This paper answers several frequently asked questions about constructivism, including how to define it, how to plan the curriculum, how to assess student understanding, what to do with the information, where to begin, how students work in a constructivist classroom, and why constructivism is important. (SM)

Tests the hypothesis that there is no monotonic relationship between increasing competence in different linguistic domains and growth in second-language proficiency. The article concludes with an introduction to some assessment models that can accommodate discontinuous growth patterns. These models can describe and model a student's qualitative…

Investigates whether knowing more than one language enhances the learning of lexical items and syntactic constructions in other languages. Multilingual (M1) students outperformed unilinguals in both types of acquisition, suggesting that M1s' heightened metalinguistic skills, enhanced lexical knowledge, and a less conservative learning procedure…

Investigates issues fundamental to computer-assisted, multicultural education. Studied Asian American middle school students who corresponded electronically with culturally dissimilar students. Findings indicate that students of different ethnic backgrounds may have different attitudes about and knowledge of computers, cross-cultural communication…

Analyses of sentence combination data from 33 adult learners of English as a Second Language instructed in sentence combination tasks yielded inconclusive results as to whether implicational generalization (IG) is unidirectional to hierarchy levels implicated by the instructed level. The results suggest that IG is clearly not uniformly maximal to…

Describes a study that analyzed the qualitative features of learning interaction during classroom teaching and learning when mediating modern technological thinking and problem-solving skills for Finnish seventh graders. The learning interaction was organized according to the principles of a cognitive apprenticeship model and applied to a…

Describes a small-scale study conducted with a group of Malaysian teachers on a short language learning course. The teachers kept diaries of their language learning experience, which were analyzed according to themes of barriers to learning and supports to learning. (Author/JL)

Explains the importance of an integrated science class setting in students' ability to engage in decision making and develop skills required to design investigations. Presents an example of a science classroom in which students participate in a guided inquiry activity and design an investigation. Points to the potential of group projects in…

Examines the possible role of maturational constraints on first language acquisition and second language learning. Reviews research on the special circumstances of delayed first language acquisition and the effects of age on second language learning. Suggests that ability to attain native-speaker grammatical competence may diminish long before…

Describes a connectionist model, using a simple recurrent network trained on a phoneme prediction task, that accounts for the child's ability to identify word boundaries. The model shows that aspects of linguistic structure that are not overtly marked in the input can be derived by efficiently combining multiple probabilistic cues. (Author/MSE)

Examines the relative effectiveness of guided versus unguided computer-based instruction with regard to regular instruction in improving content knowledge and process skills among students with low and high chemistry achievement levels. The effectiveness of computer-based instruction increases when learning is supported by teacher-directed…

Describes a study of Taiwan university students that investigated the impacts of incorporating email into the classroom on student achievement and attitudes using a posttest-only control-group design. Results showed a statistically significant difference in academic performance but not in student attitudes toward computers. (Author/LRW)

Reviews recent philosophical debate surrounding the future role and activities of universities in a technological society; discusses the need for new learning models to meet the needs of working adult students; and presents the demand-driven learning model, a collaborative effort between academics and experts from private and public industries…

Explores the perceptions and views of primary school children in exploring, discussing, and rationalizing their use of computers in the classroom based on focus group interviews with students in Wales. Considers work processes; effects on learners' abilities; the finished product; and concerns over originality and authenticity. (Contains 59…

Analyzed a corpus of videotapes in which university students solved physics problems to determine how students learn to understand a physics equation. Found that students learn to understand physics equations in terms of a vocabulary of elements called symbolic forms, each associating a simple conceptual schema with a pattern of symbols. Findings…