Falk and Dierking's Contextual Model of Learning was used as a theoretical construct for investigating learning within a free-choice setting. A review of previous research identified key variables fundamental to free-choice science learning. The study sought to answer two questions: (1) How do specific independent variables individually contribute…

The views of the author's students about history caused her to reflect on her teaching, specifically, what she was lacking in her attempts to teach civic competence through history. This process led her to research historical thinking and design a study in which she exposed her students to the rigors of history. Grant's (2001) study of 9th grade…

This article explores the ways in which prior experiences in formal learning contexts influence adult learners' views of their current context. Using interview data from five women participating in a General Educational Development program, this study suggests that these learners' constructions of previous learning contexts function as "screens"…

This chapter highlights the central role of experience in learning and consciousness; it also outlines experience-based instructional processes that adult educators can use. (Contains 1 figure.)

The authors argue that in classrooms with students from linguistically diverse backgrounds, instruction should explicitly activate prior knowledge. Teachers have the opportunity to create environments that affirm the identities of English language learners, thereby increasing the confidence with which these students engage in language and literacy…

This article explores some of the implications inherent in the pedagogical strategy of encouraging students to 'try' or 'have a go', particularly within the context of early writing and spelling. Pedagogical approaches built on the assumption that the learner will need to try in order to learn are construed here as emanating from and contributing…

Children?s experiences prior to kindergarten entry are correlated with degree of cognitive development and school readiness as measured by standardized assessments of cognitive and linguistic performance. Children from economically poor and undereducated families are at elevated risk for lack of school readiness due to less knowledge and…

This paper reports on a qualitative case study investigation of the knowledge and use of learning strategies by 16 students in a final year high school biology class to expand their conscious knowledge of learning. Students were provided with opportunities to engage in purposeful inquiry into the biological, social and ethical aspects of cancer. A…

Distance education is being hailed as the next best thing to sliced bread. But is it really? Many problems exist with distance-delivered courses. Everything from course development and management to the student not being adequately prepared are problematic and result in high attrition rates in distance-delivered courses. Students initially…

The notion of "culture" as an essential attribute of individuals and groups, owed to national or ethnic background, is critiqued in this article as unhelpful to the project of understanding how diverse participants in virtual learning environments (VLEs) individually and jointly construct a culture of interaction. An alternative…

Factors affecting performance on base-10 tasks were investigated in a series of four studies with a total of 453 children aged 5-7 years. Training in counting-on was found to enhance child performance on base-10 tasks (Studies 2, 3, and 4), while prior knowledge of counting-on (Study 1), trading (Studies 1 and 3), and partitioning (Studies 1 and…

As university teachers we find ourselves grappling with the increasingly diverse legacies of students' prior pedagogic experiences--some of which seem to work against the quality intellectual outcomes now demanded from higher education. In this context, this paper reports a descriptive study of pedagogy created for Chinese students in a mainstream…

Underpinning science education reform movements in the last 20 years--at all levels and within all disciplines--is an explicit shift in the goals of science teaching from students simply creating a knowledge base of scientific facts to students developing deeper understandings of major concepts within a scientific discipline. For example, what use…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of conceptual change texts oriented instruction on 9th grade students' understanding of chemical bonding concepts. In this study, the main aim of the preparation of conceptual change texts was to activate students' prior knowledge and misconceptions and to help them to understand the chemical…

Students collaborating in small groups is a characteristic of problem-based learning (PBL) that is receiving increased consideration in the literature. In this paper findings from studies in this area are synthesized and discussed. A distinction is made between studies focusing on cognitive effects of group learning and studies focusing on…