This study utilized a sociocultural approach to writing instruction and examined its effects on the motivation of students with learning disabilities. The concept of the Zone of Proximal Development was used to measure changes in five third and fourth grade students' motivation toward literacy activities. Students wrote in journals daily and…

Taking a Vygotskian perspective, this monograph focuses on the quality of interaction between children and staff in Australian child care and education programs. Aspects of quality interaction are presented through examples of interaction and through personal stories of staff analyzing their interactional patterns through video and audiotapes.…

This document contains hands-on, open-ended laboratory activities that can be done in the classroom on a shoestring budget. They are aimed at increasing students' excitement and curiosity about science and enabling them to develop a better understanding of the nature of science, take an active role in their own learning process, and develop…

A number of themes and issues emerge in any discussion about educational theory, learning and instruction. Interactive multimedia provides another vehicle to consider and reconsider the place of educational theory, and particularly theories centered on student learning, in the design of multimedia. This paper discusses some of the prevalent issues…

Some of the newest methods of distance learning (DL) use the Internet and the World Wide Web. DL on the Internet usually takes one of the following forms: electronic mail; bulletin boards/newsgroups; downloading of course materials or tutorials; interactive tutorials on the Web; real-time, interactive conferencing; "intranets" (internal,…

Current efforts to reform special education have focused on the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education settings. The success of inclusion is contingent upon preparing general education teachers at the preservice level for inclusive classroom settings. This paper describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of an…

This paper examines the mathematical conversations of middle school students as they use computer-mediated graphic representations to construct a shared understanding of the basic concepts of probability under two conditions. The first condition used graphical representations to depict important abstract relationships visually, and the second…

This paper addresses dilemmas in the practices of six teachers from the perspective of alternate paradigms of knowledge growth, particularly constructivism. The dilemmas focus on the relationships between theory and practice in the growth of knowledge in learning and teaching mathematics. The data for this study are drawn from a four-year…

This paper reports on a three-year case study of a secondary biology teacher that explores the use of two instruments: The Teachers Pedagogical Philosophy Interview (L. Richardson and P. Simmons, 1994) and the Secondary Science Teacher Analysis Matrix (J. Gallagher and J. Parker, 1995). The a priori research questions that guided this case study…

This monograph presents personal insights gained during the teaching of a course in elementary mathematics teaching methods. The class was developed on the premise that children are active constructors of mathematical meaning. The course consisted of teaching sessions, action research projects, and demonstrations. To assess student learning from…

The purpose of this research study was to explore the effects of children's trade books on the development of science concepts. The two objectives of this exploratory study were to determine whether children's ideas about specific science concepts change when trade books containing information about those concepts are read to them, and…

Part of the Fastback series from Phi Delta Kappa, this publication provides background information and several educational applications of modeling for use with students from elementary school to college. It contains a rationale for employing mathematical modeling in instruction, specific examples, strategies for grouping students using technology…

A study investigated how literature-based reading/language arts materials were being used in two "exemplary" third/fourth grade combination classes, the influence of teacher epistemology on classroom instruction, and whether teachers were enacting the whole language emphasis mandated by the state. One of the two participating teachers…

Reading is construed as operating within the dynamics of the relationship of reader, text, context, and language system. Context is understood as the cultural and situational environment of the text, itself a semantic unit that is an instance of the language system. A related variable for reading is the awareness of the reader of the language…

The history of Western social thought may be examined by focusing on the linkage between dominant legitimating ideologies and various institutional structures of the social formation. As society moves in the direction of postindustrialism, the development of a constructivist, rather than deconstructive, form of postmodernism is needed.…