Potential-Focused Learning is based on constructivist concepts and concentrates on the 'patterns of construction of learning relevant realities' and the 'self-organisation' of individuals and systems. On the basis of constructivism we will present in this article a new dynamic concept of potentials and 'positive differences' that expand the…

Educating student teachers to teach highly diverse groups of pupils has become one of the central tasks of teacher education programmes. Research on inclusive education has pointed to the need for more studies around student teachers' inclusive teaching competence. This study explores the extent to which student teachers' beliefs and self-efficacy…

This paper focuses on understanding and exploring how a group of university engineering and science tutor educators learn and assimilate new conceptions about their role in the face of the forces of globalisation that are transforming the system of higher education. This research paper adopts the notion of the Teacher Support Team (TST) as…

A key way that colleges and universities seek to improve student learning is by providing instructional development to faculty. Yet today, the majority of college faculty are non-tenure track, adjunct faculty who have limited access to instructional support, and have traditionally not participated in such teaching improvement efforts when offered.…

Leadership has entered an age of chronic unrest. Scholars have emphasized the impact of healthy and effective leaders on organizations (Crother-Laurin, 2006), yet recent studies reveal high stress and burnout in the contemporary workplace (Walsh, 2005, 2013). The academy faces their own organizational challenges, (Archibald & Feldman, 2010)…

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Curriculum Development: Theory into Design.] This manuscript discusses how learning theories have been applied to shape multiple aspects of the design of curricular activities combining interactive computer simulations and University of Washington style tutorials (so-called simulation-tutorials).…

Research on school bullying has its roots in the field of developmental and educational psychology, and appeals to the need for a theoretical and methodological widening in order to grasp its ambiguity and complexity. The article draws on ethnographic fieldwork in which 144 pupils and seven teachers participated from seven school classes in three…

The article dwells on professional development of public school teachers as an inevitable constituent of education systems in the 21st century. In such economically developed countries as Great Britain, Canada and the USA, the problem of preparing teachers to a difficult and responsible task of upbringing and educating future citizens always…

This research investigated young children's experiences of a natural wetland environment as they constructed meanings of nature in a group. This work was framed theoretically on the premise of social constructivism and ethical listening in efforts to phenomenologically understand how children came to know nature through pre-reflective and…

The aim of this article is to direct the social design debate to constructivist approaches to design education in the Global South. This article provides insight into the process of participatory user-centred design involving Ecuadorian third year graphic design students and cocoa cultivators of limited resources in Ecuador. The students and…

Based in a time of major curriculum reform, this article reports on a qualitative case study of teacher professional development (PD) in the Republic of Ireland (ROI). Five mathematics teachers in an Irish secondary school were introduced to and participated in successive cycles of school-based lesson study (LS) over the course of one academic…

Complex adaptive systems theory served as a framework for this qualitative study exploring the process of how meaning emerges from the collective interactions of individuals in a synchronous online discussion through their shared words about a topic. In an effort to bridge levels of analysis from the individual to the small group to the community,…

Empirical research in Jewish education has found almost exclusive use of "transmission" pedagogy among Jewish studies teachers. This study hoped to fill out the empirical landscape by studying Jewish studies teachers who prioritize student-driven interpretation. It followed six Jewish studies teachers in four different Jewish elementary…

This qualitative study examines the challenges and supports inherent in a student-centered mathematics curriculum developed for a constructivist environment. Mathematics education faculty and special education faculty from a university college of education collaborated on this study to determine how students responded to specific components of…

This case study highlights the social-cultural relevant pedagogical impact a bilingual teacher has on the middle school ESL classroom through her Latina identity and lived experiences. Data gathering occurred over six months through the principal participant's in-depth interviews, classrooms observations, and document analysis of classroom…