This study assesses a new measure of early childhood classroom practice in 127 kindergarten- and first-grade classrooms. The measure was designed to be appropriate for classrooms serving children from the age of 4-7 years. It assesses the nature and quality of instruction as well as the social climate and management of the classroom. Two separate…

This study assessed the nature of instruction in 314 kindergarten and first-grade classrooms from 155 schools in 48 school districts in three states. The schools served a relatively high proportion of low-income children and children of color. Despite the restricted range in student populations served, qualities of the schools and observed…

Four epistemological belief and two teaching and learning conception dimensions were identified from a survey study of a sample of Hong Kong teacher education students. The epistemological belief dimensions were labeled Innate/Fixed Ability, Learning Effort/Process, Authority/Expert Knowledge and Certainty Knowledge. The results on epistemological…

This paper responds to David Elkind's article "The Problem with Constructivism," published in the Summer 2004 issue of The EducationalForum. It argues that Elkind?s thesis?teacher, curricular, and societal readiness lead to the implementation of constructivism?is conceptually problematic. This paper also critiques constructivism and supports…

The author used qualitative research methods to explore an 8th-grade mathematics teacher's personal definition of cooperative learning and the enactment of cooperative learning in his classroom according to that definition. Data collection involved interviews and classroom observations. The author used coding schemes and descriptive statistics for…

People notice children's creativity in their lively talk, practical ingenuity, funny or surprising ideas, or their new or clever ways of applying their knowledge. When the connections they make between ideas seem to come from them as individuals, there is a sense of "authenticity." Understanding learning from a constructivist perspective…

In this article we report research on the culminating seminar of an all-course Master of Education program. The seminar, a credit course, required students to construct and disseminate knowledge through an iterative process of critical dialogue and collegial critique. The research question was: Does this research seminar facilitate knowledge…

In past issues of "The Educational Forum," David Elkind (2004; 2005) and Jamin Carson (2005) have engaged in a dialogue about constructivism and objectivism as viable philosophies of education. In this issue, yet another author joins in the discussion by questioning the role of science and religion in objectivism.

As part of the larger project to revision vocational psychology for a new era, a process referred to as the emergence of new intentions in subjective experience is defined and described. It is proposed that this process is central to the ongoing construction and reconstruction of lives in the changing landscape of the times. Following an…

This article provides a series of readings of a young man's career--a career that was shared in the context of a research project. Although similar, each reading is qualitatively different in the sense that new material is introduced on each occasion. This, in turn, highlights the limitations of the word as a form of representation. The article…

The suggestion that new courses can be constructed from existing learning objects appears technically self-evident but remains unproven. Despite increasing evidence that learning objects can provide a suitable structure for constructing courses most evidence is based on creating learning objects, either through restructuring existing materials or…

Qualitative career assessments are theoretically based interventions that are grounded in constructivism. Constructivism is a departure from the traditional logical positive worldview that has influenced the development of many traditional career assessments. A central concept to constructivism is the importance of meaning, which can only be…

Many e-learning materials lack pedagogical principles and theoretical foundations. The great potential of activating learners and thus enriching learning experience is often unused in instructional software and online courses. Pedagogical theories like constructivist and action-orientated approaches should rather underlie the creation of new…

Over the previous two decades the emergence of post-modernist thought (i.e., radical constructivism, social constructivism, deconstructivism, post-structuralism, and the like) on the American intellectual landscape has presented a number of challenges to various fields of intellectual endeavor (i.e., literature, natural science, and social…

Image studies, or imagology, was traditionally subsumed under the uncritical notion of "national character", which was itself replaced by the constructivist term "national stereotype". Since its origins in comparative literature, the field has moved beyond the narrow disciplinary confines of the humanities, with their predominantly qualitative…