In this article, I report a two-year study of working closely with science teachers and examining perceptions of Year 9 (12-13 year olds) students in 13 New Zealand secondary schools. The Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) was used. The questionnaire was administered to 327 students in the first year and 362 students in the second…

In this article, we describe lessons learned from three separate literacy professional learning initiatives that took place in elementary schools in three different locations: high-poverty urban, medium-poverty rural, and low-poverty suburban. The professional learning initiatives were also diverse in scope: one was a three-year, school-wide…

This study examines the development and implementation of a survey-based instrument assessing the effectiveness of a course redesign initiative focused on student centeredness at a large midwestern university in the United States. Given the scope of the reform initiative under investigation in this study, researchers developed an instrument called…

Whilst educational action research is not unknown in Croatia, its use is not widespread. In part, this might be because action research assumes a high level of autonomy for practitioner-researchers, and a constructivist view of knowledge, neither of which are traditional characteristics of the Croatian system. This article reports on a capacity…

Discusses the movement in teacher education from a behaviorist approach to a constructivist approach. Describes the role of teachers and teacher education programs in the behaviorist tradition (teacher transmits knowledge) and in the contructivist tradition (teacher mediates ideas, constructs meaning and knowledge, and acts upon them). (CR)

The "No Child Left Behind Act" (NCLB, 2001) required schools to make adequate yearly progress, use disaggregated data in planning, and employ highly-qualified teachers. The school leaders became those responsible for the success of the school. In South Carolina the Department of Education has recently sought to address adequacy needs…

One of the greatest challenges we face as an early childhood professional community is providing short-term, affordable professional development that results in depth of understanding and change of practice. The University of Wyoming Early Childhood Summer Institute is a model for professional development that fosters reflection, inquiry, and…

With less than 10 percent of St. Louis Public Schools' students reaching the "proficient" level in the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP), the district felt some changes needed to be made, and quickly. Accordingly, the district turned to the eMINTS (enhancing Missouri's Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies; www.emints.org) program…

This paper examines the impact of the El Paso (Texas) Technology Innovation Challenge Grant masters program in instructional technology on the classroom practices of K-12 teachers. The program emphasizes the integration of technology into the curriculum and the use of technology to drive education reform, rather than simply focusing on technology…

This paper explores the effectiveness and efficiency of multimedia-computer-based text accompanied by illustrations, graphs, simulations, and animation in teaching chemistry. The paper cautions that although multimedia may be a means to more effective teaching, there is no assurance that it increases student learning. Studies suggest that…

The purpose of this study was to describe how four teachers in four different cities in Missouri implemented a constructivist-based learning environment (CBLE) that included an innovation cluster that paired an emerging online technology with a unit design framework. The motivating question for the study originated from prior research on teacher…