During the 1990s, school programs that more explicitly link school and work have been expanded. In order to realize the curricular and pedagogical reforms that underlie these programs, teachers need appropriate staff development. In 1996, RAND staff designed and pilot-tested a 6-week "mini-sabbatical," a prototype course to help teachers in a…

Children develop investigative skills, a spirit of inquiry, and an understanding of science within an educational context of first-hand experience and purposeful play. This article explores the issue of quality in science instruction for young children, placing it within the larger framework of quality in early childhood education. The article…

The challenges faced by urban schools as they aspire to reform science education are immense. Under the auspices of the National Science Foundation through the Urban Systemic Initiative, teachers and administrators throughout the Detroit (Michigan) Public School system have been deeply involved in a wide array of professional development…

In a previous paper the authors presented a model of assessing portfolios, the Cognitive Model for Assessing Portfolios (CMAP), as a lens to view, think about, and make decisions about portfolio projects. Two projects in which the CMAP has been used are described. One is an authentic assessment project in mathematics and science by the Educational…

This document presents the results of three studies about how children interpret observations of the biological phenomena of decay. The objectives of this report were to: (1) document and compare the ideas used by elementary school children in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada; (2) document how these ideas changed from age 5 to 16;…

Some personal reflections on instructional design and its relation to constructivism are explored. Instructional design in its present form is out of sync with the times in that its orientation, methods, and research base are behavioristic, or positivistic. However, a constructivist theory of instructional design is possible, particularly if…

A study explored preservice teachers' attitudes toward reading through detailed case study analysis of their reading autobiographies. Subjects, 45 students in a required content area reading class in Hawaii, completed a reading autobiography assignment in which they considered their reading experiences from their earliest memory of being read to…

Supporting the constructivist view of language learning, a study by a teacher-researcher analyzed the thematic patterns in the writing of her 31 first-grade students for a period of 3 months. In the natural setting of the classroom the children were studied in the context of their own learning. Writing was collected daily, and stories were sorted…

This book presents assessment formats, strategies, models, and templates appropriate for learning outcomes in inquiry activities undertaken in the classroom and the laboratory as well as outdoors. The designs of these assessment formats and strategies are based on the most recent research on assessment, instruction, and learning, and include many…

This paper reviews the authors' attempts to find appropriate interaction analysis/content analysis techniques to assist in examining the negotiation of meaning and co-construction of knowledge in collaborative learning environments facilitated by computer conferencing. This study was undertaken in order to find appropriate interaction analysis…

Comprehensive coverage of the theories and basic concepts of educational psychology is provided. Also included are information on how they can be applied in a variety of learning situations and concrete advice for planning, implementing, and improving instruction. The focus is on teacher education. The chapters are: (1) "Classrooms, Teachers,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of an analogy activity designed to overcome junior high school students' misconceptions about the microscopic views of phase change. Eighth grade students (N=80) were randomly assigned to either a control group receiving traditional teaching, or an experimental group participating in the…

Many of those working to improve science and mathematics education have a vision where all students are successful and the celebration of success constantly presents the challenge to push the edge of the vision outward. The National Council of the Teachers of Mathematics established standards that some science educators are attempting to emulate.…

The study is a methodological inquiry into the interpretation of qualitative data. It explores a grounded theory approach to the synthesis of data, and examines, in particular, construction of categories. It focuses on ways of organizing data and attaching meaning, as research problems embedded in cultural context are explored. A qualitative…

This paper looks at the ideas of R. Skemp which emphasize fostering "intelligent learning" in the teaching of mathematics. Skemp posits that schematic learning takes place when new concepts are constructed by the learner. Three modes of building such internal schema are proposed. Teachers are urged to ensure that at every stage the new…