Proposes that collaborative, constructivist, and problem-based learning are powerful conceptual antidotes to pedagogy as transmission and knowledge as parceled facts and objects. Notes that as more texts become available in digital form, users access information in different ways that have profound ramifications for reading and writing. Contends…

Describes the Constructural Multi-Modalities Model for MST (math, science, and technology) Inquiry Units. The MST Model uses an interdisciplinary and constructivist approach and allows teachers to create lesson plans that: integrate MST in tandem; adhere to local, state, and national standards; and actively engage students' differentiated learning…

Describes the experiences of one kindergarten teacher implementing the Reggio Emilia approach at a new, private school in Canada. Includes descriptions of children's projects, struggles with documentation, the educational environment, and contributions of an early childhood university student who had been immersed in a program similar to Reggio…

Reports research that examines children's models of seed. Explores the conceptions held by children (N=75) of germination and seed formation. Concludes that children hold a restricted meaning for the term 'seed'. (DDR)

Features of a web-based learning environment for physicians included the following: balance between content richness and bandwidth; shared knowledge and interaction using actual cases; constructivist approach to develop basic cases into advanced cases for reflection and interaction. Evaluation of the program showed comparable participation rates…

Begins with a brief overview of the origins of constructivist thinking among the philosophers and the major forms of constructivism. Continues with definitions and descriptions of models of constructivist classrooms and teams. And concludes with a comparison of constructivist and traditional approaches to learning. (Contains 27 references.) (WFA)

Investigates the effects of a science-technology-society (STS) in-service program designed to change teachers' awareness and practice of STS/constructivist approaches while also focusing on students' understanding and changes of perceptions of the constructivist learning environment. Reports that the STS program improved teachers' awareness and…

Describes a case study in which third-grade children (n=19) examined a series of images of Ndop statues and visual information from the Kuba people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo using art history constructivist inquiry methods. Presents the results in detail. Includes references. (CMK)

Presents a constructivist rationale for introducing virtual reality in language learning and teaching and describes various virtual reality environments that are available. Ways of implementing constuctivist learning through virtual reality are suggested as well as basic guidelines for successful implementation in the classroom. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the use of reflective audiotaped journals within a university content-based English-as-a-Second-Language course. Data came from 54 audiotaped journal entries made by 18 students and an unstructured ethnographic group interview. Results support the adoption of constructivist learning approaches that encourage students to take a more…

Having never embraced behaviorism and its emphasis on fragmented knowledge, direct instruction, and reinforcement contingencies, German schools have fostered a constructivist learning perspective for quite some time. German students are helped to make connections that develop and strengthen their internal knowledge structures and build their…

Offers perspectives on mathematics education from an instructional design viewpoint through an overview of the conflicting ideological paradigms and three case studies illustrating those models. Presents a personal narrative of the importance of social and cultural realities as a professional engineer. (54 references) (MDH)

Describes a study of high school students that investigated the use of MediaText, multimedia composition software, for student-developed multimedia documents. Research and theory of multimedia in education is reviewed, including student composition; a constructionist model is considered; and assignments in several curriculum areas are examined.…

Administered questionnaires to 35 science teachers to test the hypotheses that teachers holding constructivist beliefs are more likely to detect alternative conceptions, have a richer repertoire of teaching strategies, use more effective teaching strategies for inducing conceptual change, and report frequent use of effective teaching strategies.…

Argues that, by not considering examples drawn from students' everyday lives, a teacher is detracting from science itself. A challenge is made to Conceptual Change Learning Model advocates and users to embrace the idea of conceptual fitting based upon context as well as conceptual change when considering how students learn. (ZWH)