Mixed research is a methodology of growing importance both within and without education. This type of research forces researchers to reconcile conflicting ways of justifying and understanding research with results that have the potential to be forward pointing for all researchers. As mixed research has grown, mixed research has gained an…

In this commentary, we reflect on the articles in this special collection from our lens as scholars who have chosen to conduct research with a focus on climate change education. We start with statements of positionality, as certainly our own experiences and philosophical stances shape our work and reflections included here. Afterwards, we present…

Purpose: This paper aims to report on the design and creation of a knowledge management course aimed at facilitating student creation and use of social interactive learning tools for enhanced learning. Design/methodology/approach: The era of social media and web 2.0 has enabled a bottom-up collaborative approach and new ways to publish work on the…

Inquires into empirical, functional, and theoretical arguments made to substantiate theses of retreat, loss of meaning, or untimeliness of general pedagogics. Discusses recent propositions for reorganizing general pedagogics as a subdiscipline of educational science. Argues that general pedagogics could lead to new pedagogical interrelations if…

This article addresses the perennial issue of the criteria by which qualitative research should be evaluated. At the present time, there is a sharp conflict between demands for explicit criteria, for example in order to serve systematic reviewing and evidence-based practice, and arguments on the part of some qualitative researchers that such…

This article is about the possibilities of conducting research with children productively. Children may need suitable prompts, occasions, or media for their expression. The discussion begins with an overview of the challenges or dynamics researchers can experience with any participants in qualitative research in the constructivist paradigm. It…

Presents a critical review of research on student conceptions of the Earth and its place in the universe with regard to epistemological, historical, and cognitive aspects. The Copernican model drives the research questioning about the position of the Earth in the universe with little correlation of the model with the empirical level of…

This paper describes a study that took place within the context of the Science: Parents, Activities, and Literature (Science PALs) project. Particularly, the study sought to determine answers to the following questions: (1) What are the internal consistencies and substantive, external, and structural validities of students' perceptions, teachers'…

Disillusionment with professional/scientific knowledge and trust in practitioner knowledge have led to renewed interest in action technologies. Action research, action learning, participatory research, popular education, and collaborative inquiry can bridge the gap between theory and practice. (SK)

Instead of presenting a body of research attesting to constructivism's effectiveness, Lynn Chrenka cites a litany of "supportive" comments from dead geniuses. The teacher as expert and lecturer is anathema to constructivist doctrine. Sages who speak passionately and authoritatively about a subject they love are increasingly rare in public schools.…

The interaction of emotion and cognition has received experimental attention, but the results have generally been weak and sometimes contradictory. Why this work on mood and memory has faltered is discussed, and a more holistic approach to the study of emotion and cognition is proposed. It is argued that a constructivist approach to memory may be…

In this new edition, the author explains quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, and incorporates the viewpoints of various research paradigms (postpositivist, constructivist, transformative, and pragmatic) into descriptions of these methods. Special emphasis is provided for conducting research in culturally complex communities. Each chapter…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the transdisciplinary case study (TCS) as a learning framework based on what we call functional socio-cultural constructivism and project-based learning (PBL). In doing so, the paper attempts to illustrate the applicability of TCS to learn competencies and skills necessary to research problems of…

It is argued that the debate between qualitative and quantitative research for educational researchers is actually an argument between constructivism and positivism. Positivism has been the basis for most quantitative research in education. Two different things are actually meant when constructivism is discussed (constructivism and…

Constructivist literature has become increasingly prominent in the area of special education. The nature of constructivism and its relevance and limitations for students with special needs is discussed, as is the importance of appropriate research in determining the efficacy of instructional interventions. A search of the literature into the…