Describes a lab involving a cloud formation activity that uses the constructivist learning model to get students more involved in creating the lab. Enables students to develop a greater understanding of the concepts involved and more interest in the lab's outcomes. (JRH)

Introduces theme issue on Piagetian constructivist perspective on children's understanding. Summarizes feature articles which argue that teaching should be based on Piaget's theory; and elucidate the development of social and moral understanding, perspective-taking, play, written language, friendship and popularity, and mathematics. Emphasizes the…

Describes how games in elementary school classroom can be used to assess children's mathematical reasoning and provide instruction. Examples of "test questions" to which the teacher already knew the answer and "honest questions" regarding how the student approached the mathematics problems within a game context are given. Games…

Describes the development of Casebook of Project Practices (CaPPs) to help teachers learn a constructivist approach to science teaching--project-based science. Presents a study using CaPPs in a teacher development institute. Implications concern backgrounds teachers bring to the use of multimedia and how these backgrounds influence how they use…

Argues that active learning is the way to engage students in learning biology. Discusses the use of constructivism in biology instruction, resistance to cooperative learning, creating constructivist-based activities, and grading cooperative activities. Contains 18 references. (DDR)

The tradition of the active mind views knowledge as provisionally constructed by the mind in perpetual interaction with the world. There are no substitutes for students' and teachers' consistent application of intelligence and steady thinking. A problem-based-learning approach to teacher education exemplifies John Dewey's laboratory model.…

Discusses problems that arise when computer software users have to learn a new system while maintaining productivity. Highlights include active learning; a constructivist view; Vygotsky's zone of proximal development; and a model called Design for Learnability (DesiL) that focuses the performance technologist on an ethnomethodological study of…

Explores the desconstructive view of disability through an analysis of stories using criteria derived from constructivist principles of narrative therapy. Parents' narratives define and deconstruct the dominant discourse about being the parent of a child with disabilities and reveal insights about the impact of stereotypic views of disability.…

Examines the relationship between teacher perceptions of their constructivist behaviors and use of technology in their classrooms. Results indicate that integrated technology use and strong technology skills may be factors that encourage constructivist practices. Implications for school reform and technology training for elementary and secondary…

Describes development and testing of the Literacy Orientation Survey (LOS)--an instrument for assessing teachers' beliefs about literacy learning and classroom practices as related to constructivism. Finds while LOS has robust internal validity and reliability, questions remain about external validity of teachers' self-reports of their…

Analyzes how tools and interactions structure the way adult learners write in a socially interactive computer classroom. Argues that computers are not only instruments that make writing more efficient but are central to the construction of the writing itself. Contains 32 references. (JDI)

Argues that the regulated approach to schooling needs to be replaced by one that is more highly responsive and adaptable to changing circumstances and requirements. States that traditional structures and organizational arrangements inhibit the growth of scientific knowledge skills. Contains 20 references. (DDR)

Reports on a teacher's changing perceptions during a collaborative, two-year interpretive research project involving two researchers, herself, and her students. Uses the collaborative approach between teacher and researchers to promote students' theory-evidence coordination and use of word explanations with an emphasis on developing and critiquing…

Describes the development of a three-week instructional unit for education students at Winthrop University (South Carolina) whose aim was for students to construct meaning around an education-related, literacy-based dilemma and to use technology as a tool for recording and sharing their responses. A constructivist perspective for developing these…

Describes the Six Universities Development and Rehabilitation Project (SUDRP) conducted at six Indonesian universities by faculty from Colorado State University. Suggests that the collaborative methodology used for instruction was highly successful and could be incorporated into other faculty-development programs. Contains one figure and 11…