In science education there is a general agreement that instruction should be sensitive to students' everyday science knowledge. This paper reports on a study investigating the effectiveness of the Multiple Resonance Reflection Tool (MRRT) which is an aid for teachers that reflects students' everyday science knowledge. Two main focus points of the…

The actions of the mathematics teacher are bound up in ethical decisions that impact the learner and teacher, both within and external to the formal school curriculum. This paper argues that the principles of a radical constructivist theory of knowing underlie a model for an ethics of liberation. A learner's active construction of their…

One constructivist approach to assessing student learning is the use of portfolios. The contents of a portfolio demonstrate what a student knows and can do. The portfolio indicates actual products and processes a student has developed, as exemplified in the description of the contents of a student portfolio in a teaching methods course. Portfolios…

This research was designed to describe a constructivist science teacher education program and to investigate how students in the program experienced a constructivist learning environment. Nineteen students enrolled in a four-term program for prospective secondary science teachers participated in this one-year study. A rich description of the…

This document presents the proceedings of five seminars and a symposium focusing on qualitative research. These events took place at the University of Northern Colorado during the 1998-99 academic year. The seminar series considered current and emerging qualitative research paradigms. The symposium, held after the series of seminars, concentrated…

Integration of the cognitive psychology and sociocultural constructivist perspectives yields a more comprehensive account of adult thinking and acting. This synthesis is based on a view of individual knowledge acquisition as a socially mediated process and on ontogeny or life-history approach. (SK)

Uses components of Habermas' life-world concept to identify the processes through which communities of practice create intellectual capital as members co-construct knowledge. Concludes that organizations should find ways to enhance communicative collaboration in order to develop intellectual capital. (Contains 30 references.) (SK)

Distinguishes between two traditions--conceptual change theory and radical constructivism--based on ontology, epistemological commitments, view of learners, and authority of received ideas. Uses conceptual change theory as a foil to raise questions about the philosophical merits of radical constructivism. Contains 81 references. (Author/JRH)

Examines the process that one instructor of undergraduate introductory science underwent when she attempted to execute constructivist teaching into practice. Three critical variables were identified that affected the implementation process: (1) the university context; (2) the instructor's emotional response; and (3) the mentoring relationship.…

Four theoretical streams--contexualism/ecology, systems theory, realism/constructivism, and chaos theory--contributed to a theory of individuals as complex, unique, nonlinear, adaptive chaotic and open systems. Individuals use purposive action to construct careers but can make maladaptive and inappropriate choices. (Contains 42 references.) (SK)

Describes some reflections on culture and the historical development of school mathematics in a contemporary Pakistani context. (KHR)

Presents a theoretical mechanism for learning and a methodological approach for analyzing meaning making in classroom talk and action. Examines the potential of the approach for illuminating learning on a discourse level; i.e., how discourses change and how individuals become participants of new practices. Involves a high-resolution analysis of…

Because school psychologists may be asked to work in a constructivist framework, this article describes the essential characteristics and difficult issues associated with implementing this approach for classroom practice. Included are goals, assumptions about learners, essential teacher skills, and research concerns. Highlights currently…

Discusses the old claim in philosophy that attempts to undermine any realist account of truth and thus knowledge in science and elsewhere. Explains that the constructivists take this to heart and look for accounts of knowledge that are anti-realist and/or constructivist in which the role of the external world in knowledge is downplayed or…

Examines how feminist evaluation principles and practices look from the perspectives of five different frameworks, each offering different criteria for judging evaluations. These frameworks are: (1) traditional scientific research criteria; (2) social construction and constructivist criteria; (3) artistic and evocative criteria; (4) pragmatic and…