Science is at heart a rational activity. Reasoning, being an important component of critical thinking has been successfully taught using Socratic methods. As an approach, the instructor or designer of instruction models an inquiring and probing mind focusing on providing questions and not answers. The main aim has been to allow learners to…

Objective: To describe the use of "draw, describe and write", a tool for exploring how adolescents perceive and explain their understanding of the world of drugs, as used in the development of the Blueprint project. Design: A cross-sectional study using a specifically designed research tool, including drawing and open-ended questions, used with…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of a web-based constructivist learning environment, which was developed based on a course given to students in the Faculty of Creative Multimedia (FCM) on student learning. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, a web-based multimedia-mediated project was developed based on an Internet…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of one year of regular "LEGO" training on pupils' performances in schools. The underlying pedagogical perspective is the constructivist theory, where the main idea is that knowledge is constructed in the mind of the pupil by active learning. The investigation has been made in two…

South African Universities are tasked with increasing student throughput by offering additional academic support. A second task is to teach students to challenge and question. One way of attempting to achieve these tasks is by using Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The focus of this paper is to examine the effect of using an ICT…

Although many nations are struggling with social studies, especially when addressing basic goals, ideas of citizenship, and developing and understanding global perspectives, it is New Zealand that provides an interesting case regarding social studies for social efficacy and global understanding. In this article, the author investigates the…

This paper has two purposes: (1) to explain briefly in terms of Piaget's theory why relationships are fundamental for constructivist teachers; and (2) to show how constructivist teachers can think about relationships in classroom activities. In a nutshell, the message is that the process by which children are constructing their intelligence,…

This study investigated the impact of a three-week pilot practicum experience in an Aquarium setting on secondary pre-service biology teachers' epistemologies and pedagogies of teaching and learning. A qualitative case study methodology was employed to examine the experiences, views of teaching and learning, and teaching development of a small…

Typically, guidelines for design of interactive multimedia systems have been based on intuitive beliefs of designers rather than being founded on relevant research and theory. As advances in technology create new opportunities for education, it is important to use a range of theoretical perspectives to optimize use of new technology in teaching…

The purpose of this article is to assist health educators and students to integrate theory with practice by examining four major learning theories for their implications for motivating healthy behavior change. Using a prototypical case example based on the authors' experiences with farm families through community health screenings, the learning…

In designing materials for use in a contructivist learning environment, instructional designers still have a role in selecting the situations that may provide a stimulus for knowledge construction and providing features that support students and teachers in using these materials. This paper describes the process of designing a series of case-based…

This paper presents the theoretical framework for a new course for teacher education. It describes how computers have been used in education and identifies factors that contribute to the unrealized potential of technology use in schools. This new course is consistent with a constructivist view of learning, new educational goals, and a view of the…

Virtual reality is an immersive, interactive medium that manipulates the senses in order provide users with simulated experiences in computer-generated worlds. The visual design of virtual reality is an important issue, but literature has tended to stress the medium's instructional potential rather than setting forth a protocol for designing…

This project sought to focus on elements of critical thinking and reflective judgement specific to the college classroom experience using the Reflective Judgment (RJ) Model developed by P. M. King and K. M. Strohm-Kitchener. The project included an exploration of college instructors' assumptions and beliefs about college students, and an…

Educational research has documented that technology can enhance student acquisition of discrete skills through drill and practice. This document presents case-study profiles from a study that examined whether technology could provide significant support for constructivist, project-based, teaching and learning approaches. The study also identified…