In this article, I examine distributed scaffolding, an emerging approach in the design of supports for rich learning environments intended to help students develop disciplinary ways of knowing, doing, and communicating. Distributed scaffolding incorporates multiple forms of support that are provided through different means to address the complex…

The author addresses the debate over the growing use of technology in early education. Citing a recently released report from the Alliance of Childhood, he argues that technology robs young children of the imaginative play that helps them develop the qualities they will need for future success.

Object-oriented instructional design (OOID) offers the promise of universal access to online instructional materials, increased productivity among trainers and educators, and solutions for individualizing learning. However, it is unclear whether it can fulfill these promises to the degree many envision. As with every new instructional technology,…

Electronic collaborative learning environments for learning and working are in vogue. Designers design them according to their own constructivist interpretations of what collaborative learning is and what it should achieve. Educators employ them with different educational approaches and in diverse situations to achieve different ends. Students use…

This study investigates personal and setting characteristics, teacher attitudes, and current computer technology practices among 764 elementary and secondary teachers from both private and public school sectors in Quebec. Using expectancy-value theory, the Technology Implementation Questionnaire (TIQ) was developed; it consists of 33 belief items…

In this paper, we present an interactive teaching approach to introduce the concept of optimal design of experiments to students. Our approach is based on the use of spreadsheets. One advantage of this approach is that no complex mathematical theory is needed nor that any design construction algorithm has to be discussed at the introductory stage.…

A number of ideas in complexity theory are reviewed and then it is shown that all known classes of complexity of really unmanageable problems have instances in education. These are common problems in the teaching of every branch of science, knowledge and human culture. Selected pedagogic problems classify as NP-harsh problems, i.e. NP-hard…

This author relates how she came upon the idea of using an image-editing program to virtually install monumental sculptures into real-life landscapes in her desire to bring technology and sculpture together in her art class. In this article, she describes how she made her class create tabletop-sized sculptures and photographs of digital…

A comparative study was conducted to compare two approaches to engineering design curriculum between different schools (inter-school) and between two curricular approaches, "Project Lead the Way" (PLTW) and "Engineering Projects in Community Service" (EPIC High) (inter-curricular). The researchers collected curriculum…

Background: Many of the potential benefits of using virtual worlds for teaching and learning are difficult to define and often become overly focused on the functionality of the technology or on its ability to support informal or "social" forms of learning. Purpose: The aim of the paper is to highlight the experiential nature of virtual…

This paper reports on the incorporation of wiki technology within physical education. Boys from two classes at a school in the United Kingdom were divided into small teams and given the task of creating a new game in a same genre as football, hockey, netball or rugby. Each team had a wiki on which were recorded all the plans and developments of…

Included herein is the conference proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference on the Teaching of Psychology: Ideas and Innovations, sponsored by the Psychology Department of the State University of New York at Farmingdale. The conference theme for 2012 was: The value of an undergraduate degree in psychology: Why psychology--Why now?. The Conference…

This paper discusses the importance of the direct relationship between instructor discourse and learner discourse in the online learning environment during mandatory online discussions. It provides meaningful insights toward pedagogical theory and corresponding instructional practices associated with these two factors: (a) the extent of instructor…

Clickers are electronic response devices with which a student can remotely submit responses to questions or problems posed by a teacher. The problems are typically true-false or multiple-choice questions, but can also include numerical problems. Clicker devices are particularly popular in large-enrollment introductory science, technology,…

In this article I argue that by connecting assessment to learning and instruction and by enacting assessment as a collective practice we can see new opportunities for learning. The concept of mediated action and the notion of a collective zone of proximal development are used to theorize assessment. Two cases are included to support and make…