Reports on a study of the impact of an initial teacher education program on the development of a conceptual change model of instruction in prospective biology teachers. Analyzes the performance of prospective teachers in teaching practices and achievement in the skills related to the instructional model. (Contains 22 references.) (Author/YDS)

Discusses a recent study of the nature of today's college students that revealed the importance of teaching hope as a means of empowering the transitional generation now attending college. This qualitative study reveals the nature of hope and despair and its effect on the learning process from the perspective of 32 college students. (Contains 19…

Within-group similarities and between-group differences are used to illustrate the socio-cultural nature of the concept-building process in highly collaborative computer science classrooms. Simultaneously, a social constructivist perspective is used to describe the individual aspects of this development. The study uses written explanations from…

An urgent need exists in teacher education programs to discern how technology-enhanced instruction with a constructivist orientation can be utilized in the design of dynamic, powerful learning communities. This article provides a conceptual framework that augments understanding of the effectiveness of technology infusion in teacher education. The…

This article presents a brief overview of developments in educational psychology over the last twenty-five years. It firstly presents an historical context by reviewing four basic emphases in educational psychology; cognitive psychology, behavioural psychology, social cognitive theory and humanism. The article then reviews the growth in cognitive…

In classroom settings, most problems are usually well defined, so students have little experience with open-ended problems. Technological design problems, however, are seldom well defined. The design process begins with broad ideas and concepts and continues in the direction of ever-increasing detail, resulting in an acceptable solution. So using…

A social constructivism model of ethical decision-making is summarized and related to the Canadian Counseling Association Code of Ethics. Social constructivism is described as an intellectual movement that allows for a biological and social conception of human understanding, thereby superceding or displacing psychological theory. The theoretical…

This article examines the role of professional judgement in the ethical decision-making process. Drawing on the personalist philosophy of John MacMurray, and the CCA Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice, the authors propose that a social constructivist approach involving dialogue and relationship complement the current internal psychologically…

In the spirit of the National Science Education Standards (NRC 1996), many teachers attempt to have their students experience science in a constructivist, inquiry-oriented manner. The egg bungee jump activity will certainly support that mode of teaching, and has the added benefit of providing a concrete context within which students can explore…

This study was an exploration of the extent to which higher education tutors' perceptions of assessment were consistent with the construct of authenticity. Depth interviews with 12 academics sought views on what might constitute desirable assessment tasks and scoring methods to use with students. Summaries of transcribed interviews suggested that…

The art education literature has recently given a good deal of attention to the topic of Visual Culture in Art Education (VCAE). VCAE appears to some art educators as the next new emphasis in art education following Discipline-Based Art Education. At least four recent theme issues of Art Education have addressed the topic in various ways. All of…

In contemporary science education, the trend is to engage students in hands-on activities in which they must manipulate equipment and gather data in an effort to answer questions. Hands-on experiences may turn out to be meaningless unless the experiences are well designed, planned, and focused so that students are guided to construct accurate…

This study examined the effects of Making and Writing Words (MWW), a variation of the Making Words word study activity by Cunningham and Cunningham (1992), on second-grade students word learning. MWW was implemented daily with a group of second-grade students' over a five-month period. Results indicated that students who received the MWW treatment…

This article describes an approach to teaching a required preservice course in special education using problem-based learning (PBL). PBL is an instructional method informed by constructivist theory. Pre-service teachers engage in solving problems that are representative of actual situations they may encounter in their teaching practice. They are…

The term autonomy has multiple meanings based on diversity in theoretical views in current educational literature. Examples are given of multiple meanings of autonomy, and comparisons are made to the Piagetian view of autonomy as self-regulation implying separateness within community. A case is made for the relevance of autonomy as an educational…