Considers the potential of Lego TC Logo, a product that integrates Lego building materials with computers, for creating contexts for learning that give elementary school students a sense that their work is authentic. Topics include the concept of authentic learning situations; consequences of unauthentic classrooms; cooperation; and evaluation.…

Presents a conceptual framework and notation for learner modelling in intelligent tutoring systems based on the computational distinction between behavior, behavioral knowledge, and conceptual knowledge and between the system, the learner, and the system's representation of the learner. Approaches to learner modelling based on a review of the…

Paper shows that Wittgenstein, in discussing ostensive definition, understanding, and the private language argument, attacks Saint Augustine's notion of learning. Recently, the Augustinian conception has been resurrected in cognitive theories postulating an innate language of thought, making Wittgenstein's claims that this conception of learning…

Criticizes the computer modelling experiments conducted by Sokolik and Smith (1992), which involved the learning of French gender attribution using connectionist architecture. The article argues that the experiments greatly oversimplified the complexity of gender learning, in that they were designed in such a way that knowledge that must be…

Describes a primary classroom in which students are permitted to work independently in a constructivist, predominantly child-driven environment. Includes a short interview with the classroom teacher elaborating on this active learning atmostphere. (HTH)

Comments on the articles presented in this issue devoted to the Japanese perspectives on conceptual change. Discusses the overall conveyed message: The human cognitive system is a thematically organized knowledge base with agentive causality as the main mechanism for explain phenomena and analogy as the main mechanism for promoting conceptual…

Comments on the articles presented in this issue devoted to the Japanese perspectives on conceptual change. Suggests that different approaches to knowledge acquisition and conceptual change should be carefully examined in light of their implications for the teaching of science. Discusses critically the issues advanced from the Japanese…

Examines the concept of learning from both constructivist and sociocultural perspectives and introduces a third perspective based on K. R. Popper's philosophy of science. It is argued that constructivism cannot adequately account for the immaterial objects that Popper located in his World 3--abstract mathematical and scientific objects. (GLR)

Efforts to link faculty research activity and teaching performance have been confounded by different conceptions of the two enterprises. Any link comes from what the two have in common as in their common concern with the act of learning, although in different contexts. Greater emphasis must be placed on the ways in which knowledge is generated and…

Analyzes the conditions and possibilities for technological learning about information technology infrastructure in developing countries; distinguishes between local, contextual learning and institutional or technological infrastructure for learning. Provides examples from Mongolian and South African health care to illustrate the need for learning…

Describes how a project initially designed to improve the quality of student writing in an introductory finance class led the teachers, as the project unfolded, to examine their assumptions about learning, shifting their attention from details of English usage to considerations of the context of which students wrote and the mindsets they brought…

The Urban Learner Framework stresses four themes: the importance of students' cultural strengths and learning experiences, culture's influence on cognitive development, the importance of motivation and effort, and resilience as a characteristic of urban learners. Barriers to change include belief systems, district size, regulations, multiple…

Explores the dissociation between the performance by children with autism on false belief tasks, on which they do poorly, and false photograph, false map, and false drawing tasks, on which they do well. Suggesting domain specificity in the development of representational system, the results supported the modularity of theory of mind and the…

Describes gender-based imagery preferences in research studies and instructional design, and the relationship of stages of aesthetic development to gender-based imagery preferences. Also provides four guidelines for selecting images for various purposes and discusses implications for further research to understand the impact of gender-based visual…

Investigated effects of spatial and literacy content on learning through social interaction. Pairs of kindergarten children in three interaction episodes solved spatial and literacy problems. Gains were made in spatial understanding independent of the type of social interaction used. Spatial understanding appeared to be affected more by how…