Examines some of the potential and some of the problems inherent in using computerized simulations in science and science studies classes by applying lessons from the epistemology of science. While computer simulations are useful pedagogical tools, they are not experiments and thus are of only limited utility as substitutes for actual…

Provides a comprehensive review of literature regarding misconceptions that are held by secondary students in chemistry. Makes some recommendations based on the research. Contains 77 references. (DDR)

Discusses how learning occurs and the role of the learning environment as a source of information. Argues that the culture of the learner has a central role in the learning of science using the traditional world view of African students as an example. Contains 124 references. (DDR)

Examines student perceptions of the changing nature of a classroom as a result of the implementation of constructivist approaches. Results indicate that students are appreciative of the opportunity to use their own ideas and knowledge. Contains 31 references. (DDR)

Argues that "Borderlands" discourse has served, and continues to serve, as a theoretical framework to advance educational theory by accounting for multiple subjectivity and difference. Provides historical background of Chicana/o Studies and its contribution to Borderlands theories. Analyzes critical pedagogy in relation to Borderlands…

An interview with American Indian educator Karen Gayton Swisher explores the learning styles of American Indian children and the application of ideas about these learning styles in the programs at Haskell Indian Nations University. Native American children should be taught from a constructivist, rather than a deficit, point of view. (SLD)

Discusses the process of designing a series of case-based interactive videodiscs to be used within a constructivist learning environment for elementary school science. Topics include assumptions about learners and learning; implications for learning materials; and implications for the instructional design process, including process-based versus…

Introduces the "Pet and Me" project, a thematic unit that explores the relationships among humans, other animals, and nature. Provides the definition of thematic units by focusing on three levels of thinking: facts and information, topics, and themes. Concludes that the thematic unit is applicable to other areas of curriculum. (MOK)

After a brief critique of behaviorist pedagogical assumptions that learning is something done to learners, constructivist learning theory is presented as a framework for understanding experiential education, in that learning is a process involving the active engagement of learners, who adapt the educative event to fit, and expand, their individual…

Presents a computational framework for modeling cognitive development that provides a language paradigm with which to compare and contrast different facets of children's knowledge. Describes the generative connectionist algorithm "cascade-correlation," the successful use of the algorithm to model cognitive development in various…

Discusses a constructive approach to instructional hypermedia. Highlights include attributes of hypermedia, including links and nodes, multimedia environments, nonlinear access to information, and interactivity; instructional applications that stress the learners' active interaction and their control of the learning process; associative or…

Describes outcomes of the K-6 Core Knowledge curriculum at Crooksville Elementary School. Core Knowledge was developed in the late 1980s by University of Virginia Professor E.D. Hirsch, who says that the "learning-how-to-learn" philosophy has produced generations of children ignorant of world history, geography, and literature. Some…

Describes an undergraduate chemistry curriculum, designed to capitalize on the strengths of mechanistic organic chemistry, that enables students to grasp the powerful conceptual unity that allows professional chemists to understand unfamiliar results according to a few well-defined principles. Discusses the philosophy, curriculum, and the nature…

Recommends that art be shown to toddlers, while being receptive to the different ways in which they respond. States that images should relate to the toddler's interests and be placed at their eye level. Discusses how to involve the toddlers' parents. (DAJ)

Describes a study of gifted freshmen in a magnet high school that investigated whether learning style would change after a year in a technology-rich educational environment using constructivist learning techniques. Conclusions regarding learning style were inconclusive, but results showing effects on the curriculum and the social context are…