This document identifies five types of learning experiences which are relevant to understanding students' understanding of concepts and principles. These include exploring existing concepts, honing and clustering concepts, developing analytical and reasoning skills, developing problem solving skills, and structuring knowledge in memory. Each of…

This conceptual framework is grounded in the data analysis of transcribed interviews with 50 Ontario teachers and the text of a 7-month online discussion group among 25 principals from England, Ireland, Canada, United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Both methods were employed with the stated purpose of understanding emotional experiences of…

The background of this paper is an internal research project at the German National Research Center for Information Technology, Integrated Publication and Information Systems Institute, (GMD-IPSI) dealing with software engineering, computer-supported cooperative learning (CSCL) and practical biotech knowledge. The project goal is to develop a…

This study evaluated the tendency toward positive beliefs about constructivism for teacher candidates at one university's teacher education program, identifying differences in the beliefs about constructivist learning between early childhood, elementary, and middle school teacher candidates who had taken early childhood methods courses and those…

This paper examines educational environments that promote learning and explores the ways that such environments produce differentially positive results. It is based on a study that investigated the effects of a theoretically based social-constructivist approach to education, in contrast to the more classroom-based "abstract" instruction used in…

The role of the principal in evaluating student achievement is discussed in this paper. The principal is in a leadership position and has the duty of improving the ways in which students are evaluated. Educators often are blamed for poor academic achievement for which they really cannot be held responsible, but there certainly are areas in which…

This study explored the cumulative effect of three years of exposure to teaching strategies being promoted in a local school district's systemic reform on elementary students' attitudes towards school science, awareness of science careers, and science achievement. The reform effort, referred to as the "Science: Parents, Activities, and Literature"…

This study examined the relationship between elementary teachers' pedagogical beliefs and the level of their instructional computer use. Participating teachers had 2 years of experience using a computer network that provided students with an integrated learning system, several word processing packages, desktop publishing, a multimedia…

This paper discusses the relationship between the political intentions of South Africa's educational policy and its educational outcomes, suggesting that the more learner-centered the curriculum and the lower the socioeconomic status of its recipients, the less likely it is to achieve its goal of social equity. The paper considers the proper…

This paper presents debates on the need to examine teacher education programs and discusses the importance and impact of mentoring on the learning outcomes of the science teacher educator (STE). The position is taken that a mentoring program for preservice teacher education should be a part of all advanced graduate programs. A lack of research on…

Although a constructivist approach to learning calls into question the adequacy of norm-referenced, multiple-choice tests, these tests will persist into the 21st century. This article describes a classroom-based study that helped collaboratively oriented fifth graders develop problem-solving strategies to select answers to test questions. This…

Provides an account of a teacher's attempts to adopt a constructivist approach to lesson planning. Includes a detailed lesson plan for enabling students to accurately characterize living things. (DDR)

Argues against a type of program evaluation of undergraduate institutions that assumes students are products. Proposes that if students are products, then students are raw materials. Discusses the philosophical problems of considering students as raw materials. (DDR)

Presents an historical analysis of the work concept with particular emphasis given to the contributions of John Smeaton and Daniel Bernoulli. Emphasizes the work done by both applied and resisting forces. Contains 23 references. (DDR)

Describes a nontraditional, integrated science offering, the goal of which was to use acknowledged benchmarks for a transformed curriculum. Includes content outline, laboratory topics, teaching principles, student expectations, relevance of the discipline, and assessment. Specific suggestions for the transition include providing written materials…