This paper portrays the activity system of eight classes of Grade 6 children with special educational needs in an Intensive French as a second-language education program. Classroom norms and tools reflected a social-interactionist and social-constructivist approach with scaffolding, social interaction, multiple modes of representing, holistic,…

In the last decade, we have seen the emergence of virtual learning environments. Initially, these environments were a little more than document repositories that tutor used unicast to the students. Informed in part by social constructivist theories of education, later environments included capabilities for tutor-student and student-student,…

This paper discusses how modern technologies are changing the teacher-student-content relationships from the conception to the delivery of so-called "distance" education courses. The concept of Distance Education has greatly evolved in the digital era of 21st Century. With the widespread use and access to the Internet, exponential growth…

The current orthodoxy regarding computer use in schools appears to be that one-to-one (1:1) computing, wherein each child owns or has sole access to a computing device, is the most efficacious way to achieve a range of desirable educational outcomes, including individualised learning, collaborative environments, or constructivist pedagogies. This…

These proceedings contain the papers of the 13th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA 2016), October 28-30, 2016, which has been organized by the International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS), co-organized by the University of Mannheim, Germany, and endorsed by the…

These proceedings contain the papers of the 18th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA 2021), held virtually, due to an exceptional situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, from October 13-15, 2021, and organized by the International Association for Development of the Information Society…

Watching a video often results in passive learning and does not actively engage students. In this study, a class of 20 HSC Physics students were introduced to a teaching model that incorporated active learning principles with the watching of a video that explored the Meissner Effect and superconductors. Students would watch short sections of the…

This article explores the relation between how scientific knowledge is created and the reasoning involved in learning content with understanding. Although an asserted parallel between these underpins reform, little is actually known about this relation. This article offers a model of this relation that draws coherent connections between the…

The interaction spaces between instructors and learners in the traditional face-to-face classroom environment are being changed by the diffusion and adoption of many forms of computer-based pedagogy. An integrated understanding of these evolving interaction spaces together with how they interconnect and leverage learning are needed to develop…

North American curriculum theorists Gonzales and Moll and their colleagues have argued that working with children's "funds of knowledge" allows teachers to build on what children already know in order to meet the mandated outcomes. The approach also has the potential to change the knowledges that are valued and which advantage some…

Working in teams is an important aspect of learning in various educational settings. Although education has embraced instructional strategies that use multiple learners to facilitate learning, the benefits of team-based learning need to be substantiated. There are limited efforts to evaluate the efficacy of learning processes associated with…

What would happen if every student in your class instantly became obese and then tried to play basketball? The extra weight would likely make them uncomfortable and less willing to move, run, and jump. They would probably also gain some empathy for the heavy kids in the class and would better understand the importance of staying in shape as they…

This study investigated how constructive activities are involved when Chinese students are performing reading tasks that require deeper levels of understanding. Forty students from Grade 5 (19 boys and 21 girls), and 42 students from Grade 6 (20 boys and 22 girls) participated in this study. To reveal the children's constructive processes in…

This article examines the implications of constructivist theory for university-level professional education. Constructivist approaches to instructional design promise desirable outcomes for pre-professional education: professionals who think independently, who can frame and define problems and who can evaluate their own choices. However, the trend…

This paper argues that recent work in philosophy complements the discourse of psychologists and educationists on such questions as the differences between behavioral and conceptual learning, the nature of the latter, the formation of general ideas, and the stability and transferability of knowledge. Conclusions about both teaching methods and…