The article explores the complementary connections between communities of practice and the ways in which individuals orchestrate their engagement with others to further their professional learning. It does so by reporting on part of a research project conducted in New Zealand on teachers' online professional learning in a university graduate…

The goal of this paper is to examine how our personal pursuits--hobbies, activities, interests, and sports--can serve as a metaphor to reflect who we are in our teaching practice. This paper explores the notion that our favorite personal pursuits serve as metaphorical mirrors to reveal deeper assumptions we hold about the skills, values, and…

This article is intended to spark a discussion between two research communities--scholars who study learning and scholars who study educational organizations. A secondary purpose is to encourage researchers to look beyond schools to examine learning in other types of educational organizations. The authors outline a framework to guide research on…

From the time adult education emerged as a field of study, it has suffered a crisis of identity by which the field is increasingly defined by a lack of consensus regarding its larger aspirations and operational boundaries. The purpose of this article is to begin deconstructing and reconstructing the field of adult education phenomenologically by…

Over the past few decades, the practice of education and training has been shifting from traditional knowledge transmission approaches to constructivist approaches of knowledge construction. This evolution is supported by research in cognitive science, education, and discourse processes. Constructivist theories of learning assume that students use…

There are few pedagogical resources that describe how counselor educators can prepare counseling students to advocate for social justice. This article highlights a constructivist approach to social justice advocacy training called the Liberation Model. The principles of the Liberation Model are discussed, and recommendations for implementing the…

Children's vulnerability asks for people taking up responsibility for children. In this contribution, three different ways of thinking on foundations of (ethical and spiritual) responsibility for children are discussed, namely, a liberalist, a social-constructivist and a naturalist paradigm. The author argues that cultural and natural elements are…

Over the past few decades assessment has been heralded for its key role in the improvement of teaching and learning. However, more recently there have been expressions of uncertainty about whether assessment is in fact delivering on its promised potential. Against this backdrop of uncertainty and circumspection this paper offers a critical…

What do the ideas of Daniel Bernoulli--an 18th-century Swiss mathematician, physicist, natural scientist, and professor--and your students' next landing of the space shuttle via computer simulation have in common? Because of his contribution, referred in physical science as Bernoulli's principle, modern flight is possible. The mini learning-cycle…

The structure of David's Bloor argument for the Strong Programme (SP) in Science Studies is criticized from the philosophical perspective of anti-skeptical, scientific realism. The paper transforms the common criticism of SP--that the symmetry principle of SP implies an untenable form of cognitive relativism--into the clear philosophical issue of…

Constructivism is a popular concept in contemporary teacher education programs. However, a genuine concern arises with the concept's application because many teachers and teacher educators claim that knowledge is constructed, without appreciating the epistemological and pedagogical implications such a claim entails. This article employs Phillips'…

Increasingly, there is a shared understanding that the educational approach driving the development of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) is one of learner empowerment and facilitation of the efforts of self-directed learners. This approach fits well with concepts of social constructivism, constructionism, and the development and execution of…

This article provides an overview of constructivism and its implications for classroom practices. To that end, it first describes the basic features of constructivism along with its major forms or variations. It then elucidates the constructivist view of knowledge, learning, teaching, and the relationship among these constructs. More specifically,…

Tishman argues that directing students to closely examine physical objects is an excellent way to motivate and strengthen thinking. Even simple objects reflect the social and physical contexts in which they were created and can spur deeper observations and questions. Teaching thinking through objects appeals to many different kinds of learners and…

This article describes an action research experience carried out in an advanced English as a foreign language classroom of the language program at a university in Bogotá, Colombia, in 2010. The study proposes the inclusion of authentic literary texts in the English as a foreign language classroom through the implementation of four constructivist…