"Theoretical Foundations of Learning Environments" describes the most contemporary psychological and pedagogical theories that are foundations for the conception and design of open-ended learning environments and new applications of educational technologies. In the past decade, the cognitive revolution of the 60s and 70s has been…

Online teaching provides a new avenue for the human imagination, another way for artists and teachers to creatively participate in the predominant cultural form of our time, the Internet. Several online university courses are presented as examples of communities of learners in action. They provide an overview of what was found to be effective in…

Describes the Reggio Emilia (Italy) model for preschool education. Addresses the perceived difficulties of transferring the program to U.S. schools, focusing on differences in patterns of thinking, educational attitudes, and cultural conventions between the two cultures. Provides perspectives for change and adaptation. (SD)

Evaluated effectiveness of a multiage learning project in terms of an assessment of classroom quality, and teacher concerns about multiage grouping and computer use in the classroom. Found that participating teachers modified their classrooms to make them more developmentally appropriate, and they increased their use of computers for their own…

Studies racial and ethnic differences in mathematics achievement for elementary school students in a large suburban school system in the Washington (DC) metropolitan area. Results with more than 5,000 students show minority students performing at a lower level than majority students. Issues of teacher attitudes, teaching methods, and the role of…

Summarizes a study evaluating California's first digital magnet school, designed to emulate a Silicon-Valley high-tech start-up company. A survey of 159 junior and seniors revealed positive perceptions of the school's program and business atmosphere and very high expectations for achieving college and career success. (Contains 44 references.) (MLH)

The 1998 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act requires states to report annually to the U.S. Department of Education the number of prospective teachers at each of their teacher training institutions who pass the state's tests for licensure. However, the law left decisions on what licensure tests to require, what to assess on them, and their…

This case study investigates the development of the understanding of constructivist theory among students in a Masters level elementary teacher education program within a particular course. The focus of the study is a seminar entitled "Advanced Seminar in Child Development". The questions explored include: How do students' ideas of…

These proceedings contain the papers of the International Conference e-Learning 2013, which was organised by the International Association for Development of the Information Society and is part of the Multi Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems (Prague, Czech Republic, July 23-26, 2013). The e-Learning 2013 conference aims to…

These 12 newsletter issues supply educational resources to providers of school-age child care. Each eight-page issue may include several feature articles; activities that providers can use with children; descriptions of professional development activities and training programs; information on books, pamphlets, and other educational materials in…

A study/research partnership between university teacher educators and teachers was formed when teachers at the third-, fourth- and fifth-grade levels decided to implement an innovation called Literature Response Groups in their classrooms. The setting was an urban elementary school in northern California. Participants included six elementary…

Changes in our world have made it more difficult for children to find protected, exciting places to play and interesting, satisfactory things to play with. This edited volume, resulting from the collaboration of Bank Street College (New York, New York), Erikson Institute (Chicago, Illinois), Pacific Oaks College (Pasadena, California), and…

This document contains 14 papers presented at an annual symposium sponsored by Northern Illinois University's Department of Leadership and Educational Policy Studies and College of Education. First, information about the symposium's history and participants is presented. The following papers constitute the remainder of the document:…

This paper synthesizes issues related to the Internet, Internet curriculum materials (i.e., any type of teaching material or activity that can be incorporated into the K-12 curriculum and is available on the Internet), and constructivist learning theory; it explores the use of the Internet as a constructivist environment for learning and the…

Project CIRCLE, a project conducted by the University of Texas Learning Technology Center in collaboration with the Austin Independent School District and the Eanes Independent School District, explored the use of network-based tools to help change teacher practices toward more student-directed and constructivist approaches to learning. Through…