Summarizes a 1997-98 pilot study that asked five Finnish teachers working with immigrant children to discuss problems of Russian-speaking students in Finnish classrooms. Russian-speaking students were also interviewed. Problem areas included social relationships, teacher and learner roles, the teaching/learning process, and parent/school…

Eighty-five preservice-education students observed a science experiment concerning either buoyancy or the forces acting on a stationary object, then wrote a series of explanations. Results suggest that students' use of rhetorical structures (explanation, comparison, argumentation, and summarization) stimulated construction of new knowledge, but…

Explores changes in students' (n=250) thinking about basic chemical ideas during a context-based curricular approach. Suggests that 16- to 18-year-old students enter chemistry courses with a wide range of misunderstandings about chemical reactions, but understanding improves steadily as the course progresses. Concludes that even misunderstandings…

Investigated students' metaphors for themselves as learners in an 11th-grade chemistry classroom. Discovered that students' metaphors were congruent with their views of learning and learning processes as evidenced by multiple data sources. Argues that students' metaphors can provide valuable information for practicing teachers and researchers who…

While research has a great deal to tell educators about how college students learn, the educational community is becoming dependent on research and ignoring what can be learned from the principles of good practice in the classroom. Research should be the beginning, not the conclusion, of the investigation into student learning processes. (MSE)

Argues that inquiring must be the dominant feature of education. Notes that traditional education has treated children's thinking and inquiring as of little pedagogical worth; yet education that prepares for the exercise of judgment rests upon teaching students to cultivate the thinking process. Argues that schools must accept responsibility for…

Examines, in a five-year ethnographic study in secondary schools, issues of how literature learning shapes thinking. Follows 10 students from their English classes into their academic classes over their high school careers. Analyzes literacy events in their literature and content-area classes, including how literacy events functioned and what they…

Sylwester says education must begin relying more on biology than social and behavioral science. All brain systems move from a slow, awkward functional level to a fast, efficient level. Contributions of metacognition, self-regulation, emotions, reflective and reflexive responses, comparison, and classification to cognitive development are…

Discusses the need for technology competencies in higher education; considers barriers to technology adoption; describes a needed paradigm shift from teaching to learning; and contends that for universities to remain competitive, they must develop training programs for faculty that emphasize learning and provide support to integrate technology…

Reports on a study of whether limited use of inquiry activities as a supplement to a traditional lecture and demonstration curriculum would improve student achievement in introductory physics classes for preservice teachers and general education students. Finds that students who engaged in inquiry investigations significantly outperformed other…

Indicates the presence of complex structural, behavioral, and functional relations to understanding. Reports on a design experiment in which 6th grade children learned about the human respiratory system by designing artificial lungs and building partial working models. Makes suggestions for successful learning from design activities. (Contains 44…

Analyzes accreditation for early childhood education programs in the context of two major schools of thought: "academic" learning versus "developmentally appropriate" learning. Suggests that the accreditation criteria of the National Association for the Education of Young Children be integrated with those of the North Central…

A study analyzed development of French aspectual markers in 39 college students of French as a second language and 30 native French-speaking students. Results indicate classroom instruction may increase the rate at which learners develop this knowledge, and that lack of access to second-language discursive-pragmatic conditions may prevent learning…

Considers the problem of defining quality in English language teacher education, given the diversity of interests and stakeholders in this field and the range of definitions of teaching. Ultimately, quality can be achieved and sustained by attending to process rather than product in training and by developing professional skills and judgment…

Teachers using a constructivist approach to learning are not invisible, as Lawrence Baines and Gregory Stanley suggest in a December 2000 "Kappan" article. Rather, they are an integral part of an active, student-centered learning process. Assisted by teachers, learners select and transform information, construct hypotheses, and make decisions.…