Summarizes results from a cross-cultural online project for eight graduate students in educational leadership in Canada, six in New Zealand, and five international students. Proposes an online learning model that includes construction of meaning, a discussion forum, generative learning, and other components. (SLD)

Parrot math (memorization) seeks to control children through external rewards and punishments, rather than harness their intelligence and curiosity. Recent standardized test results document parrot math's failure. Activities-based approaches, supported by a constructivist philosophy (involving classifying, inferring, generalizing, and…

Discusses the positive effects of the ATLAS (Authentic Teaching, Learning, and Assessment of all Students) seminars on helping partner organizations understand certain shared underpinnings in their work on curriculum, reviewing a series of articles on the subject and noting that the partners share the belief that democratic dialog fosters the…

Eighty-five preservice-education students observed a science experiment concerning either buoyancy or the forces acting on a stationary object, then wrote a series of explanations. Results suggest that students' use of rhetorical structures (explanation, comparison, argumentation, and summarization) stimulated construction of new knowledge, but…

Discussion of ICAE (Intelligent Computer Aided Education) systems focuses on Magix, a prototype ICAE system for use in problem-based learning in linear mathematics for 10- to 12-year olds. The system integrates the principles of constructivism, user-driven interaction, knowledge-based systems, and metacognition. (Author/LRW)

Randomly selected high school students (n=13) who studied an ecology unit were interviewed, and narrative data analyzed for changes in knowledge schema. Data support the current theory that the amount and quality of prior knowledge substantially influence gains in new knowledge and are closely linked to a capacity to apply higher-order cognitive…

Discusses Emirates preservice (n=31) and in-service (n=224) teachers' views about the nature of science. Finds that Emirates teachers' views are mixed where traditional views of science are attributed to history and the educational system, and constructivist views are attributed to religious beliefs. Argues that the traditional view of science…

Examines, in a five-year ethnographic study in secondary schools, issues of how literature learning shapes thinking. Follows 10 students from their English classes into their academic classes over their high school careers. Analyzes literacy events in their literature and content-area classes, including how literacy events functioned and what they…

Presents a developmentally appropriate framework reflecting the constructivist orientation of early childhood education to guide development of IEP goals and objectives for young children with disabilities. Discusses problems teachers encounter with IEPs, including defining skills too narrowly, not considering the time factor, and isolating the…

Surveyed mothers and children at four constructivist and ten Montessori preschool classrooms. Found a near significant trend suggesting that temperamentally active boys were more likely to be perceived as behavior problems in Montessori settings, which are characterized by working quietly for long periods of time. No similar trends were revealed…

Describes the validation and use of English and Chinese versions of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) in a study of high school science classrooms in Australia (n=1081) and Taiwan (n=1879). Data analysis supported each scale's internal consistency reliability, factor structure, and ability to differentiate between classrooms,…

Discusses the growing gap between people and communities who have access to information technology and those who do not, known as the digital divide. Considers issues concerning access, in schools and in homes; content; literacy; pedagogy, including constructivist practices and teachers' professional development; and community. (LRW)

Describes a professional development program that involved the use of a multimedia package called "Birds of Antarctica" to develop teachers' understanding of a constructivist epistemology in science education. Argues that teachers who engage themselves as learners in a professional development program have greater opportunities to…

Discusses how biologists use evolutionary theory and provides examples of how evolutionary biologists test hypotheses on specific modes of selection and evolution. Presents an example of the successful predictive power of one evolutionary hypothesis. Contains 38 references. (DDR)

Analyzes the interpretations of equality and the equal symbol of third grade children who participated in a year-long, whole-class socio-constructivist teaching experiment. Concludes that children expanded their conceptualizations of equality due to an active role in class discussions and the arithmetical tasks that took into account children's…