Understanding children's experience is increasingly a key purpose of much educational research. In contrast to traditional approaches to the study of children that emphasized the socialization of children through various stages of development, researchers within the social constructionism perspective begin with an insistence that childhood is a…

The hijab, the veil worn by Muslim women, can be a touchstone issue to give students an entry into the complex nature of Islam. It allows students to discover for themselves how symbol is used as a political, social, and cultural expression of Islam by different groups, both inside and outside the religion. By starting with their own experiences…

This article discusses the processes of interaction among learners in higher education using a model of content analysis to examine their social construction of knowledge through computer-mediated communications. We examined students' conference transcripts for evidence that their collaborative communicative acts generated constructions of new…

The current emphasis on flexible modes of mathematics delivery involving new information and communication technology (ICT) at the university level is perhaps a reaction to the recent change in the objectives of education. Abstract algebra seems to be one area of mathematics virtually crying out for computer instructional support because of the…

This paper reports on a qualitative case study investigation of the knowledge and use of learning strategies by 16 students in a final year high school biology class to expand their conscious knowledge of learning. Students were provided with opportunities to engage in purposeful inquiry into the biological, social and ethical aspects of cancer. A…

Because of its centrality to school success, social status, and workplace effectiveness, oral and aural skills development has been increasingly emphasized in Canadian curricula, classrooms and, very recently, large-scale assessment. The corresponding emphasis on group processes and collaborative learning has aimed to address equity issues in…

Despite the widespread use of digital video and, increasingly, multimedia in listening instruction throughout second language programs, little is known about how learners attend to dynamic visual elements in comprehension. A lack of research in how listeners engage with videotext retards the development of computer-based listening skills. This…

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is an organization development (OD) philosophy that utilizes and builds on past successes, using these as positive momentum for future change. AI provides student affairs with an alternative and generative approach to improving their organizations' processes and culture. As student affairs professionals look to the future…

Constructivist learning theory holds that "learning consists less in recording information than in interpreting it. To interpret what is received and is attended to, the learner must personally construct meaning for it." Unfortunately, opportunities for interpreting conceptual information are often lacking in classroom…

The concepts of social cognition and cognitive structures are important aspects of constructivism and human communication theory. By asking students to listen to different musical selections and fill in a simple rubric, different schemas become apparent. This creates an opportunity to discuss how cognitions relate to communication. Students who…

This paper outlines the establishment and running of an after-school Computer Clubhouse, describing aspects of the leadership, mentoring and learning activities undertaken there. Research data has been collected from examination of documents associated with the Clubhouse, interviews with its founders, Director, session leaders and mentors, and…

This article is about enhancing critical thinking as a crucial aspect of the competence citizens need to participate in society. First empirical research into the question which instructional strategies are "effective" in enhancing critical thinking is reviewed. Characteristics of instruction that are assumed to enhance critical thinking are:…

This study, based on constructivist learning theory, examined how effectively preservice chemistry teachers (N = 43) can be educated to think flexibly and to reorganize their thinking in a way that may complement diverse ways students approach the subject domain. The teacher's cognitive structure was assessed prior to and after a conceptual change…

This study examined relationships between conceptual understanding, self-efficacy, and outcome expectancy beliefs as preservice teachers learned science in a constructivist-oriented methods class. Participants included 49 preservice elementary teachers. Analysis revealed that participants increased in self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, and…

This article presents the nontraditional research of four teacher educators who used their own stories about teaching and their responses to those stories to problematize their work with preservice elementary education teachers. The data were analyzed using qualitative data methods of coding, categorizing, and interpreting. Among the themes that…