Examines instructional practices organized around the funds of knowledge that children bring to the classroom, attempting to debunk the cultural deficit perspective, which disregards the cognitive and linguistic schema that students already have in place. Describes how these instructional practices transformed the literacy development of one…

Recommends the use of heart models in teaching about the circulatory system. Argues that simulation activities can deepen students' understanding of heart structure, dispel misconceptions of the cardiac cycle, and foster awareness of the importance of maintaining a healthy heart. (DDR)

Describes a bilingual Spanish/English teacher's grade 4/5/6 students, many of whom are children from migrant families with little or no formal schooling. Notes that classroom routines are helpful for these students. Describes an agriculturally-themed unit that draws on students' prior knowledge and that presents concepts they may have missed in…

Discusses how second-language reading research is focusing increasingly on the cognitive processes involved in reading--the interaction of lower-level, bottom-up processes such as vocabulary acquisition with high-level, top-down processes such as activating prior knowledge. This knowledge is combined with current research on learning with…

Describes three multimedia resources, produced with an emphasis on the use of images, by a consortium headed by the University of Exeter for initial teacher education. Discusses the educational framework within which the resources were designed, including an integrative approach, constructivism, prior knowledge, user expectations, and affective…

Discusses validity issues associated with three popular content-general reading college placement tests and then presents a theoretical argument to support an alternative placement procedure using content-specific testing. Proposes that content-specific tests would have improved content-related and construct-related validity. States that more…

An experiential approach to environmental studies courses in institutions of higher education would better prepare students to address the environmental problems of the new millennium. Research shows that adults prefer experiential and task-centered learning. Experiential learners are more efficient workers, achieve higher grades, are more…

A third-grade teacher and an English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teacher collaborated to ensure the academic success of English language learners through "a priori" teaching. The ESL support teacher used verbal and interactive strategies to pre-teach key concepts, skills, and academic language relevant to the subject matter being covered…

We present a methodology for designing better learning environments. In Phase 1, 6th-grade students' (n = 223) prior knowledge was assessed using a difficulty factors assessment (DFA). The assessment revealed that scaffolds designed to elicit contextual, conceptual, or procedural knowledge each improved students' ability to add and subtract…

This article examines conceptual learning of genetics in a Year 10 Australian classroom from an ontological perspective. The study was part of a larger research project about teaching and learning genetics with computer-based multiple representations. Genetics is an important but difficult topic to teach and learn at school. The study used an…

For the past two decades, a growing amount of research has shown that the use of analogies in science teaching and learning promotes meaningful understanding of complex scientific concepts (Gentner, [1983]; Glynn, [1989]; Harrison & Treagust, [1993]; Wong, [1993]). This article presents a study in which multiple analogies were used as scaffolding…

This study describes the multiple analogical models used to introduce and teach Grade 12 chemical equilibrium. We examine the teacher's reasons for using models, explain each model's development during the lessons, and analyze the understandings students derived from the models. A case study approach was used and the data were drawn from the…

This study investigates the influence of using five web-based practice units on English verb-noun collocations with the design of a web-based Chinese-English bilingual concordancer (keyword retrieval program) on collocation learning. Thirty-two college EFL students participated by taking a pre-test and two post-tests, and responding to a…

Many topics in chemistry are difficult for learners to understand, including symmetry. Reasons for this difficulty include its multi-level content, instructional methodologies utilized, and learner variables. This study examined the effect of initial instructional modality and prior knowledge on learning of point group symmetry. Forty-four…

Beginning teachers in Northern Ireland and the United States conducted structured inquiry projects in which they investigated elementary children's understanding of history and social studies. Interviews with the teachers and analysis of their written assignments indicate that these investigations challenged their beliefs about children's prior…