In 2005, the School of Property, Construction and Project Management at RMIT University, Melbourne, introduced a new curriculum format for all first year students. All students enrolling in one of the four undergraduate degrees offered by the school commenced a common first year programme. This new curriculum was adopted to provide students with a…

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between approaches to learning and locus of control of students from the USA, Japan, and Taiwan. The results show that students from the USA utilized more rote memory learning compared to students from Japan and Taiwan, while students from Japan were more likely to be "Achieving"…

This study aims at highlighting the collaborative activity of two high school students (age 14) in the cases of modeling the complex biological process of plant growth with two different tools: the "paper & pencil" concept mapping technique and the computer-supported educational environment "ModelsCreator". Students' shared activity in both cases…

This paper reports on an integration of concept mapping for manipulating and structuring knowledge with multimedia presentation technology. The intelligent hypermedia system HAN (hypermedia activated network) is an authoring environment that generates small hypermedia tutorials online as they are required. A student query activates a portion of a…

The consistent reports on gender inequity in science achievement have led to a search for more effective strategies for correcting the imbalance. This study is part of a search which sought to investigate whether or not the cooperative-concept mapping technique improves the science achievement of girls. A non-equivalent control group…

This conference report contains the following 18 papers: "State Policies and State Vocational Education Director Perceptions Pertinent to Career-oriented Education in the Middle Grades" (Barrick, Hughes); "Complying with Perkins: Using Existing Tests To Measure Academic Gains for Vocational Education Students" (Bergstrom, Gershon); "Teachers'…

This study was conducted to investigate pupil responses to lessons taught by preservice teachers, and it addresses teachers' concept mapping as related to interactive behavior or effectiveness in the classroom. Lessons taught by student teachers (N=10) were examined for what pupils thought were the lesson's key ideas and for two things pupils…

Humankind has become accustomed to reading and learning from printed books. The computer offers us the possibility to exploit another medium whose key advantage is flexibility through extensive memory, computational speed, and versatile representational means. Specifically, we have the hypercard application, an integrated piece of software, with…

This study investigated the effect of the study skill strategies of concept mapping and cooperative learning on students' academic achievement. Forty fifth grade students were placed in three groups: (1) cooperative concept mapping groups (N=9--3 students in each of 3 small groups); (2) a standard concept mapping group (N=11); and (3) a control…

This eight-chapter book clearly presents a theory of how children learn and, therefore, how teachers and others can help children think about science as well as other topics. Its ideas and techniques may be adopted for preschoolers when objects are conceptually ordered, or for theoretical physicists when findings are conceptually organized. In…

Many students have difficulty in science because they are passive readers, readers who receive information without understanding. Passive readers begin reading assignments without thinking about the subject. Their counterparts, known as active readers, interact with text to construct meaning. They make predictions, ask questions, generate…

Summarizes current developments in alternative frameworks research in science education. Covers concept maps, learning as conceptual change, classroom strategies, problem solving in physics and where research should be going. (CW)

Making connections becomes increasingly important as students proceed through middle school and high school. This book shows ways of embedding connective processes in instruction in grades 9-12. Problems invite mathematical modeling, unify diverse content, call for different representations, and encourage students to look back at their work to…

This paper focuses on the purposes, theoretical model, and functionality of the SMILE (Solution Mapping Intelligent Learning Environment) Maker--a World Wide Web-based problem-solving tool. From an instructional design point of view, an attempt to establish a balance between constructivism/instructivism, content-treatment…

This paper examines how conceptions regarding the legitimate purposes and day-to-day course of science influence students' evaluations of science in the popular media. The students involved in this project attend a secondary all-girls school. Their concept of science focused on practical, life-enhancing goals pursued through the complex,…