which in turn enables problem solving ability in them. Different approaches to encourage inquiry-based instructions like verification approach, and discovery approach are discussed by matching the background knowledge and reasoning skills among the…

The author's thesis is that there is sufficient research evidence to make any reasonable person skeptical about the benefits of discovery learning--practiced under the guise of cognitive constructivism or social constructivism--as a preferred instructional method. The author reviews research on discovery of problem-solving rules culminating in the…

This article explains a two-part plan, created by the people at the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC), to help staff members keep up with the sea change of technology. A core competencies training program was developed. This keeps workers afloat by providing them with the technology skills they need to support the change…

This article will review educational literature relevant to the design and implementation of a learning technology interface (LTI) into an undergraduate music technology curriculum. It also explores through empirical enquiry some of the advantages and disadvantages of using learning technology. This case study adopted a social-constructivist…

This article examines how children's construction of relationships in exploring materials helps to explain the constructivist foundations of the Reggio Emilia approach. A quasi-naturalistic study of 12 preschool children, ages 3 and 4 years, individually exploring different kinds of collage papers reveals a range of constructivist categories…

This article aims at discussing how Dynamic Decision Network (DDN) can be employed to tackle the challenges in modeling temporally variable scientific inquiry skills and provision of adaptive pedagogical interventions in INQPRO, a scientific inquiry exploratory learning environment for learning O'level Physics. We begin with an overview of INQPRO…

This article addresses two important questions about the transition to independent research: (1) What facilitates or impedes graduate students' ability to make the transition, where "impede" is defined as leaving the program without completing the dissertation, making slow progress toward the degree, or completing an undistinguished dissertation…

Observation is a complex activity; that teachers of science should know how to make observation and how to apply it at all grade levels and finally how to monitor and evaluate their students as a guide. The aims of this experimental design study were to create observation methods and to develop student teachers' process skill of observation. The…

This study extrapolated from Liberman's (2004) calibration model and Kimball and Metcalfe's (2003) conceptualization in order to evaluate students' judgment of learning (JOL) of material presented in either an expository or a constructivist format. The purpose of this study was to determine if students have differing degrees of JOL based on the…

In many mathematics classes, students are asked to learn via the discovery method, in the hope that the intrinsic beauty of mathematics becomes more accessible and that making conjectures, forming hypotheses, and analyzing patterns will help them compute fluently and solve problems creatively and resourcefully (NCTM 2000). The activity discussed…