Describes the planning and implementation of a team-taught two-course sequence for secondary educators on adolescent education. The courses included substantial information on disabilities and special education. The approach to team teaching, based on a constructivist model of learning, is illustrated through the presentation of specific learning…

Describes a case study of an experienced provocateur-teacher in which the teacher's theory for science learning and teaching during teacher-student interactions was inferred from classroom observations, teacher-student discourse, and stimulated recall interviews. The teacher's instructional moves were interrelated with the components of his…

Utilizes the psychological and sociocultural components of a constructivist paradigm to provide a detailed analysis of how the cognitive constructions students make as they enumerate 3D arrays of cubes develop and change in an inquiry-based, problem-centered mathematics classroom. Describes the classroom work of three pairs of 5th-grade students…

To equip young people to meet the challenges of the 21st century, educators must seek out the best understanding from current research on how humans learn before considering further school reform. A brain-friendly model of schooling would include smaller classes for young children, less formal instruction for adolescents, and learning integrated…

Presents examples of chemical education research that illustrate changes in focus, method, and direction over the past 50 years. Contains more than 50 references. (WRM)

Identifies metacognitive realism as the accurate assessment by a learner of their knowledge on a subject. Considers whether realism in metacognition is a stable trait, and possible influences. Briefly reviews the literature and experimental evidence and concludes that metacognitive realism is both style and strategy. (MJP)

Information processing models do not account for much of human competence in everyday scientific and lay contexts. Situated cognition models account better for competence in widely differing situations. In situated cognition models, the purpose of science education must be reconceived as preparing citizens to participate in public enactments of…

Discusses Arthur Chickering's Seven Vectors of College Student Development in relation to the author's own growth as a freshman college student and to that of the first-year students she worked with as a developmental educator. Explains that Chickering's theory encompasses the intellectual, physical, and social growth of the student. (Contains 40…

Examines two days of teacher-led large group discussion in a 5th grade class about a mathematical question intended to support student exploration of relationships among fraction and decimal representations and rational numbers. Illuminates the teacher's work in supporting student thinking through the use of a mathematical question embedded in a…

Study looked at whether there was a distinction between performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal orientation in elementary and junior high students (N=451). In addition, it tested a model that examined the relationship between students' implicit theories of intelligence, goal orientations, perceived competence, and achievement. Implicit…

Drawing on the idea that a constructivist classroom is very different from a traditional setting, this article presents a rubric based on current understanding of constructivist theory and education. The rubric is designed as a formative assessment of teachers to stimulate thinking and improve methods related to constructivist teaching. (SD)

Mathematics educators have found sociocultural models of teaching and learning to be powerful in their ability to describe and support the pursuit of instruction based on recent standards documents (e.g., National Council of Teachers of Mathematics [NCTM], 1989, 2000). These models of instruction, however, have been criticized for their lack of…

This study is concerned with online learners' "low" experiences. On the basis of Csikszentmihalyi's theory of flow, flow was conceptualised as a complex, multimentional, reflective construct composing of "enjoyment", "telepresence", "focused attention", "engagement" and "time distortion" on the part of learners. A flow model was put forward with…

Since the world has been transformed through technology and global competition, children of the twenty-first century need much higher literacy and mathematical skills than their grandparents. Yet, at the same time, children need time to play and time to develop at a natural pace. In this article, the author shares and explains "triangulated…

Contemporary theories of learning postulate one or at most a small number of different learning mechanisms. However, people are capable of mastering a given task through qualitatively different learning paths such as learning by instruction and learning by doing. We hypothesize that the knowledge acquired through such alternative paths differs…