Variations in group co-construction of knowledge and the extent to which participants engaged in negotiating meaning were directly related to instruction. The authors examined social interaction resulting from controlled variation in instruction using a counter-balanced design in two professional development courses for teachers. Both courses were…

In overcrowded urban high schools, students are dealing with many issues in and out of school. Issues at home paired with math curriculum that does not seem relevant to their lives, leads to a lack of engagement in the classroom. This research poses the question: How can project-based algebra engage low-socioeconomic status high school students?…

Action research is a process that classroom teachers undertake to reflect upon and improve their own teaching. This study followed an elementary teacher's two-year experience with an action research project in which her middle school students played mathematical-related games. Through the teacher's involvement in this project, her core beliefs…

Wherever the challenge of promoting effective learning exists in our classrooms there also exists the opportunity for better formative assessment. The time has passed when educational policy makers should support practitioners and embrace the preponderance of relatively recent research which recommends formative assessment interventions in the…

Improved science education is seen as an important goal for many developing countries. The role of elementary science is of particular importance, given that research has shown a high correlation between economic growth and the time spent on elementary science education. However, the teaching of science in many developing countries is dominated by…

This article examines how children's construction of relationships in exploring materials helps to explain the constructivist foundations of the Reggio Emilia approach. A quasi-naturalistic study of 12 preschool children, ages 3 and 4 years, individually exploring different kinds of collage papers reveals a range of constructivist categories…

This study explored support for engagement in 2 settings: a high school basketball team and high school mathematics classrooms. Specifically, the study examined 3 aspects of these practices: (a) access to the domain, (b) opportunities to take on integral roles, and (c) opportunities for self-expression in the practice. Drawing on videotape and…

Constructivist pedagogies are generally not considered to support the teaching of mathematics for externally assessed examination-based courses. In large part, teachers have believed that such approaches are inefficient in covering a set syllabus. This article summarises the author's learning journey in Year 12 mathematics in 2004 where attempts…

This study investigated the extent to which pre-service instructional technologists were prepared to assume roles in providing the systemic support needed by science teachers. The participants in the study engaged in a one-semester graduate course focused on integrating technology into science instruction. Through qualitative methods, this study…

In this study, we observed and interviewed six teachers from two Singapore primary school classrooms. The schools were reportedly achieving high levels of computer integration as reflected in a nationwide questionnaire survey. Out of the 18 lessons that we observed, 14 lessons have incorporated some elements of constructivist teaching. However,…

This study has resulted in an elementary science methods course that facilitates the identification and description of the changes in students' conceptions and understanding of inquiry teaching, and the cultural influences, reflections, and situational factors influencing these changes. Written responses to open-ended questions, reflective…

Nowadays, educational systems are being questioned to find effective solutions to problems that are being encountered, and discussions are centered on the ways of restructuring systems so as to overcome difficulties. As the consequences of the traditional teaching approach, we can indicate that the taught material is not long-lasting but easily…

There is a growing use of immersive virtual environments for educational purposes. However, much of this activity is not yet documented in the public domain, or is descriptive rather than analytical. This paper presents a case study in which university students were tasked with building an interactive learning experience using Second Life as a…

The purpose of this study was to understand what personal epistemologies and science teaching goals preservice secondary science teachers of a teacher education program in the USA bring with them to their learning to teach and how they translate such beliefs into actions. A set of essay questions, developed through a pilot study, was used to…

In this article we present details of a four-step constructivist-based teaching strategy, which helps students understand the dissolution of a gas in a liquid. The model derived from Ayas (1995) involves elicitation of pre-existing ideas, focusing on the target concept, challenging students' ideas, and applying newly constructed ideas to similar…