Examined 8- and 10-year olds' understanding of the unique features of and potential relations among mental activities. Found a developing tendency to organize mental activities on the degree to which memory was a component of the activity. Results suggest that a constructivist theory of mind develops in later childhood. (AA)

This discussion of fostering recall and developing reasoning processes in students with mild disabilities considers the role of mnemonic strategies, similarities between mnemonic strategies and elaborative interrogation to facilitate information retrieval, constructivism and elaborative interrogation, and such problems as generalization and…

Describes a study that was conducted to determine how temporal sound affected students' attention to critical information from a computer interface. Design issues are addressed, including modality, verbal information, constructivism, authoring software, expressiveness, and gender; and results are discussed that indicate temporal sound may help…

Describes and discusses an epistemological approach to the education of science teachers that emphasizes similarities in knowledge and modes of acquiring knowledge among children, scientists in their historical contexts, and student teachers. (ZWH)

Reviews efforts to develop and use computer support for situated, collaborative learning. Presents lessons learned in pilot experiments designed to examine how to integrate two types of group collaboration tools: constructivist and/or minimal instructionist. Students appeared to favor the integration of instructionism into constructivist…

Illustrates the common philosophical base of outdoor and experiential education and the Progressive Education Movement of the early 1900s. Commonalities include using the community outside the classroom while practicing student-centered, active learning. Modern research on brain-based learning supports many of the older principles of…

Presents a framework used in shaping two major mathematics teacher education research and development projects, built on a framework for mathematics learning derived from a social constructivist view of learning and incorporating aspects of French didactical theory. Describes interconnections between different domains of teacher knowledge.…

Describes a project at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign that explored several models of teleapprenticeships to provide teacher education students with collaborative, constructivist learning models through the use of electronic networks, and to integrate instructional computer experiences within the teacher education process. (five…

School staff needs training in computer use. Training design must acknowledge issues facing staff developers (how to conceptualize technology-based teaching, at what level technology-based teaching occurs, how teachers adapt in ways consistent with specific features of technology, and how technology-based classroom activities acknowledge the way…

Examines specific applications of constructivism in teacher education and its relevance for teachers, focusing on how the development of empowered learners can be facilitated by examining how individuals construct concepts. Presents educational practices and guidelines within higher education programs that facilitate the development of teachers as…

This paper describes the influence of constructivism on assessment practices used with special needs students. Features of assessment that incorporate a constructivist philosophy include those holistic, dynamic, and multidimensional in scope; complex interactions among development and the curriculum; metacognitive processes and strategic learning;…

Kindergarten students' (n=7) thought processes were investigated during a problem-solving task to gain insight into students' problem-solving strategies and to guide students toward a closer awareness of their own mathematical thinking. Outlines some of the processes and problems of implementing a constructivist approach by an experienced teacher.…

Interviews were conducted with grade 10 students (n=34) who had received 4 years of physics instruction. Interview's focus was to understand students' responses from their point of view. The results of the study confirm and deepen findings from other studies concerning students' severe difficulties in learning the energy concept, the particle…

Includes two articles that deal with constructivism: one discusses constructivism and the use of computers in teaching language arts, particularly writing; and the other discusses constructivism and the use of laptop computers in an Australian primary school to help restructure the curriculum. (23 references) (LRW)

Describes pedagogical content knowing (PCKg) based on a constructivist view of teaching and learning, emphasizing knowing and understanding as active processes. PCKg requires teachers to understand students' learning and the environmental context in which teaching and learning occur. The paper applies the model of PCKg to teacher education…