This study aims to find out the effects on pre-service teachers of a constructivist teaching approach aided by use of a Porphyrios-tree. Use of a Porphyrios-tree is thought to be the basis of and most principled conceptual teaching tool to aid meaningful comprehension about concepts of interspecies relationships. The study has a quasi-experimental…

The derivative is a central concept in calculus and has applications in many disciplines. This study explored students' understanding of derivatives with a particular focus on the graphical (geometric) representation. The participants were four Mathematics Honours students from a university in Lesotho. Data were generated from the written…

Teaching spelling is controversial because teaching approaches vary considerably in the contemporary classroom. Teachers may privilege visual over linguistic strategies, select words based around themes or let students choose spelling words, rather than focus on the explicit teaching of phono-morphological structures of words. A nine-week…

This paper describes an alternative approach to teaching and learning practices in an undergraduate physics laboratory. The instructor plans and implements the 5E instructional model into the laboratory instruction. The article includes an example of the 5E lesson for the laboratory component of a physics course, which has separate lecture and…

Several studies revealed that probability misconceptions were widespread among students, but the activities for addressing the misconceptions has been lacking. This study designed activities that reflect real life situations for addressing equiprobability bias, positive and negative recency effects, belief bias and representativeness bias for…

This review paper examines the theories of behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism that are considered to underpin the theory and practice of inclusive education. We argue that education practices related to the inclusion of students with special educational needs can be derived from each of the three theoretical perspectives. By adopting an…

Is constructivist teaching still valuable and relevant in an era where standardized testing reigns supreme? If so, how do college students, who have been subject to a considerable amount of testing, respond to constructivist pedagogy that nurtures student autonomy? This QUAN-QUAL study, conducted at a mid-sized university in the United States…

Teachers participating in curricular reforms, especially reforms based on constructivism, are expected to bring about change in their teaching approach. This is often a difficult, complex and intensive process, and demands a radical reculturing of the classroom. This is also the case for social constructivist reforms in chemistry education, which…

In this commentary, we reflect on the articles in this special collection from our lens as scholars who have chosen to conduct research with a focus on climate change education. We start with statements of positionality, as certainly our own experiences and philosophical stances shape our work and reflections included here. Afterwards, we present…

European higher education has been highly influenced by the Bologna-process, entailing coordination and standardisation from policy to teaching practices. This led to increased demands on university teachers. Courses in university pedagogy are required as part of competence development and have become decisive for employment. Constructive…

Simulation educational technologies provide a convenient way to augment classroom learning in higher education. The University of Colorado Boulder has created many Physics Education Technology (PhET) computer simulations relevant to concepts in Sciences and Mathematics. There is a notable gap in the literature of simulation-based technologies,…

As an alternative to the direct instructional model, Metzler proposed a range of pedagogical models that include second generation models such as teaching games for understanding (TGfU) and sport education (SE). These pedagogical models have key design features that can promote high levels of autonomous motivation for both boys and girls.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain how theories of inter-organizational learning can create new insights and nuances to how processes of intra-organizational learning come about in a single, complex and multi-sited organization. Design/methodology/approach: A constructivist thematic analysis of the "Handbook of Feminist Foreign…

In this work, we discuss the importance of underlying theoretical assumptions in research, focusing on the conclusions reached when analyzing data from a misconceptions constructivist (stable, unitary) perspective in contrast to a fine-grained constructivist (resources, knowledge-in-pieces) perspective. Both frameworks are rooted in the idea that…

The emergence of Educational Robotics (ER) and its rapid spread across all levels of education in recent years has drawn attention to the need for further training in this discipline. In this study we discuss the panorama of teacher training research in ER and make recommendations for institutions that intend to implement ER teacher training…