The Development and Validation of an Instrument to Monitor the Implementation of Social Constructivist Learning Environments in Grade 9 Science Classrooms in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luckay, Melanie B.; Laugksch, Rudiger C.

2015-01-01

This article describes the development and validation of an instrument that can be used to assess students' perceptions of their learning environment as a means of monitoring and guiding changes toward social constructivist learning environments. The study used a mixed-method approach with priority given to the quantitative data collection. During…

Self-Directed Learning Readiness, Internet Self-Efficacy and Preferences towards Constructivist Internet-Based Learning Environments among Higher-Aged Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chu, R. J-C.; Tsai, C-C.

2009-01-01

This article examines several research questions to establish a theory model for explaining factors that influence adult learners' preferences for constructivist Internet-based learning environments (CILE). Data were gathered from 541 individual participants enrolled in adult education institutes in Taiwan for structural equation modelling (SEM)…

The Effects of Constructivist Learning Environment on Prospective Mathematics Teachers' Opinions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Narli, Serkan; Baser, Nes'e

2010-01-01

To explore the effects of constructivist learning environment on prospective teachers' opinions about "mathematics, department of mathematics, discrete mathematics, countable and uncountable infinity" taught under the subject of Cantorian Set Theory in discrete mathematics class, 60 first-year students in the Division of Mathematics…

The Regression Level of Constructivist Learning Environment Characteristics on Classroom Environment Characteristics Supporting Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tunca, Nihal

2015-01-01

Problem Statement: One of the main aims of constructivism is to improve critical thinking skills/tendencies via experiences. In this sense, it is believed that the more the constructivist-learning environment is improved, the more the appropriateness of supporting critical thinking is improved. However, no study has yet statistically tested this…

Contextual Learning in Adult Education. Practice Application Brief No. 12.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Imel, Susan

Contextual learning is rooted in a constructivist approach to teaching and learning. According to constructivist theory, individuals learn by constructing meaning through interacting with and interpreting their environments. Current perspectives on what it means for learning to be contextualized include the following: situated cognition, social…

A Constructivist Approach to Studying the Bullwhip Effect by Simulating the Supply Chain

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

González-Torre, Pilar L.; Adenso-Díaz, B.; Moreno, Plácido

2015-01-01

The Cider Game is a simulator for a supply chain-related learning environment. Its main feature is that it provides support to students in the constructivist discovery process when learning how to make logistics decisions, at the same time as noting the occurrence of the bullwhip phenomenon. This learning environment seeks a balance between direct…

The Marriage of Constructivism and Flipped Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Sau Hou

2016-01-01

This report talks about how a constructivist teacher used flipped learning in a college class. To illustrate how to use flipped learning in a constructivist classroom, examples were given with the four pillars of F-L-I-P: Flexible environment, learning culture, intentional content, and professional educator.

Change in Teacher Candidates' Metaphorical Images about Classroom Management in a Social Constructivist Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akar, Hanife; Yildirim, Ali

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to understand the conceptual change teacher candidates went through in a constructivist learning environment in a classroom management course. Within a qualitative case study design, teacher candidates' metaphorical images about classroom management were obtained through document analysis before and after they were…

Modelling between Epistemological Beliefs and Constructivist Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Çetin-Dindar, Ayla; Kirbulut, Zübeyde Demet; Boz, Yezdan

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to model the relationship between pre-service chemistry teachers' epistemological beliefs and their preference to use constructivist-learning environment in their future class. The sample was 125 pre-service chemistry teachers from five universities in Turkey. Two instruments were used in this study. One of the…

Museum Learning: A Study of Motivation and Learning Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilde, Mathias; Urhahne, Detlef

2008-01-01

According to Reinmann-Rothmeier and Mandl (2001), learning environments should provide an ideal balance between constructivist and instructive elements. Most interesting for constructivist learning processes is the combination of the cognitive and the motivational domain. In an empirical study with 207 fifth-graders of the highest stratification…

Constructivist Learning Environments and Defining the Online Learning Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Loren

2014-01-01

The online learning community is frequently referred to, but ill defined. The constructivist philosophy and approach to teaching and learning is both an effective means of constructing an online learning community and it is a tool by which to define key elements of the learning community. In order to build a nurturing, self-sustaining online…

The Constructivist Classroom Learning Environment and Its Associations with Critical Thinking Ability of Secondary School Students in Liberal Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kwan, Yee Wan; Wong, Angela F. L.

2014-01-01

In this study, we investigated-secondary school students' perceptions of their constructivist learning environment in Liberal Studies, and whether their perceptions were related to their critical thinking ability. A convenience sample of Secondary Three students (N = 967) studying Liberal Studies in Hong Kong participated in this research by…

Do Junior High School Students Perceive Their Learning Environment as Constructivist?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moustafa, Asely; Ben-Zvi-Assaraf, Orit; Eshach, Haim

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study is to examine the manner in which the features of a constructivist learning environment, and the mechanisms at its base, are expressed in junior high school students' conceptions. Our research is based on an integration of quantitative and qualitative approaches, deigned to provide a wider ranging and deeper…

The Perceptions of Prospective Teachers on the Democratic Aspects of the Constructivist Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bay, Erdal; Gundogdu, Kerim; Kaya, Halil Ibrahim

2010-01-01

Introduction: The nations which have the aim to create democratic societies should also realize the same ideals in educational practices. Related literature declare that learning environments based on constructivist approach is assumed to be democratic. In line with this frame, the aim of this study is to determine the perceptions of prospective…

Effective Learning Environment Characteristics as a Requirement of Constructivist Curricula: Teachers' Needs and School Principals' Views

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Temli Durmus, Yeliz

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study is to determine elementary school teachers' and school principals' views on physical learning environments of schools where teachers are expected to implement the constructivist philosophy/approach. In this qualitative study, the researcher interviewed 48 elementary school teachers and 6 school administrators working in…

Relationships between High School Chemistry Students' Perceptions of a Constructivist Learning Environment and their STEM Career Expectations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wild, Andrew

2015-09-01

Considerable attention has been devoted to factors affecting the persistence of women and historically underrepresented ethnic groups in their science education trajectories. The literature has focused more on structural factors that affect longitudinal outcomes rather than classroom experiences. This exploratory survey study described relationships among high school chemistry students' perceptions of a constructivist learning environment (CLE) and STEM career expectations. The sample included 693 students from 7 public high schools within the San Francisco Bay Area. Students' perceptions of a CLE predicted their expectations of entering a science career, but not engineering, computer, health, or mathematics-related careers. When all groups of students perceived the learning environment as more constructivist, they were more likely to expect science careers.

Assessing the Contribution of a Constructivist Learning Environment to Academic Self-Efficacy in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alt, Dorit

2015-01-01

Self-efficacy for learning, which refers to students' beliefs in their capabilities to regulate their own learning, could determine students' motivation and academic achievement and, therefore, is significant in the learning process. This study examined how educational efforts based on constructivist theory were associated with the…

An Operational Approach for Building Learning Environments Supporting Cognitive Flexibility

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chieu, Vu Minh

2007-01-01

Constructivism is a learning theory that states that people learn by actively constructing their own knowledge, based on prior knowledge. A significant number of ICT-based constructivist learning systems have been proposed in recent years. According to our analysis, those systems exhibit only a few constructivist principles, and a critical problem…

Effects of Instructional Support within Constructivist Learning Environments for Elementary School Students' Understanding of "Floating and Sinking"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hardy, Ilonca; Jonen, Angela; Moller, Komelia; Stern, Elsbeth

2006-01-01

In a repeated measures design (pretest, posttest, 1-year follow-up) with 161 3rd-grade students, the authors compared 2 curricula on floating and sinking within constructivist learning environments, varying in instructional support. The 2 curricula differed in the sequencing of content and the teacher's cognitively structuring statements. At the…

Internet Self-Efficacy and Preferences toward Constructivist Internet-Based Learning Environments: A Study of Pre-School Teachers in Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liang, Jyh-Chong; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2008-01-01

This study was conducted to explore the relationship between Internet self-efficacy and preferences toward constructivist Internet-based learning environments. The sample included 365 college students in Taiwan who all majored in early childhood care and pre-school education. Some of them were preservice pre-school teachers (n=185), and the rest…

Validation and Application of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey in English Language Teacher Education Classrooms in Iran

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ebrahimi, Nabi. A.

2015-01-01

This article reports the validation and application of an English language teacher education (LTE) version of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES). The instrument, called the CLES-LTE, was field tested with a sample of 622 Iranian English language student teachers in 28 classes. When principal components analysis led to the…

Web-Enhanced Learning: Engaging Students in Constructivist Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neo, Mai

2005-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of a web-based constructivist learning environment, which was developed based on a course given to students in the Faculty of Creative Multimedia (FCM) on student learning. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, a web-based multimedia-mediated project was developed based on an Internet…

Social constructivist learning environment in an online professional practice course.

PubMed

Sthapornnanon, Nunthaluxna; Sakulbumrungsil, Rungpetch; Theeraroungchaisri, Anuchai; Watcharadamrongkun, Suntaree

2009-02-19

To assess the online social constructivist learning environment (SCLE) and student perceptions of the outcomes of the online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice that was designed based on social constructivism theory. The online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice in pharmaceutical marketing and business was carefully designed by organizing various activities, which were intended to encourage social interaction among students. The Constructivist Online Learning Environment Survey (COLLES) was applied to assess the SCLE. Course evaluation questionnaires were administered to assess student perceptions of this online module. The result from the COLLES illustrated the development of SCLE in the course. The students reported positive perceptions of the course. An online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice in pharmaceutical marketing and business was effective in promoting SCLE.

Social Constructivist Learning Environment in an Online Professional Practice Course

PubMed Central

Sakulbumrungsil, Rungpetch; Theeraroungchaisri, Anuchai; Watcharadamrongkun, Suntaree

2009-01-01

Objective To assess the online social constructivist learning environment (SCLE) and student perceptions of the outcomes of the online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice that was designed based on social constructivism theory. Design The online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice in pharmaceutical marketing and business was carefully designed by organizing various activities, which were intended to encourage social interaction among students. The Constructivist Online Learning Environment Survey (COLLES) was applied to assess the SCLE. Course evaluation questionnaires were administered to assess student perceptions of this online module. Assessment The result from the COLLES illustrated the development of SCLE in the course. The students reported positive perceptions of the course. Conclusion An online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice in pharmaceutical marketing and business was effective in promoting SCLE. PMID:19513147

Impeding Phenomena Emerging from Students' Constructivist Online Game-Based Learning Process: Implications for the Importance of Teacher Facilitation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jong, Morris Siu-yung; Shang, Junjie

2015-01-01

"Virtual Interactive Student-Oriented Learning Environment" ("VISOLE") is a pedagogical approach to integrating constructivist online game-based learning (COGBLe) into formal teaching in school education. This paper reports a qualitative case study on the implementation of VISOLE (in secondary Geography education) in which we…

Relationships among constructivist learning environment perceptions, motivational beliefs, self-regulation and science achievement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kingir, Sevgi; Tas, Yasemin; Gok, Gulsum; Sungur Vural, Semra

2013-11-01

Background. There are attempts to integrate learning environment research with motivation and self-regulation research that considers social context influences an individual's motivation, self-regulation and, in turn, academic performance. Purpose. This study explored the relationships among constructivist learning environment perception variables (personal relevance, uncertainty, shared control, critical voice, student negotiation), motivational beliefs (self-efficacy, intrinsic interest, goal orientation), self-regulation, and science achievement. Sample. The sample for this study comprised 802 Grade 8 students from 14 public middle schools in a district of Ankara in Turkey. Design and methods. Students were administered 4 instruments: Constructivist Learning Environment Survey, Goal Achievement Questionnaire, Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire, and Science Achievement Test. LISREL 8.7 program with SIMPLIS programming language was used to test the conceptual model. Providing appropriate fit indices for the proposed model, the standardized path coefficients for direct effects were examined. Results. At least one dimension of the constructivist learning environment was associated with students' intrinsic interest, goal orientation, self-efficacy, self-regulation, and science achievement. Self-efficacy emerged as the strongest predictor of both mastery and performance avoidance goals rather than the approach goals. Intrinsic value was found to be significantly linked to science achievement through its effect on self-regulation. The relationships between self-efficacy and self-regulation and between goal orientation and science achievement were not significant. Conclusion. In a classroom environment supporting student autonomy and control, students tend to develop higher interest in tasks, use more self-regulatory strategies, and demonstrate higher academic performance. Science teachers are highly recommended to consider these findings when designing their lessons. For the creation of such a learning environment, teachers can design open-ended inquiry activities in which students have opportunities to take responsibility, reflect on their views, and accomplish challenging tasks.

Do Junior High School Students Perceive Their Learning Environment as Constructivist?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moustafa, Asely; Ben-Zvi-Assaraf, Orit; Eshach, Haim

2013-08-01

The purpose of this study is to examine the manner in which the features of a constructivist learning environment, and the mechanisms at its base, are expressed in junior high school students' conceptions. Our research is based on an integration of quantitative and qualitative approaches, deigned to provide a wider ranging and deeper understanding. Eight hundred and forty eighth- and ninth-grade students from over 15 schools participated in the study. Of the 840 students who completed the questionnaire, the explanations of 200 well-written questionnaires were further analyzed qualitatively. The findings of the study are presented in terms of the four scales employed in the CLES, namely the autonomy scale, the prior knowledge scale, the negotiation scale, and the student-centeredness scale. The quantitative results achieved here concur with parallel studies conducted around the world. The findings indicate that a considerable portion of the students perceive their learning environment as a constructivist one and report positive attitudes toward the way they are being taught. In terms of the qualitative results, however, it appears that in some cases, the students' explanations reveal that in fact, and contrary to the bare quantitative results, some students do not perceive their learning environment as being constructivist. This raises the question of whether the fact that students recognize the factors associated with constructivist teaching is indeed an indication that such teaching exists in practice. This finding emphasizes the importance of combining qualitative and quantitative methods for arriving at a balanced view of classroom occurrences.

Developing a Constructivist Learning Environment in Online Postsecondary Science Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hackworth, Sylvester N.

2010-01-01

This Delphi study addressed the concerns of postsecondary educators regarding the quality of education received by postsecondary science students who receive their instruction online. This study was framed with the constructivist learning theory and Piaget's and Dewey's cognitive development theories. The overarching question addressed a gap in…

Effectiveness of a Constructivist Approach to Science Instruction for Prospective Elementary Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liang, Ling L.; Gabel, Dorothy L.

2005-01-01

This study examines the effectiveness of a new constructivist curriculum model (Powerful Ideas in Physical Science) in improving prospective teachers' understanding of science concepts, in fostering a learning environment supporting conceptual understanding, and in promoting positive attitudes toward learning and teaching science and chemistry in…

Beyond Measurement-Driven Instruction: Achieving Deep Learning Based on Constructivist Learning Theory, Integrated Assessment, and a Flipped Classroom Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernauer, James A.; Fuller, Richard G.

2017-01-01

The authors focus on the critical role of assessment within a flipped classroom environment where instruction is based on constructivist learning theory and where desired student outcomes are at the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. While assessment is typically thought of in terms of providing summative measures of performance or achievement, it…

Is Constructivist Learning Environment Really Effective on Learning and Long-Term Knowledge Retention in Mathematics? Example of the Infinity Concept

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Narli, Serkan

2011-01-01

This study investigates the long-term effects of instructing Cantor set theory using constructivist learning approach on student knowledge retention. The participants included 60 first-year secondary mathematics pre-service teachers. Students were divided into two classes one of which was taught via traditional lecture (n = 30) and the other was…

Is Learning Only a Cognitive Process? Or Does It Occur in a Sociocultural Environment?: "Constructivism" in the Eyes of Preschool Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Öztürk, Duygu Saniye

2016-01-01

This study aims to identify the views of preschool teachers about learning within the framework of the cognitive and sociocultural constructivist approach and reveal the practical applications of constructivist learning in the 2006 Preschool Curriculum. Participants were ten preschool teachers working at three preschools in Bolu, Turkey and data…

Blending Technology with Constructivism: Implications for an ELT Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaya, Haldun

2015-01-01

The constructivist approach in learning a foreign language has been receiving a great deal of attention over the last years due to its tenets, which fully comply with the principles of the effective language learning environment. Taking the foundations of constructivist pedagogy into consideration, the most innovative attempt that English language…

Changes in science classrooms resulting from collaborative action research initiatives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oh, Phil Seok

Collaborative action research was undertaken over two years between a Korean science teacher and science education researchers at the University of Iowa. For the purpose of realizing science learning as envisioned by constructivist principles, Group-Investigations were implemented three or five times per project year. In addition, the second year project enacted Peer Assessments among students. Student perceptions of their science classrooms, as measured by the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES), provided evidence that the collaborative action research was successful in creating constructivist learning environments. Student attitudes toward science lessons, as examined by the Enjoyment of Science Lessons Scale (ESLS), indicated that the action research also contributed to developing more positive attitudes of students about science learning. Discourse analysis was conducted on video-recordings of in-class presentations and discussions. The results indicated that students in science classrooms which were moving toward constructivist learning environments engaged in such discursive practices as: (1) Communicating their inquiries to others, (2) Seeking and providing information through dialogues, and (3) Negotiating conflicts in their knowledge and beliefs. Based on these practices, science learning was viewed as the process of constructing knowledge and understanding of science as well as the process of engaging in scientific inquiry and discourse. The teacher's discursive practices included: (1) Wrapping up student presentations, (2) Addressing misconceptions, (3) Answering student queries, (4) Coaching, (5) Assessing and advising, (6) Guiding students discursively into new knowledge, and (7) Scaffolding. Science teaching was defined as situated acts of the teacher to facilitate the learning process. In particular, when the classrooms became more constructivist, the teacher intervened more frequently and carefully in student activities to fulfill a variety of pedagogical functions. Students perceived Group-Investigations and Peer Assessments as positive in that they contributed to realizing constructivist features in their classrooms. The students also reported that they gained several learning outcomes through Group-Investigations, including more positive attitudes, new knowledge, greater learning capabilities, and improved self-esteem. However, the Group-Investigation and Peer Assessment methods were perceived as negative and problematic by those who had rarely been exposed to such inquiry-based, student-centered approaches.

Constructivist-Visual Mind Map Teaching Approach and the Quality of Students' Cognitive Structures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dhindsa, Harkirat S.; Makarimi-Kasim; Anderson, O. Roger

2011-01-01

This study compared the effects of a constructivist-visual mind map teaching approach (CMA) and of a traditional teaching approach (TTA) on (a) the quality and richness of students' knowledge structures and (b) TTA and CMA students' perceptions of the extent that a constructivist learning environment (CLE) was created in their classes. The sample…

``Learning to Research'' in a Virtual Learning Environment: A Case Study on the Effectiveness of a Socio-constructivist Learning Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

López-Alonso, C.; Fernández-Pampillón, A.; de-Miguel, E.; Pita, G.

Learning is the basis for research and lifelong training. The implementation of virtual environments for developing this competency requires the use of effective learning models. In this study we present an experiment in positive learning from the virtual campus of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). In order to carry it out we have used E-Ling, an e-learning environment that has been developed with an innovative didactic design based on a socio-constructivist learning approach. E-Ling has been used since 2006 to train future teachers and researchers in “learning to research”. Some of the results of this experiment have been statistically analysed in order to compare them with other learning models. From the obtained results we have concluded that E-Ling is a more productive proposal for developing competences in learning to research.

Citizen Science as a REAL Environment for Authentic Scientific Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meyer, Nathan J.; Scott, Siri; Strauss, Andrea Lorek; Nippolt, Pamela L.; Oberhauser, Karen S.; Blair, Robert B.

2014-01-01

Citizen science projects can serve as constructivist learning environments for programming focused on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for youth. Attributes of "rich environments for active learning" (REALs) provide a framework for design of Extension STEM learning environments. Guiding principles and design strategies…

An Investigation into the Organization Levels of Social Studies Teachers with Regard to Constructivist Learning Environments in Terms of Several Variables=Sosyal Bilgiler Ögretmenlerinin Yapilandirmaci Ögrenme Ortamlarini Düzenleme Düzeylerinin Çesitli Degiskenlere Göre Incelenmesi

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Çaliskan, Hüseyin

2015-01-01

The purpose of this research project was to evaluate the performance and conditions of elementary-level social studies teachers, and how such variables affect their overall ability to create a constructivist learning environment. The research group was composed of 241 social studies teachers. A Turkish translation of the work "Constructivist…

Characteristics of an Innovative Learning Environment According to Students' Perceptions: Actual versus Preferred

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magen-Nagar, Noga; Steinberger, Pnina

2017-01-01

An innovative learning environment is the current outcome of the constructivist approach, the essence of which is co-construction of knowledge in an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) environment. We examined how Israeli students perceived 10 characteristics of their classroom learning environment--student cohesiveness, teacher…

Deconstructing Constructivism: Modeling Causal Relationships Among Constructivist Learning Environment Factors and Student Outcomes in Introductory Chemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Komperda, Regis

The purpose of this dissertation is to test a model of relationships among factors characterizing aspects of a student-centered constructivist learning environment and student outcomes of satisfaction and academic achievement in introductory undergraduate chemistry courses. Constructivism was chosen as the theoretical foundation for this research because of its widespread use in chemical education research and practice. In a constructivist learning environment the role of the teacher shifts from delivering content towards facilitating active student engagement in activities that encourage individual knowledge construction through discussion and application of content. Constructivist approaches to teaching introductory chemistry courses have been adopted by some instructors as a way to improve student outcomes, but little research has been done on the causal relationships among particular aspects of the learning environment and student outcomes. This makes it difficult for classroom teachers to know which aspects of a constructivist teaching approach are critical to adopt and which may be modified to better suit a particular learning environment while still improving student outcomes. To investigate a model of these relationships, a survey designed to measure student perceptions of three factors characterizing a constructivist learning environment in online courses was adapted for use in face-to-face chemistry courses. These three factors, teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence, were measured using a slightly modified version of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) instrument. The student outcomes investigated in this research were satisfaction and academic achievement, as measured by standardized American Chemical Society (ACS) exam scores and course grades. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to statistically model relationships among the three presence factors and student outcome variables for 391 students enrolled in six sections of a general chemistry course taught by four instructors at a single university using a common textbook. The quantitative analysis of student data was supported by investigating the instructor's approach to teaching using instructor responses to a modified version of the Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI), semi-structured interview questions, and information available in the course syllabus. The results of the SEM analysis indicate that incoming math ability, as measured by ACT math scores, has the largest effect on student academic achievement in introductory chemistry courses. Of the three presence factors, cognitive presence has the largest direct effect on academic achievement and student satisfaction. Teaching presence has a direct effect on satisfaction similar in size to the effect of cognitive presence. The relationship between social presence and student outcomes is found to be relatively small. Given the role that both teaching and social presence play in influencing cognitive presence, these results suggest that classroom teachers should emphasize the development of a learning environment with a large degree of cognitive presence where students take ownership of their own learning process. This type of learning environment can be supported by specific instructor behaviors such as facilitating discussions and implementing group work focused on collaboration and developing shared understandings.

A constructivist approach to studying the bullwhip effect by simulating the supply chain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

González-Torre, Pilar L.; Adenso-Díaz, B.; Moreno, Plácido

2015-11-01

The Cider Game is a simulator for a supply chain-related learning environment. Its main feature is that it provides support to students in the constructivist discovery process when learning how to make logistics decisions, at the same time as noting the occurrence of the bullwhip phenomenon. This learning environment seeks a balance between direct instruction in the learning process on the part of the tutor, and a suitable and sufficient degree of freedom to regulate independent learning on the part of students. This article describes the basic learning mechanisms using the Cider Game and the graphical learning environments that it provides. We describe the functionality provided by this application, and analyse the effect over the rational understanding of the bullwhip phenomenon by the students and whether they are able to make decisions to minimise its impact, studying the differences when that decision-making learning is done individually or in groups.

Using Computer Simulations To Enhance Conceptual Change: The Roles of Constructivist Instruction and Student Epistemological Beliefs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Windschitl, Mark; Andre, Thomas

1998-01-01

Investigates the effects of a constructivist versus objectivist learning environment on college students' conceptual change using a computer simulation of the human cardiovascular system as an instructional tool. Contains 33 references. (DDR)

Learning Environments as Basis for Cognitive Achievements of Students in Basic Science Classrooms in Nigeria

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atomatofa, Rachel; Okoye, Nnamdi; Igwebuike, Thomas

2016-01-01

The nature of classroom learning environments created by teachers had been considered very important for learning to take place effectively. This study investigated the effect of creating constructivist and transmissive learning environments on achievements of science students of different ability levels. 243 students formed the entire study…

Investigating Learners' Attitudes toward Virtual Reality Learning Environments: Based on a Constructivist Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Hsiu-Mei; Rauch, Ulrich; Liaw, Shu-Sheng

2010-01-01

The use of animation and multimedia for learning is now further extended by the provision of entire Virtual Reality Learning Environments (VRLE). This highlights a shift in Web-based learning from a conventional multimedia to a more immersive, interactive, intuitive and exciting VR learning environment. VRLEs simulate the real world through the…

What Teachers Need to Know about Augmented Reality Enhanced Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wasko, Christopher

2013-01-01

Augmented reality (AR) enhanced learning environments have been designed to teach a variety of subjects by having learners act like professionals in the field as opposed to students in a classroom. The environments, grounded in constructivist and situated learning theories, place students in a meaningful, non-classroom environment and force them…

A Cross-National Study of the Learning Environment in Chemistry Classes at Albanian, Kosovar, Romanian and Turkish Secondary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Emilov, Iliya; Tafrova-Grigorova, Adriana

2016-01-01

This study is part of a cross-national research entitled "In the past and now: Constructivist practices in teaching chemistry--Bulgaria, the Balkans and Europe." The purpose of the research is to explore science secondary classroom environments in terms of the constructivist approach. The study has been carried out at international…

Community College Students' Preferences of Learning Environment in Three Modalities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agostini, Preslie

2013-01-01

This study examined student preferences of learning environment in three separate learning modalities (traditional, online, and hybrid) in an English 102 course at three community colleges in central Arizona. The basis for the study revolved around the constructivist theory, which implies that students learn from their own experiences. The…

Storytelling: An Ancient Human Technology and Critical-Creative Pedagogy for Transformative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalogeras, Stavroula

2013-01-01

In the era of e-learning, student-centered approaches and constructivists learning environments are critical success factors. The inherent interactivity of the Internet and the emotional engagement of story can lead to transformative learning experiences in media rich environments. This paper focuses on Web-Based Transmedia Storytelling…

A Computer Environment for Beginners' Learning of Sorting Algorithms: Design and Pilot Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kordaki, M.; Miatidis, M.; Kapsampelis, G.

2008-01-01

This paper presents the design, features and pilot evaluation study of a web-based environment--the SORTING environment--for the learning of sorting algorithms by secondary level education students. The design of this environment is based on modeling methodology, taking into account modern constructivist and social theories of learning while at…

Development and validation of a method for measuring depth of understanding in constructivist learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guarino, Lucia Falsetti

A method for measuring depth of understanding of students in the middle-level science classroom was developed and validated. A common theme in the literature on constructivism in science education is that constructivist pedagogy, as opposed to objectivist pedagogy, results in a greater depth of understanding. Since few instruments measuring this construct exist at the present time, the development of such a tool to measure this construct was a significant contribution to the current body of assessment technologies in science education. The author's Depth of Understanding Assessment (DUA) evolved from a writing measure originally designed as a history assessment. The study involved 230 eighth grade science students studying a chemical change unit. The main research questions were: (1) What is the relationship between the DUA and each of the following independent variables: recall, application, and questioning modalities as measured by the Cognitive Preference Test; deep, surface, achieving, and deep-achieving approaches as measured by the Learning Process Questionnaire; achievement as measured by the Chemical Change Quiz, and teacher perception of student ability to conceptualize science content? (2) Is there a difference in depth of understanding, as measured by the DUA, between students who are taught by objectivist pedagogy and students who are taught by constructivist pedagogy favoring the constructivist group? (3) Is there a gender difference in depth of understanding as measured by the DUA? (4) Do students who are taught by constructivist pedagogy perceive their learning environment as more constructivist than students who are taught by objectivist pedagogy? Six out of nine hypothesis tests supported the validity of the DUA. The results of the qualitative component of this study which consisted of student interviews substantiated the quantitative results by providing additional information and insights. There was a significant difference in depth of understanding between the two groups favoring the constructivist group, however, since only two teachers and their students participated in the study, the significance of this result is limited. There was a significant gender difference in depth of understanding favoring females. Students in the constructivist group perceived their learning environment to be more constructivist than students in the objectivist group.

Transformation for Adults in an Internet-Based Learning Environment--Is It Necessary to Be Self-Directed?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chu, Regina Juchun; Chu, Anita Zichun; Weng, Cathy; Tsai, Chin-Chung; Lin, Chia-chun

2012-01-01

This research explores the relationships between self-directed learning readiness and transformative learning theory (TLT) reflected by the Constructivist Internet-based Learning Environment Scale (CILES). A questionnaire survey about adult learner's perceptions of Internet-based learning was administered to adults enrolled in classes in community…

Helping Students Develop Statistical Reasoning: Implementing a Statistical Reasoning Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garfield, Joan; Ben-Zvi, Dani

2009-01-01

This article describes a model for an interactive, introductory secondary- or tertiary-level statistics course that is designed to develop students' statistical reasoning. This model is called a "Statistical Reasoning Learning Environment" and is built on the constructivist theory of learning.

The impact of a STS/Constructivist learning approach on the beliefs and attitudes of preservice science teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akcay, Hakan

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of an Science-Technology-Society (STS) course for preservice science teachers. The course was designed to change not only preservice science teachers' attitudes toward science, scientists and science courses, but also the awareness and use of STS/Constructivist approaches in teaching. It also focuses on changes in preservice science teachers regarding the effectiveness of an STS/Constructivist learning environment. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used with and a one-group pretest-posttest design. The instruments were administered to the preservice science teachers at the beginning of the semester as pre-tests and again at the end of the semester as post-tests. Data gathered from pre- and post-administration were analyzed for each of the instruments that provide answers to the research questions. The sample consists of forty-one pre-service science teachers who were enrolled in the Societal & Educational Applications of Biological Concepts course during the spring semester of the 2004 and 2005 academic years at the University of Iowa. The major findings for the study include the following: (1) Preservice science teachers showed significantly growth over the semester in their perceptions concerning STS/Constructivism, beliefs about science teaching and learning, and attitudes toward science and technology, and their implications for society. These significant changes were not affected by gender nor grade (elementary vs secondary) level. (2) Preservice science teachers gain in understanding of how students learn with STS/Constructivist approaches. They also increased their use of STS/Constructivist approaches which were developed and applied to teaching science for all students. (3) Preservice science teachers showed statistically significant growth toward an STS/Constructivist philosophy of science teaching and learning in terms of student actions in the classroom, as well as their increased understanding of science processes and content. (4) An STS/Constructivist approach provides student--centered learning environments that are relevant, motivational, and meaningful for preservice science teachers. Further, it encourages them to interact and to participate more actively in science classrooms.

A Drawing and Multi-Representational Computer Environment for Beginners' Learning of Programming Using C: Design and Pilot Formative Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kordaki, Maria

2010-01-01

This paper presents both the design and the pilot formative evaluation study of a computer-based problem-solving environment (named LECGO: Learning Environment for programming using C using Geometrical Objects) for the learning of computer programming using C by beginners. In its design, constructivist and social learning theories were taken into…

Communication in Collaborative Discovery Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saab, Nadira; van Joolingen, Wouter R.; van Hout-Wolters, Bernadette H. A. M.

2005-01-01

Background: Constructivist approaches to learning focus on learning environments in which students have the opportunity to construct knowledge themselves, and negotiate this knowledge with others. "Discovery learning" and "collaborative learning" are examples of learning contexts that cater for knowledge construction processes. We introduce a…

A Model for Student Adoption of Online Interactivity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karamanos, Neophytos; Gibbs, Paul

2012-01-01

Acknowledging the general difficulty of new e-learning pedagogical approaches in achieving wide acceptance and use, the study described in this article examines a class of MBA students' adoption of a proposed online interactive learning environment. To this end, a web-based, case-based constructivist learning environment was developed, embedding…

Supporting Social Awareness in Collaborative E-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lambropoulos, Niki; Faulkner, Xristine; Culwin, Fintan

2012-01-01

In the last decade, we have seen the emergence of virtual learning environments. Initially, these environments were a little more than document repositories that tutor used unicast to the students. Informed in part by social constructivist theories of education, later environments included capabilities for tutor-student and student-student,…

Content-based VLE designs improve learning efficiency in constructivist statistics education.

PubMed

Wessa, Patrick; De Rycker, Antoon; Holliday, Ian Edward

2011-01-01

We introduced a series of computer-supported workshops in our undergraduate statistics courses, in the hope that it would help students to gain a deeper understanding of statistical concepts. This raised questions about the appropriate design of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in which such an approach had to be implemented. Therefore, we investigated two competing software design models for VLEs. In the first system, all learning features were a function of the classical VLE. The second system was designed from the perspective that learning features should be a function of the course's core content (statistical analyses), which required us to develop a specific-purpose Statistical Learning Environment (SLE) based on Reproducible Computing and newly developed Peer Review (PR) technology. The main research question is whether the second VLE design improved learning efficiency as compared to the standard type of VLE design that is commonly used in education. As a secondary objective we provide empirical evidence about the usefulness of PR as a constructivist learning activity which supports non-rote learning. Finally, this paper illustrates that it is possible to introduce a constructivist learning approach in large student populations, based on adequately designed educational technology, without subsuming educational content to technological convenience. Both VLE systems were tested within a two-year quasi-experiment based on a Reliable Nonequivalent Group Design. This approach allowed us to draw valid conclusions about the treatment effect of the changed VLE design, even though the systems were implemented in successive years. The methodological aspects about the experiment's internal validity are explained extensively. The effect of the design change is shown to have substantially increased the efficiency of constructivist, computer-assisted learning activities for all cohorts of the student population under investigation. The findings demonstrate that a content-based design outperforms the traditional VLE-based design.

Development of Constructivist-Based Distance Learning Environments: A Knowledge Base for K-12 Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herring, Mary Corwin

2004-01-01

In response to societal shifts, K-12 teachers are struggling to design effective learning environments. The advent of increased access to world-linking technology has extended the use of distance education to enrich and expand the learning landscape for students. A number of individuals have suggested that a body of learning theory,…

An Epistemological Glance at the Constructivist Approach: Constructivist Learning in Dewey, Piaget, and Montessori

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ultanir, Emel

2012-01-01

What people gain through sensation and cognition make up the individuals' experiences and knowledge. Individuals benefit from previous experiences when resolving problems. Knowledge is constructed from the meanings one attributes to nature and the environment. In theories, it means that constructers depend on observation and when directly…

Instructional Designers' Media Selection Practices for Distributed Problem-Based Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fells, Stephanie

2012-01-01

The design of online or distributed problem-based learning (dPBL) is a nascent, complex design problem. Instructional designers are challenged to effectively unite the constructivist principles of problem-based learning (PBL) with appropriate media in order to create quality dPBL environments. While computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools and…

A Model for Integrating New Technologies into Pre-Service Teacher Training Programs Ajman University (A Case Study)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaqour, Ali Zuhdi H.

2005-01-01

This study introduces a "Technology Integration Model" for a learning environment utilizing constructivist learning principles and integrating new technologies namely computers and the Internet into pre-service teacher training programs. The technology integrated programs and learning environments may assist learners to gain experiences…

Integrating Dynamic Mathematics Software into Cooperative Learning Environments in Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zengin, Yilmaz; Tatar, Enver

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the implementation of the cooperative learning model supported with dynamic mathematics software (DMS), that is a reflection of constructivist learning theory in the classroom environment, in the teaching of mathematics. For this purpose, a workshop was conducted with the volunteer teachers on the…

Graduate Student Preferences in Online Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keener, Cheryl P.

2017-01-01

This research explored online graduate students' preferences using the Constructivist Internet-Based Learning Environment Survey (CILES) and how everyday learner attributes affected their preferences. The purpose of this study was to identify graduate students' preferences for various types of learning in order to aid designers with aligning…

A blended learning approach for teaching computer programming: design for large classes in Sub-Saharan Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bayu Bati, Tesfaye; Gelderblom, Helene; van Biljon, Judy

2014-01-01

The challenge of teaching programming in higher education is complicated by problems associated with large class teaching, a prevalent situation in many developing countries. This paper reports on an investigation into the use of a blended learning approach to teaching and learning of programming in a class of more than 200 students. A course and learning environment was designed by integrating constructivist learning models of Constructive Alignment, Conversational Framework and the Three-Stage Learning Model. Design science research is used for the course redesign and development of the learning environment, and action research is integrated to undertake participatory evaluation of the intervention. The action research involved the Students' Approach to Learning survey, a comparative analysis of students' performance, and qualitative data analysis of data gathered from various sources. The paper makes a theoretical contribution in presenting a design of a blended learning solution for large class teaching of programming grounded in constructivist learning theory and use of free and open source technologies.

MODeLeR: A Virtual Constructivist Learning Environment and Methodology for Object-Oriented Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coffey, John W.; Koonce, Robert

2008-01-01

This article contains a description of the organization and method of use of an active learning environment named MODeLeR, (Multimedia Object Design Learning Resource), a tool designed to facilitate the learning of concepts pertaining to object modeling with the Unified Modeling Language (UML). MODeLeR was created to provide an authentic,…

Student Perceptions of Constructivist Concepts in Classes Using Virtual Worlds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowers, K. Westmoreland

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to identify constructivist concepts that are important to student-perceived learning outcomes in college courses that use a virtual world, such as Second Life, as an educational tool. Identification of these concepts will help instructors to make the best use of their course design efforts in mediated environments.…

Constructivist Education: A Direction for the Twenty-First Century.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kamii, Constance

In the first of this presentation's two parts, an attempt is made to clarify the meaning of constructivist education, an approach based on a theory which explains learning as a process of construction from within the individual, rather than one of internalization or absorption from the environment. In the second part, a personal view of why…

The effects of a professional development program for physics teachers on their teaching and the learning of their students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Mee-Kyeong

The purposes of the study were (1) to investigate the effects of the 2000 Iowa Professional Development Program on classroom teaching and student learning and (2) to examine the effectiveness of Constructivist/STS approaches in terms of student perceptions regarding their science classrooms, student attitudes toward science, and student creativity. The 2000 Iowa Professional Development Program which focused on Constructivist/STS approaches was carried out at the University of Iowa for visiting Korean physics teachers. Several methods of data collection were used, including observations by means of classroom videotapes, teacher perception surveys, teacher interviews, and student surveys. The data collected was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Major findings include: (1) The 2000 Iowa Professional Development Program did not significantly influence teacher perceptions concerning their teaching in terms of Constructivist/STS approaches in their classrooms. (2) The 2000 Iowa Professional Development Program significantly influenced improvement in teaching practices regarding Constructivist/STS approaches. (3) Students taught with Constructivist/STS approaches perceived their learning environments as more constructivist than did those taught with traditional methods. (4) Students taught with Constructivist/STS approaches improved significantly in the development of more positive attitudes toward science, while such positive attitudes decreased among students taught with traditional methods. (5) Students taught with Constructivist/STS approaches improved significantly in their use of creativity skills over those taught in traditional classrooms. (6) Most teachers favored the implementation of Constructivist/STS approaches. They perceived that students became more interested in lessons utilizing such approaches over time. The major difficulties which the teachers experienced with regard to the implementation of Constructivist/STS teaching include: inability to cover required curriculum content; getting away from textbooks; acceptance by parents, community, and supervisors; motivating students to be involved in classroom activities; and lack of materials for Constructivist/STS teaching. The results imply that efforts to improve educational conditions, in tandem with more consistent and ongoing professional development programs, are necessary to encourage teachers to use what they learned, to keep their initial interest and ideas alive, and to contribute specifically to the reform of science education.

The Design and Pilot Evaluation of an Interactive Learning Environment for Introductory Programming Influenced by Cognitive Load Theory and Constructivism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moons, Jan; De Backer, Carlos

2013-01-01

This article presents the architecture and evaluation of a novel environment for programming education. The design of this programming environment, and the way it is used in class, is based on the findings of constructivist and cognitivist learning paradigms. The environment is evaluated based on qualitative student and teacher evaluations and…

ICCE/ICCAI 2000 Full & Short Papers (Interactive Learning Environments).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

2000

This document contains the full and short papers on interactive learning environments from ICCE/ICCAI 2000 (International Conference on Computers in Education/International Conference on Computer-Assisted Instruction) covering the following topics: a CAL system for appreciation of 3D shapes by surface development; a constructivist virtual physics…

Knowledge Building by Full Integration with Virtual Reality Environments and Its Effects on Personal and Social Life.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fialho, Francisco Antonio Pereira; Catapan, Araci Hack

1999-01-01

Argues that the creation of distributed environments for constructivist learning is a challenge which requires a multidisciplinary development and support team. Outlines recommended strategies for the collective creation of virtual worlds which can improve learning. Contains 11 references. (Author/WRM)

Structured Learning Teams: Reimagining Student Group Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lendvay, Gregory C.

2014-01-01

Even in a standards-based curriculum, teachers can apply constructivist practices such as structured learning teams. In this environment, students become invested in the learning aims, triggering the desire in students to awaken, get information, interpret, remix, share, and design scenarios.

The relationship of science teachers' beliefs and practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varrella, Gary Frank

1997-10-01

The relationships between constructivist and Science-Technology-Society (STS) teaching practices and teachers beliefs are the focus of this dissertation. This study is founded on the premise that individual teacher's beliefs are strong indicators of their instructional choices and teaching habits. The basic research premise is: the more complete and complex the individuals' belief structure about constructivist and STS teaching, the more expert and consistent the teacher is in the complementary constructivist teaching practices. This triangulation study used quantitative and qualitative methods. Three instruments were used: the Science Classroom Observation Rubric and Teaching Practices Assessment Inventory, from the Expert Science Teacher Educational Evaluation Model (ESTEEM), and the Science Teacher Beliefs About the Learning Environment Rubric (developed by the author). The results yielded significant multiple regression analysis regarding the relationships between beliefs and practices in constructivist/STS science teaching not documented elsewhere. Statistically significant factors contributing to expertise included the value teachers placed on their students as individuals whose ideas and contributions to the class are important, teachers' commitment to work as partners with students in the learning environment, and the importance of context, i.e., instruction which is personally relevant and meaningful. No differences were found related to gender or total years of teaching experience. A cross-case methodology was used to explore data from open-ended interviews and for examination of teachers' written comments regarding their interactions with students in the learning environment. Expertise was also shown to be linked to teachers with a commitment to life-long learning and to years of participation/leadership by teachers in state and national reform movements. Qualitative data corroborated these findings, providing a rich and authentic background to the correlational results and analysis of key demographics. Most noteworthy were teachers' comments regarding partnerships with their students and the importance of instructional relevancy.

East Coast/West Coast Art Project: A Constructivist and Technological Approach to Middle Level and Higher Education Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Margaret H.; Kieling, Linda W.; Cooper, Susan L.

2014-01-01

In this article, the authors report on usage of 21st-century technology, and a collaborative project that allowed middle school art students and preservice teachers to share their artwork and receive feedback in a constructivist learning environment. Middle school students often deal with issues such as bullying, divorce, and depression; they can…

WPE: A Mathematical Microworld for Learning Probability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kiew, Su Ding; Sam, Hong Kian

2006-01-01

In this study, the researchers developed the Web-based Probability Explorer (WPE), a mathematical microworld and investigated the effectiveness of the microworld's constructivist learning environment in enhancing the learning of probability and improving students' attitudes toward mathematics. This study also determined the students' satisfaction…

Content-Based VLE Designs Improve Learning Efficiency in Constructivist Statistics Education

PubMed Central

Wessa, Patrick; De Rycker, Antoon; Holliday, Ian Edward

2011-01-01

Background We introduced a series of computer-supported workshops in our undergraduate statistics courses, in the hope that it would help students to gain a deeper understanding of statistical concepts. This raised questions about the appropriate design of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in which such an approach had to be implemented. Therefore, we investigated two competing software design models for VLEs. In the first system, all learning features were a function of the classical VLE. The second system was designed from the perspective that learning features should be a function of the course's core content (statistical analyses), which required us to develop a specific–purpose Statistical Learning Environment (SLE) based on Reproducible Computing and newly developed Peer Review (PR) technology. Objectives The main research question is whether the second VLE design improved learning efficiency as compared to the standard type of VLE design that is commonly used in education. As a secondary objective we provide empirical evidence about the usefulness of PR as a constructivist learning activity which supports non-rote learning. Finally, this paper illustrates that it is possible to introduce a constructivist learning approach in large student populations, based on adequately designed educational technology, without subsuming educational content to technological convenience. Methods Both VLE systems were tested within a two-year quasi-experiment based on a Reliable Nonequivalent Group Design. This approach allowed us to draw valid conclusions about the treatment effect of the changed VLE design, even though the systems were implemented in successive years. The methodological aspects about the experiment's internal validity are explained extensively. Results The effect of the design change is shown to have substantially increased the efficiency of constructivist, computer-assisted learning activities for all cohorts of the student population under investigation. The findings demonstrate that a content–based design outperforms the traditional VLE–based design. PMID:21998652

Effectiveness of a Constructivist Approach to Science Instruction for Prospective Elementary Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Ling L.; Gabel, Dorothy L.

2005-08-01

This study examines the effectiveness of a new constructivist curriculum model (Powerful Ideas in Physical Science) in improving prospective teachers’ understanding of science concepts, in fostering a learning environment supporting conceptual understanding, and in promoting positive attitudes toward learning and teaching science and chemistry in particular. A non-equivalent pretest post-test control-group design was employed. Analysis of covariance and repeated-measures analyses of variance were performed to analyze the scores on concept tests and attitude surveys. Data from videotaped observations of laboratory sessions and interviews of prospective teachers were analyzed by employing a naturalistic inquiry method to provide insights into the process of science learning and teaching for the teacher trainees. The interpretations were made based on the findings that could be corroborated by both methodologies. Conclusions and limitations of the present study as well as recommendations for future implementation of constructivist science curriculum in general are also included.

Internationalising a Learning Environment Instrument for Evaluating Transnational Online University Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeo, Shelley; Taylor, Peter; Kulski, Martijntje

2006-01-01

This article describes the adaptation and validation of the Constructivist OnLine Learning Environment Survey (COLLES) for use in the transnational higher education context. As higher education becomes a more global phenomenon, "borderless" education, either online or by distance education, is becoming a reality and there is a need for…

Learning Environment, Attitudes and Conceptual Development Associated with Innovative Strategies in Middle-School Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ogbuehi, Philip I.; Fraser, Barry J.

2007-01-01

This study of middle-school students in California focused on the effectiveness of using innovative teaching strategies for enhancing the classroom environment, students' attitudes and conceptual development. A sample of 661 students from 22 classrooms in four inner city schools completed modified forms of the Constructivist Learning Environment…

New Learning Design in Distance Education: The Impact on Student Perception and Motivation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martens, Rob; Bastiaens, Theo; Kirschner, Paul A.

2007-01-01

Many forms of e-learning (such as online courses with authentic tasks and computer-supported collaborative learning) have become important in distance education. Very often, such e-learning courses or tasks are set up following constructivist design principles. Often, this leads to learning environments with authentic problems in ill-structured…

Course Management Systems as Tools for the Creation of Online Learning Environments: Evaluation from a Social Constructivist Perspective and Implications for Their Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papastergiou, Marina

2006-01-01

The Internet and the Web offer academic institutions solutions for covering the massive demand for education and transition towards student-centered, social constructivist educational models, in accordance with the demands of the knowledge-based society. This article reports on an investigation aimed at presenting a synthesis of recent research on…

Boxes with Fires: Wisely Integrating Learning Technologies into the Art Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gregory, Diane C.

2009-01-01

By integrating and infusing computer learning technologies wisely into student-centered or social constructivist art learning environments, art educators can improve student learning and at the same time provide a creative, substantive model for how schools can and should be reformed. By doing this, art educators have an opportunity to demonstrate…

Assessing the Field Course Experiential Learning Model: Transforming Collegiate Short-Term Study Abroad Experiences into Rich Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLaughlin, Jacqueline S.; Johnson, D. Kent

2006-01-01

Constructivist learning theory holds that "learning consists less in recording information than in interpreting it. To interpret what is received and is attended to, the learner must personally construct meaning for it." Unfortunately, opportunities for interpreting conceptual information are often lacking in classroom…

Changing Students' Approaches to Learning: A Two-Year Study within a University Teacher Training Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gijbels, David; Coertjens, Liesje; Vanthournout, Gert; Struyf, Elke; Van Petegem, Peter

2009-01-01

Inciting a deep approach to learning in students is difficult. The present research poses two questions: can a constructivist learning-assessment environment change students' approaches towards a more deep approach? What effect does additional feedback have on the changes in learning approaches? Two cohorts of students completed questionnaires…

Toward a neural basis for peer-interaction: what makes peer-learning tick?

PubMed Central

Clark, Ian; Dumas, Guillaume

2015-01-01

Many of the instructional practices that have been advanced as intrinsically motivating are inherent in socio-constructivist learning environments. There is now emerging scientific evidence to explain why interactive learning environments promote the intrinsic motivation to learn. The “two-body” and “second person” approaches have begun to explore the “dark matter” of social neuroscience: the intra- and inter-individual brain dynamics during social interaction. Moreover, studies indicate that when young learners are given expanded opportunities to actively and equitably participate in collaborative learning activities they experienced feelings of well-being, contentment, or even excitement. Neuroscience starts demonstrating how this naturally rewarding aspect is strongly associated with the implication of the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway during social interaction. The production of dopamine reinforces the desire to continue the interaction, and heightens feelings of anticipation for future peer-learning activities. Here we review how cooperative learning and problem-solving interactions can bring about the “intrinsic” motivation to learn. Overall, the reported theoretical arguments and neuroscientific results have clear implications for school and organization approaches and support social constructivist perspectives. PMID:25713542

The Usability Analysis of an E-Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Torun, Fulya; Tekedere, Hakan

2015-01-01

In this research, an E-learning environment is developed for the teacher candidates taking the course on Scientific Research Methods. The course contents were adapted to one of the constructivist approach models referred to as 5E, and an expert opinion was received for the compliance of this model. An usability analysis was also performed to…

ConfChem Conference on Flipped Classroom: Flipping at an Open-Enrollment College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Butzler, Kelly B.

2015-01-01

The flipped classroom is a blended, constructivist learning environment that reverses where students gain and apply knowledge. Instructors from K-12 to the college level are interested in the prospect of flipping their classes, but are unsure how and with which students to implement this learning environment. There has been little discussion…

Constructivist Learning: Understanding and Experience in IT Tertiary Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gao, Shang; Coldwell-Neilson, Jo; Goscinski, Andrzej

2013-01-01

This paper firstly introduces the concept of constructivist learning which advocates that students actively construct knowledge themselves with teachers' assistance. Based on the six important elements of constructivist learning and teaching planning approach, detailed examples of designing the six constructivist elements of situation, groupings,…

KDU E-Community Network.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jonhendro; Ching, Goh Bee; Wahab, Rohazna; Leng, Wang Meei; Aun, Jimmy Tan Lip; Yeoh, Eugene; Hock, Oon; Koo, W. K.

2001-01-01

Describes an education initiative developed by a company in Malaysia, the KDU, to implement a student-centered, teacher-facilitated, educational technology-enabled and knowledge-based learning environment. Explains the KDU e-Community Network that enables passive, interactive, collaborative, and constructivist learning for a variety of…

Little AI: Playing a constructivist robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Georgeon, Olivier L.

Little AI is a pedagogical game aimed at presenting the founding concepts of constructivist learning and developmental Artificial Intelligence. It primarily targets students in computer science and cognitive science but it can also interest the general public curious about these topics. It requires no particular scientific background; even children can find it entertaining. Professors can use it as a pedagogical resource in class or in online courses. The player presses buttons to control a simulated "baby robot". The player cannot see the robot and its environment, and initially ignores the effects of the commands. The only information received by the player is feedback from the player's commands. The player must learn, at the same time, the functioning of the robot's body and the structure of the environment from patterns in the stream of commands and feedback. We argue that this situation is analogous to how infants engage in early-stage developmental learning (e.g., Piaget (1937), [1]).

A Case Study for Comparing the Effectiveness of a Computer Simulation and a Hands-on Activity on Learning Electric Circuits

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ekmekci, Adem; Gulacar, Ozcan

2015-01-01

Science education reform emphasizes innovative and constructivist views of science teaching and learning that promotes active learning environments, dynamic instructions, and authentic science experiments. Technology-based and hands-on instructional designs are among innovative science teaching and learning methods. Research shows that these two…

Constructivism and Reflectivism as the Logical Counterparts in TESOL: Learning Theory versus Teaching Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

al Mahmud, Abdullah

2013-01-01

The gist of the entire constructivist learning theory is that learners are self-builders of their learning that occurs through a mental process in a social context or communication setting, and teachers as facilitators generate learning by creating the expected environment and/or utilizing the process. This article theoretically proves…

Synchronous and Asynchronous E-Language Learning: A Case Study of Virtual University of Pakistan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perveen, Ayesha

2016-01-01

This case study evaluated the impact of synchronous and asynchronous E-Language Learning activities (ELL-ivities) in an E-Language Learning Environment (ELLE) at Virtual University of Pakistan. The purpose of the study was to assess e-language learning analytics based on the constructivist approach of collaborative construction of knowledge. The…

Learning Environment Associated with Use of Mixed Mode Delivery Model among Secondary Business Studies Students in Singapore

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koh, Noi Keng; Fraser, Barry J.

2014-01-01

At many teacher education institutes around the world, preservice teachers are empowered to use pedagogical tools and strategies that engage their students. We used a modified version of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) to evaluate the effectiveness of a pedagogical model known as the Mixed Mode Delivery (MMD) model in terms…

College Students' Perceived Learning Environment and Their Social Media Engagement in Activities Unrelated to Class Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alt, Dorit

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to assess the connection between students' perceived constructivist learning environment and their involvement in activities unrelated to class work via social media engagement (SME), while considering the moderating role of their openness to diversity and challenge (ODC) in explaining both variables. Another aim was to…

A Novel Learning Environment: Case Study of the Pan African e-Network Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nanda, Silima; Saxena, Ashlesh

2013-01-01

The constructivist form of learning creates such an environment where the learners are not only active but they become actors' i.e members and contributors of the social and information space without taking into consideration the geographic boundaries. Such an innovative form of distance education was initiated in India in the year 2007 and it was…

Rethinking Task Design for the Digital Age: A Framework for Language Teaching and Learning in a Synchronous Online Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hampel, Regina

2006-01-01

This article discusses a framework for the development of tasks in a synchronous online environment used for language learning and teaching. It shows how a theoretical approach based on second language acquisition (SLA) principles, sociocultural and constructivist theories, and concepts taken from research on multimodality and new literacies, can…

Pre-Service Teachers' Constructivist Teaching Scores Based on Their Learning Styles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kablan, Zeynel; Kaya, Sibel

2014-01-01

This study examined the relationship between pre-service teachers' constructivist teaching and their learning styles based on Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory. The Learning Styles Inventory-3 was administered at the beginning of the semester to determine preferred learning style. The Constructivist Teaching Evaluation Form was filled out by…

Connecting Brian Cambourne's Conditions of Learning Theory to Brain/Mind Principles: Implications for Early Childhood Educators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rushton, Stephen P.; Eitelgeorge, Janice; Zickafoose, Ruby

2003-01-01

Relates each of the eight conditions of learning in Brian Cambourne's theory of literacy to findings in brain research within a constructivist approach to early childhood education. Cites sample classroom dialogues demonstrating classroom elements that foster a brain-based, developmentally appropriate learning environment supporting Cambourne's…

LSQuiz: A Collaborative Classroom Response System to Support Active Learning through Ubiquitous Computing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caceffo, Ricardo; Azevedo, Rodolfo

2014-01-01

The constructivist theory indicates that knowledge is not something finished and complete. However, the individuals must construct it through the interaction with the physical and social environment. The Active Learning is a methodology designed to support the constructivism through the involvement of students in their learning process, allowing…

Influence of Participation, Facilitator Styles, and Metacognitive Reflection on Knowledge Building in Online University Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cacciamani, Stefano; Cesareni, Donatella; Martini, Francesca; Ferrini, Tiziana; Fujita, Nobuko

2012-01-01

Understanding how to foster knowledge building in online and blended learning environments is a key for computer-supported collaborative learning research. Knowledge building is a deeply constructivist pedagogy and kind of inquiry learning focused on theory building. A strong indicator of engagement in knowledge building activity is the…

Developing Global Leaders: Building Effective Global- Intercultural Collaborative Online Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ivy, Karen Lynne-Daniels

2017-01-01

This paper shares the findings of a study conducted on a virtual inter-cultural global leadership development learning project. Mixed Methods analysis techniques were used to examine the interviews of U.S. and Uganda youth project participants. The study, based on cultural and social constructivist learning theories, investigated the effects of…

Art and Dream.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guo, Shesen

2003-01-01

A computer-assisted learning/teaching model is conceived with implications of constructivist theory and an analogy between the traditional art form Shuanghuang and the teaching/learning environment. The virtual character of the model interacts with the learner, in the form of human behavior and speech supported by recognition biometrics,…

Towards a Cyber-Constructivist Perspective (CCP) of Educational Design.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luppicini, Rocci

2003-01-01

This theoretical paper uses cybernetic-based approaches and communications theory to advance knowledge of constructivist learning. Explores a cyber-constructivist perspective (CCP) as a tool for increasing awareness of factors that may contribute to effective constructivist educational design within learning communities, and discusses advantages…

A Bold Step Forward: Juxtaposition of the Constructivist and Freeschooling Learning Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chiatul, Victoria Oliaku

2015-01-01

This article discusses the juxtaposition of learning within the parallel structure of the constructivist and freeschooling models of education. To begin, characteristics describing the constructivist-learning model are provided, followed by a summary of the major components of the freeschooling-learning model. Finally, the parallel structure…

Relationships between Students' Conceptions of Constructivist Learning and Their Regulation and Processing Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loyens, Sofie M. M.; Rikers, Remy M. J. P.; Schmidt, Henk G.

2008-01-01

The present study investigated relationships between students' conceptions of constructivist learning on the one hand, and their regulation and processing strategies on the other hand. Students in a constructivist, problem-based learning curriculum were questioned about their conceptions of knowledge construction and self-regulated learning, as…

Towards Concept Understanding Relying on Conceptualisation in Constructivist Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Badie, Farshad

2016-01-01

This research works within the framework of constructivist learning (based on constructivist epistemology) and examines learning as an activity of construction, and it posits that knowledge acquisition (and learning) are transformative through self-involvement in some subject matter. Thus it leads, through this constructivism to a pedagogical…

Multiple Intelligences to Promote Metacognition in the Online Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, Daniel P.

2013-01-01

This representative embedded study embraced hermeneutic qualitative methods and was grounded in the constructivist paradigm. The study explored how Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI), promoted metacognition leading to self-efficacy in online learning. The number of colleges offering online courses has grown tremendously,…

Using the "Zone" to Help Reach Every Learner

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silver, Debbie

2011-01-01

Basically everything associated with maximizing student engagement, achievement, optimal learning environment, learning zone, and the like can be attributed to the work of Lev Vygotsky (1978). A Russian psychologist and social constructivist, Vygotsky (1896-1934) proposed a concept so fundamental to the theory of motivation that it undergirds…

Constructive Use of Authoritative Sources in Science Meaning-Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeo, Jennifer; Tan, Seng Chee

2010-01-01

Researchers are skeptical about the role of authoritative sources of information in a constructivist learning environment for fear of usurping students' critical thinking. Taking a social semiotics perspective in this study, authoritative sources are regarded as inscriptions of cultural artifacts, and science learning involves meaning-making of…

Web-Based Notes Is an Inadequate Learning Resource.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amory, Alan; Naicker, Kevin

Development of online courses requires the use of appropriate educational philosophies that discourage rote learning and passive transfer of information from teacher to learner. This paper reports on the development, use and evaluation of two second year Biology online software packages used by students in constructivist environments. The courses…

EFL Learners' Perceptions of Blog Assignments and Instructors' E-Feedbacks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aliakbari, Mohammad; Mohammadi, Saeedeh

2016-01-01

The use of blogs in EFL settings considerably supports learner-centered interactive learning and constructivist environments. Moreover, using blogs to provide instructor's feedback has a crucial role in the language learning process. The present study aimed to explore Iranian EFL learners' perceptions of blog assignments and instructor's…

E-Portfolio Evaluation and Vocabulary Learning: Moving from Pedagogy to Andragogy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharifi, Maryam; Soleimani, Hassan; Jafarigohar, Manoochehr

2017-01-01

Current trends in the field of educational technology indicate a shift in pedagogical assumptions and theoretical frameworks that favor active involvement of self-directed learners in a constructivist environment. This study probes the influence of electronic portfolio evaluation on vocabulary learning of Iranian university students and the…

A case study of secondary teachers facilitating a historical problem-based learning instructional unit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pecore, John L.

Current curriculum trends promote inquiry-based student-centered strategies as a way to foster critical thinking and learning. Problem-based learning (PBL), a type of inquiry focusing on an issue or "problem," is an instructional approach taught on the basis that science reform efforts increase scientific literacy. PBL is a constructivist approach to learning real life problems where understanding is a function of content, context, experiences, and learner goals; historical PBL situates the lesson in a historical context and provides opportunities for teaching NOS concepts. While much research exists on the benefits of historical PBL to student learning in general, more research is warranted on how teachers implement PBL in the secondary science curriculum. The purpose of this study was to examine the classroom-learning environment of four science teachers implementing a historical PBL instructional unit to identify the teachers' understandings, successes and obstacles. By identifying teachers' possible achievements and barriers with implementing a constructivist philosophy when executing historical PBL, educators and curriculum designers may improve alignment of the learning environment to constructivist principles. A qualitative interpretive case study guided this research study. The four participants of this study were purposefully and conveniently selected from biology teachers with at least three years of teaching experience, degrees in education, State Licensure, and completion of a PBL workshop. Data collection consisted of pre and post questionnaires, structured interviews, a card sort activity in which participants categorized instructional outcomes, and participant observations. Results indicated that the four teachers assimilated reform-based constructivist practices to fit within their preexisting routines and highlighted the importance of incorporating teachers' current systems into reform-based teacher instruction. While participating teachers addressed a few NOS tenets, emphasizing the full range of possible NOS objectives included in historical PBL is warranted. This study also revealed the importance of creating a collaborative classroom culture and building positive student-teacher relationships when implementing PBL instruction. The four teachers agreed that the historical PBL instructional unit provided a context for learning state standards, and they positively viewed their experiences teaching the lesson. Thus findings from this study suggest that teaching science in a historical context using PBL can be effective.

The CLEM model: Path analysis of the mediating effects of attitudes and motivational beliefs on the relationship between perceived learning environment and course performance in an undergraduate nonmajor biology course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Partin, Matthew L.

The problem addressed in this study stems from three crises currently faced by post-secondary science educators in the United States: relatively low scientific literacy among students entering college, the need for more students to pursue science related careers, and poor attitudes among students toward studying science. In this dissertation the following questions are addressed: Is there a relationship between students' perceptions of their learning environment and course performance, and what roles do motivation and attitudes play in mediating that relationship? This study also examines the effects of gender and ethnicity on motivation, attitudes, and course performance. The purpose of this study is to test a path model describing the mediating effects of motivation and attitudes on constructivist learning environments and course performance. The following study considers contemporary understanding of teaching and learning as well as motivation and attitudes to suggest a direction for future reform efforts and to guide post-secondary science education instructors and leaders in the design of constructivist learning environments for undergraduate nonmajor biology courses. This study concludes that, although the classroom learning environment has a small direct effect on course performance, there is a moderate total effect on self-efficacy and intrinsic goal orientation. The classroom learning environment also had a moderate indirect effect on attitudes toward biology. Furthermore, attitudes have a moderate direct effect on course performance and self-efficacy has a strong direct effect on both course performance and attitudes toward biology. Self-efficacy seems to be particularly important; however, each of these constructs is important in its own right and instructors in higher education should strive to enhance each of them among their students. If students are to learn using constructivist methods they need the proper motivation and positive attitudes to encourage them to prepare for class and to participate in class activities. Faculty may be viewed as students of pedagogy and leaders should model best practices and provide support for reform-based motivation-minded introductory biology courses. By enhancing attitudes and motivation of both faculty and students, the recommendations from this study may be a step forward in addressing some of the critical problems faced by leaders and educators in postsecondary science.

Students and Teachers' Perceptions into the Viability of Mobile Technology Implementation to Support Language Learning for First Year Business Students in a Middle Eastern University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tayan, Bilal M.

2017-01-01

Advancements in technology have enabled us to learn, adapt and exploit our skills and knowledge in new ways. Appreciating the potential of technology may yet give growth and enrich the process of language education, particularly through a student-centred mobile learning environment. Consequently, a constructivist approach to learning can create…

The Influence of a Collaborative Learning Environment on Primary Students' Conceptions about Acid Rain.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marinopoulos, Dimitrios; Stavridou, Heleni

2002-01-01

Investigates primary students' conceptions of acid rain formation and its consequences to people and the environment before and after a 10-hour constructivist teaching intervention. Reports improvement in conceptions of physical and chemical phenomena among the experimental group participants. (Contains 23 references.) (Author/YDS)

Constructivist Research in Educational Technology: A Retrospective View and Future Prospects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kang, Inae; Choi, Jeong-Im; Chang, Kyungwon

2007-01-01

Along with a socially urgent impetus for revolutionary reform of an educational environment appropriate to the 21st century society, constructivism is highlighted in various fields related to education as an alternative educational ideology and approach. Despite its radical shift from traditional learning environments, and the diverse…

A Constructivist View of Music Education: Perspectives for Deep Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott, Sheila

2006-01-01

The article analyzes a constructivist view of music education. A constructivist music classroom exemplifies deep learning when students formulate questions, acquire new knowledge by developing and implementing plans for investigating these questions, and reflect on the results. A context for deep learning requires that teachers and students work…

Transforming Constructivist Learning into Action: Design Thinking in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scheer, Andrea; Noweski, Christine; Meinel, Christoph

2012-01-01

In an ever changing society of the 21st century, there is a demand to equip students with meta competences going beyond cognitive knowledge. Education, therefore, needs a transition from transferring knowledge to developing individual potentials with the help of constructivist learning. Advantages of constructivist learning, and criteria for its…

The Effect of Context-Based Chemical Equilibrium on Grade 11 Students' Learning, Motivation and Constructivist Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

ilhan, Nail; Yildirim, Ali; Yilmaz, Sibel Sadi

2016-01-01

In recent years, many countries have adopted a context-based approach for designing science curricula for education at all levels. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a Context-Based Chemistry Course (CBCC) as compared with traditional/existing instruction, on 11th grade students' learning about chemical equilibrium,…

Classroom Use of Multimedia-Supported Predict--Observe--Explain Tasks in a Social Constructivist Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kearney, Matthew

2004-01-01

This paper focuses on the use of multimedia-based predict--observe--explain (POE) tasks to facilitate small group learning conversations. Although the tasks were given to pairs of students as a diagnostic tool to elicit their pre-instructional physics conceptions, they also provided a peer learning opportunity for students. The study adopted a…

Role and Constructivist Competencies of an Online Instructor: Elements of an Online Learning Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Marsha L.

2014-01-01

Distance learning programs in higher education are evolving into the preferred model for how we educate learners in the 21st century. The traditional role of an instructor was focused on creating an effective learning environment based in a physical classroom setting. In this decade, institutions are educating and training online instructors to a…

The Role of Lecturers and University Administrators in Promoting New E-Learning Initiatives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mncube, Lancelord Siphamandla; Dube, Luyanda; Ngulube, Patrick

2017-01-01

This article examines the role of lecturers in encouraging and supporting students likely to be predisposed to challenges related to incomprehension, incapacity and isolation embedded in the virtual learning environment. This article used a constructivist lens to gain through interviews an understanding into the intuition, thoughts, ideals,…

A "Layers of Negotiation" Model for Designing Constructivist Learning Materials.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cennamo, Katherine S.; And Others

In designing materials for use in a contructivist learning environment, instructional designers still have a role in selecting the situations that may provide a stimulus for knowledge construction and providing features that support students and teachers in using these materials. This paper describes the process of designing a series of case-based…

Does Online Game-Based Learning Work in Formal Education at School? A Case Study of VISOLE

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jong, Morris S. Y.

2015-01-01

VISOLE (Virtual Interactive Student-Oriented Environment) is a teacher-facilitated pedagogical approach to integrating constructivist online game-based learning into formal curriculum teaching in school education. This paper reports a case study on the implementation of VISOLE in secondary Geography education. We compared the pedagogical…

Elements of Problem-Based Learning: Suggestions for Implementation in the Asynchronous Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Erik

2010-01-01

Problem-based learning, or PBL, is a student-centered instructional approach that is derived from constructivist epistemology. It is based upon ill-structured real-world problems with the goal of strengthening and developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills in learners. Initially utilized in medical schools to strengthen diagnostic…

The congruence of perceptions and behaviors exhibited by twelve successful middle school teachers in implementingScience/Technology/Society/Constructivist practices in Iowa Scope, Sequence, and Coordination schools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yutakom, Naruemon

1997-11-01

The purposes of this study were (1) to investigate teacher perceptions about teaching and the strategies they use in teaching for successful middle school teachers purporting to use Science/Technology/Society and Constructivist practices in Iowa Scope, Sequence, and Coordination (SS&C) schools and (2) to note the congruence between these perceptions and the actual behaviors exhibited by these teachers. Multiple methods of data collection used to discern the actual behaviors included observation by means of classroom videotapes, a teacher perception survey, teacher interviews, instructional documents, teacher stories, demographic information concerning teachers from the Iowa-SS&C database, and a student survey. Findings include: (1) Successful SS&C teachers report that they use STS/Constructivist teaching practices; further, interviews indicated that they also have knowledge and understanding of the science content and pedagogy which are consistent with the STS/Constructivist philosophy. These perceptions and this knowledge influence their stated goals, rationale for teaching, understanding of the teaching and learning processes, and ideas about needed professional development. (2) Successful SS&C teachers exhibit a wide range of STS/Constructivist teaching behaviors. The five most common of these are: (a) acceptance of a variety of student responses, (b) students apply their knowledge in meeting everyday challenges, (c) student-student verbal interactions encouraged, (d) students encouraged to use higher order thinking skills, (e) a variety of assessment tools were used. Over 31% of the questions the teachers ask are higher order level questions; the average wait-time for the teachers is 3.4 seconds following each question. (3) Students report that SS&C teachers provide learning environments that are relevant and meaningful to them and that student-student interaction is encouraged. They do not report involvement with planning, conducting lessons, and assessing their own learning. (4) Teacher beliefs and knowledge about STS/Constructivist philosophy influence their teaching behaviors. The practices of seven of the teachers match their perceptions. One teacher exhibited fewer STS/Constructivist strategies than he reported to be the situation while four practiced more STS/Constructivist strategies than they reported.

A Preliminary Discourse Analysis of Constructivist-Oriented Mathematics Instruction for a Student with Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xin, Yan Ping; Liu, Jia; Jones, Sarah R.; Tzur, Ron; Si, Luo

2016-01-01

Reform efforts in mathematics education arose, in part, in response to constructivist works on conceptual learning. However, little research has examined how students with learning disabilities (LD) respond to constructivist-oriented instruction in mathematics, particularly in moment-to-moment interactions. To understand the nature of…

Constructivist-Visual Mind Map Teaching Approach and the Quality of Students' Cognitive Structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dhindsa, Harkirat S.; Makarimi-Kasim; Roger Anderson, O.

2011-04-01

This study compared the effects of a constructivist-visual mind map teaching approach (CMA) and of a traditional teaching approach (TTA) on (a) the quality and richness of students' knowledge structures and (b) TTA and CMA students' perceptions of the extent that a constructivist learning environment (CLE) was created in their classes. The sample of the study consisted of six classes (140 Form 3 students of 13-15 years old) selected from a typical coeducational school in Brunei. Three classes (40 boys and 30 girls) were taught using the TTA while three other classes (41 boys and 29 girls) used the CMA, enriched with PowerPoint presentations. After the interventions (lessons on magnetism), the students in both groups were asked to describe in writing their understanding of magnetism accrued from the lessons. Their written descriptions were analyzed using flow map analyses to assess their content knowledge and its organisation in memory as evidence of cognitive structure. The extent of CLE was measured using a published CLE survey. The results showed that the cognitive structures of the CMA students were more extensive, thematically organised and richer in interconnectedness of thoughts than those of TTA students. Moreover, CMA students also perceived their classroom learning environment to be more constructivist than their counterparts. It is, therefore, recommended that teachers consider using the CMA teaching technique to help students enrich their understanding, especially for more complex or abstract scientific content.

Learning in context: identifying gaps in research on the transfer of medical communication skills to the clinical workplace.

PubMed

van den Eertwegh, Valerie; van Dulmen, Sandra; van Dalen, Jan; Scherpbier, Albert J J A; van der Vleuten, Cees P M

2013-02-01

In order to reduce the inconsistencies of findings and the apparent low transfer of communication skills from training to medical practice, this narrative review identifies some main gaps in research on medical communication skills training and presents insights from theories on learning and transfer to broaden the view for future research. Relevant literature was identified using Pubmed, GoogleScholar, Cochrane database, and Web of Science; and analyzed using an iterative procedure. Research findings on the effectiveness of medical communication training still show inconsistencies and variability. Contemporary theories on learning based on a constructivist paradigm offer the following insights: acquisition of knowledge and skills should be viewed as an ongoing process of exchange between the learner and his environment, so called lifelong learning. This process can neither be atomized nor separated from the context in which it occurs. Four contemporary approaches are presented as examples. The following shift in focus for future research is proposed: beyond isolated single factor effectiveness studies toward constructivist, non-reductionistic studies integrating the context. Future research should investigate how constructivist approaches can be used in the medical context to increase effective learning and transition of communication skills. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Virtual Environments and the Ongoing Work of Becoming a Singapore Teacher

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zuiker, Steven J.; Ang, Doreen

2011-01-01

The study explores the intersection between cyberinfrastructure and models of teacher education and professional development in Singapore. A case study explores how a pre-service and an in-service workshop in a virtual environment support efforts to understand and enlist constructivist pedagogies for classroom learning and to foster continuous…

[Epistemic injustice during the medical education process in the hospital context].

PubMed

Consejo-Y Chapela, Carolina; Viesca-Treviño, Carlos Alfonso

2017-01-01

The educational model adopted by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Faculty of Medicine is constructivist; it is a model based on competence development. It aims to provide learning environments that incorporate real activities (it helps the students to develop social negotiation skills, as part of their integral learning; it encourages them to take a critical and reflexive approach; and it is also a student-centered model). However, many challenges arise when this model is implemented in the context of hospital environments. Therefore, our aim was to analyse the hospital as an hermeneutical community and as a power relations scenario, contrary to the constructivist model. In the analysis of a conflict between a chief of a medical department and an undergraduated medical intern, we use Miranda Fricker's categories discriminatory epistemic injustice, and testimonial injustice, as well as Foucault's power relationships and knowledge. The program implementation is placed in the context of power relations and different disciplinary methods that could affect the training process of the students, whose educational background belongs to the constructivist model. This in part is due to the existence of informal normative structures that are hidden in the process of medical knowledge construction at the hospital scenario. Practices of epistemic discriminatory injustice in the hospital environment increase vulnerability conditions for medical students in their education process.

Intertwining Digital Content and a One-to-One Laptop Environment in Teaching and Learning: Lessons from the Time to Know Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosen, Yigal; Beck-Hill, Dawne

2012-01-01

This study provides a comprehensive look at a constructivist one-to-one computing program's effects on teaching and learning practices as well as student learning achievements. The study participants were 476 fourth and fifth grade students and their teachers from four elementary schools from a school district in the Dallas, Texas, area. Findings…

Students' Opinions about Their Ninth Grade Biology Textbook: From the Perspective of Constructivist Learning Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Çimer, Atilla; Coskun, Sibel

2018-01-01

The study aimed to determine students' opinions about their ninth grade biology textbook that had been created in accordance with the constructivist learning approach. On the basis of a detailed literature review of studies on textbooks; questionnaires used for assessment of textbooks; and constructivist learning approach, a questionnaire was…

Who Benefits from Virtuality?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harper, Barry; Hedberg, John G.; Wright, Rob

2000-01-01

Discusses the use of constructivist frameworks to develop effective and successful learning environments, including educational software. Topics include technology supporting reform; virtuality and multimedia; attributes of interactive multimedia and virtual reality; and examples of context and learner active participation. (Contains 35…

Motivating the Learning of Science Topics in Secondary School: A Constructivist Edutainment Setting for Studying Chaos

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bertacchini, Francesca; Bilotta, Eleonora; Pantano, Pietro; Tavernise, Assunta

2012-01-01

In this paper, we present an Edutainment (education plus entertainment) secondary school setting based on the construction of artifacts and manipulation of virtual contents (images, sound, and music) connected to Chaos. This interactive learning environment also foresees the use of a virtual theatre, by which students can manipulate 3D contents…

Moving Digital Libraries into the Student Learning Space: The GetSmart Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshall, Byron B.; Chen, Hsinchun; Shen, Rao; Fox, Edward A.

2006-01-01

The GetSmart system was built to support theoretically sound learning processes in a digital library environment by integrating course management, digital library, and concept mapping components to support a constructivist, six-step, information search process. In the fall of 2002 more than 100 students created 1400 concept maps as part of…

Constructivist Learning and Openness to Diversity and Challenge in Higher Education Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alt, Dorit

2017-01-01

The increasing calls for diversity research signal a need to explore contemporary learning and instruction strategies that respond to diversity in courses and curricula. The major objective of this research was to measure the level of openness to diversity and challenge (ODC) among college students as a function of their perceived constructivist…

The Use of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) within a Constructivist Learning Environment to Develop Core Competencies in Social Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fire, Nancy; Casstevens, W. J.

2013-01-01

Achieving foundation-level practice behaviors to develop social work core competencies involves integrating learning across a curriculum. This article focuses on two phases of foundation-level course redevelopment aimed to support graduate students in accomplishing this outcome. The first phase involved restructuring the course to become a…

Engaging Social Constructivist Teaching in the Diverse Learning Environment; Perspectives from a First Year Faculty Member

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flint, Emilia S.

2016-01-01

It is no secret that the student attending university classes today is different from the learner of several years ago (Blakefield, 2013). Educators have been recently encouraged to shift the paradigm of traditional lecture-style education to incorporate service-learning and experiential activities involving media and technology whenever possible…

Pre-Service Post Graduate Teachers' First Time Experience with Constructivist Learning Environment (CLE) Using MOODLE

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boopathiraj, C.; Chellamani, K.

2015-01-01

The aim of this study is to enlighten and discuss Post Graduate student teachers' first time experiences and their level of satisfaction with the use of Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) during their "Research Methods in Education" course offered online. This study investigated 30 pre-service Post Graduate student teachers' to…

"Cancer Cell Biology:" A Student-Centered Instructional Module Exploring the Use of Multimedia to Enrich Interactive, Constructivist Learning of Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bockholt, Susanne M.; West, J. Paige; Bollenbacher, Walter E.

2003-01-01

Multimedia has the potential of providing bioscience education novel learning environments and pedagogy applications to foster student interest, involve students in the research process, advance critical thinking/problem-solving skills, and develop conceptual understanding of biological topics. "Cancer Cell Biology," an interactive, multimedia,…

Evaluating the Use of a Wiki for Collaborative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Su, Feng; Beaumont, Chris

2010-01-01

A wiki is able to provide a learning environment which is closely aligned with the social-constructivist approach and is more natural than many tools where open collaboration and the exchange of ideas are important. This case study analyses and evaluates essential aspects for the successful deployment of a wiki in a higher education setting using…

Socio-Scientific Discussions as a Way to Improve the Comprehension of Science and the Understanding of the Interrelation between Species and the Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castano, Carolina

2008-11-01

This article reports on a qualitative and quantitative study that explored whether a constructivist Science learning environment, in which 9 to 10-year old Colombian girls had the opportunity to discuss scientific concepts and socio-scientific dilemmas in groups, improved their understanding of the concepts and the complex relations that exists between species and the environment. Data were collected from two fourth grade groups in a private bilingual school, a treatment and a comparison group. Pre and post tests on the understanding of scientific concepts and the possible consequences of human action on living things, transcriptions of the discussions of dilemmas, and pre and post tests of empathy showed that students who had the opportunity to discuss socio-scientific dilemmas gave better definitions for scientific concepts and made better connections between them, their lives and Nature than students who did not. It is argued that Science learning should occur in constructivist learning environments and go beyond the construction of scientific concepts, to discussions and decision-making related to the social and moral implications of the application of Science in the real world. It is also argued that this type of pedagogical interventions and research on them should be carried out in different sociocultural contexts to confirm their impact on Science learning in diverse conditions.

Towards a Cyber-Constructivist Perspective (CCP) of Educational Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luppicini, Rocci

2003-01-01

This theoretical paper utilizes cybernetic-­based approaches (Bopry, 1999; Wiener, 1954) and communications theory (Habermas, 1984, 1990; Krippendorff, 1994) to advance knowledge of constructivist learning. I argue that past educational research literature on constructivist learning is partly responsible for limiting how educational designers…

Classroom Constructivism.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trotter, Andrew

1995-01-01

Constructivism, which holds that knowledge is created out of each individual's own experience, is recapturing researchers' attention. To constructivists, teachers are not omniscient oracles, but nutritionists providing an environment for children to grow their own knowledge. Students might learn division by planning a field trip instead of…

Educational Computing Course. [SITE 2001 Section].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bump, Wren, Ed.

This document contains the following papers on the educational computing course from the SITE (Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education) 2001 conference: "Using a Flexible Format To Create a Constructivist Learning Environment in the Educational Computing Course" (Wren M. Bump); "Technological Diversity: Managing…

Hooks and Shifts: A Dialectical Study of Mediated Discovery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abrahamson, Dor; Trninic, Dragan; Gutierrez, Jose F.; Huth, Jacob; Lee, Rosa G.

2011-01-01

Radical constructivists advocate discovery-based pedagogical regimes that enable students to incrementally and continuously adapt their cognitive structures to the instrumented cultural environment. Some sociocultural theorists, however, maintain that learning implies discontinuity in conceptual development, because novices must appropriate expert…

The Design and Development of a Multimedia Case-Based Environment on Parental Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roushias, Christos; Barton, Angela Calabrese; Drake, Corey

2009-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to present the rationale and principles that guided the design and development of PARENTS, a multimedia case-based environment. Following a development research approach, the tenets of constructivist learning, and the advantages of case-based instruction, we developed a multimedia program in which we utilized and…

Learning Design Implementation for Distance e-Learning: Blending Rapid e-Learning Techniques with Activity-Based Pedagogies to Design and Implement a Socio-Constructivist Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Santally, Mohammad Issack; Rajabalee, Yousra; Cooshna-Naik, Dorothy

2012-01-01

This paper discusses how modern technologies are changing the teacher-student-content relationships from the conception to the delivery of so-called "distance" education courses. The concept of Distance Education has greatly evolved in the digital era of 21st Century. With the widespread use and access to the Internet, exponential growth…

Examining the impact of the Guided Constructivist teaching method on students' misconceptions about concepts of Newtonian physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibrahim, Hyatt Abdelhaleem

The effect of Guided Constructivism (Interactivity-Based Learning Environment) and Traditional Expository instructional methods on students' misconceptions about concepts of Newtonian Physics was investigated. Four groups of 79 of University of Central Florida students enrolled in Physics 2048 participated in the study. A quasi-experimental design of nonrandomized, nonequivalent control and experimental groups was employed. The experimental group was exposed to the Guided Constructivist teaching method, while the control group was taught using the Traditional Expository teaching approach. The data collection instruments included the Force Concept Inventory Test (FCI), the Mechanics Baseline Test (MBT), and the Maryland Physics Expectation Survey (MPEX). The Guided Constructivist group had significantly higher means than the Traditional Expository group on the criterion variables of: (1) conceptions of Newtonian Physics, (2) achievement in Newtonian Physics, and (3) beliefs about the content of Physics knowledge, beliefs about the role of Mathematics in learning Physics, and overall beliefs about learning/teaching/appropriate roles of learners and teachers/nature of Physics. Further, significant relationships were found between (1) achievement, conceptual structures, beliefs about the content of Physics knowledge, and beliefs about the role of Mathematics in learning Physics; (2) changes in misconceptions about the physical phenomena, and changes in beliefs about the content of Physics knowledge. No statistically significant difference was found between the two teaching methods on achievement of males and females. These findings suggest that differences in conceptual learning due to the nature of the teaching method used exist. Furthermore, greater conceptual learning is fostered when teachers use interactivity-based teaching strategies to train students to link everyday experience in the real physical world to formal school concepts. The moderate effect size and power of the study suggest that the effect may not be subtle, but reliable. Physics teachers can use these results to inform their decisions about structuring learning environment when conceptual learning is important.

Comparison of Student Learning about Diffusion and Osmosis in Constructivist and Traditional Classrooms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christianson, Roger G.; Fisher, Kathleen M.

1999-01-01

Reports on the effects of constructivist versus traditional teaching approaches on university students' learning about osmosis and diffusion. Students understood diffusion and osmosis more deeply in the constructivist-informed classroom, which used small discussion groups rather than traditional large lecture groups. Suggests ways to improve…

Teacher understanding of the nature of science and its impact on student learning about the nature of science in STS/Constructivist classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lieu, Sang-Chong

In the National Science Education Standards both STS/Constructivist teaching strategies and student understanding of the nature of science are stressed. If certain teaching practices can achieve both goals at one time, many problems will be solved. Such relationships were investigated in this study. Teacher subjects were selected based on two extremes of scores on the Testing on Understanding Science. The Secondary Teacher Analysis Matrix - Science Version was used to categorize teachers into their use of STS/Constructivist or more traditional strategies based on their teaching behaviors observed from video tapes. After the teacher subjects were selected, a non-equivalent control group design was adapted for the administration of items from the Views on Science-Technology-Society (VOSTS) to the students of these teachers. Pre- and post-test data were collected using 20 VOSTS items. VOSTS options were categorized into a Congruent/Partially Congruent/Naive format by a panel of six science educators. A special scoring procedure was devised for the VOSTS items to allow the use of inferential statistics. When performance on 17 VOSTS items were studied, more understanding of the nature of science by teachers, the presence of an STS/Constructivist learning environment in the classroom, or a combination of both factors was not found to help students learn more about the nature of science. Explanations for such results are offered. A McNemar test was performed to take a closer look at the 17 VOSTS items individually. The results indicated that students who were taught by STS/Constructivist teachers with high TOUS scores moved toward "congruent" views concerning the nature of science on a number of VOSTS items. Also, students who were taught by more traditional teachers with low TOUS scores moved toward "naive" views on other VOSTS items. The findings support the fact that teachers who know more about the nature of science and who practice many of the STS/Constructivist teaching strategies assist students in learning more about the nature of science.

Exploring Students' Creativity and Design Skills through a Multimedia Project: A Constructivist Approach in a Malaysian Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neo, Mai; Neo, Tse-Kian

2013-01-01

Research has shown that students have graduated from institutions of higher learning with a lack of creativity and critical-thinking thinking skills. This mismatch in skills has resulted in a nationwide initiative in using technology in the classroom to create a learning environment that would stimulate students' creative and problem-solving…

Mapping students' ideas to understand learning in a collaborative programming environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harlow, Danielle Boyd; Leak, Anne Emerson

2014-07-01

Recent studies in learning programming have largely focused on high school and college students; less is known about how young children learn to program. From video data of 20 students using a graphical programming interface, we identified ideas that were shared and evolved through an elementary school classroom. In mapping these ideas and their resulting changes in programs and outputs, we were able to identify the contextual features which contributed to how ideas moved through the classroom as students learned. We suggest this process of idea mapping in visual programming environments as a viable method for understanding collaborative, constructivist learning as well as a context under which experiences can be developed to improve student learning.

Teaching-to-Learn: A Constructivist Approach to Shared Responsibility

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milbrandt, Melody K.; Felts, Janet; Richards, Brooke; Abghari, Neda

2004-01-01

In the spring of 2003, three Atlanta area high school art teachers implemented constructivist lessons to see how students would accept responsibility for their own learning and peer-teaching situations. Each teacher selected at least one class in which to implement a variety of constructivist strategies. The teachers then selected a goal in their…

Constructivist Tenets Applied in ICT-Mediated Teaching and Learning: Higher Education Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Asamoah, Moses Kumi; Oheneba-Sakyi, Yaw

2017-01-01

This study describes how a professor-instructor of a Master of Arts (MA) programme in Contemporary Issues in an Adult Education classroom applied constructivist tenets to address an ICT-mediated teaching and learning class. The study provides an analysis of the professor's constructivist pedagogical approach in designing curriculum, engaging in…

Courage to care for our United States veterans: A constructivist way of teaching and learning for future nurses.

PubMed

Magpantay-Monroe, Edna R

2018-01-01

The knowledge and skills in providing veteran centered care is essential. The purpose of this retrospective evaluation is to examine a faculty's reflections on a BSN psychiatric mental health curriculum initiative that provides knowledge and skills regarding veterans care through several avenues to senior nursing students. This qualitative study use self-reflections through a constructivist view of teaching and learning as the framework. Open discussions in didactic about the unique psychological health issues of veterans formed a foundational knowledge for the students. The seminar time was used to discuss real veteran case situations. Simulation provided opportunities to address veteran resources. Problem based projects use available evidence to solve veteran health issues. The educators show their commitment to the compassionate and caring ideals of our profession by fostering an educational environment where future nurses can truly learn about veteran centered care. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Virtual Chemistry Laboratory: Effect of Constructivist Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tatli, Zeynep; Ayas, Alipasa

2012-01-01

The lab applications, which were started to be applied through mid 19th century, not only provide a new point of view but also bring about a new dimension to the lessons. At early times they were used to prove theoretical knowledge but lately they turned into environments where students freely discover knowledge as an individual or in groups. The…

Socially Mediated Metacognition and Learning to Write

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larkin, Shirley

2009-01-01

Writing can be viewed as a recursive process involving both cognitive and metacognitive processes. Task, environment, individual cognition and affective processes all impact on producing written text. Recent research on the development of metacognition in young children has highlighted social constructivist and socio-cultural factors.…

Student beliefs and learning environments: Developing a survey of factors related to conceptual change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanrahan, Mary

1994-12-01

This paper presents a model for the type of classroom environment believed to facilitate scientific conceptual change. A survey based on this model contains items about students' motivational beliefs, their study approach and their perceptions of their teacher's actions and learning goal orientation. Results obtained from factor analyses, correlations and analyses of variance, based on responses from 113 students, suggest that an empowering interpersonal teacher-student relationship is related to a deep approach to learning, a positive attitude to science, and positive self-efficacy beliefs, and may be increased by a constructivist approach to teaching.

Constructivist-Informed Pedagogy in Teacher Education: An Overview of a Year-Long Study in Fiji.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Neil; Coll, Richard

2002-01-01

This year-long study exposed preservice elementary teachers in Fiji to pedagogy based on a constructivist view of learning in order to improve their content knowledge and provide them with greater confidence to teach science. Qualitative and quantitative analysis indicated that the constructivist-based teaching approach led to improved learning,…

The Methods of Teaching Course Based on Constructivist Learning Approach: An Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Altun, Sertel; Yücel-Toy, Banu

2015-01-01

This purpose of this study is to investigate how the course designed based on constructivist principles has been implemented, what actions have been taken to solve problems and what thoughts have arisen in the minds of teacher candidates with regard to the constructivist learning approach. In this study, an action research was employed which…

Learning Environment in Vietnamese Physics Teacher Education Programme through the Lens of Constructivism: A Case Study of a State University in Mekong Delta Region, Vietnam

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thao-Do, Thi Phuong; Bac-Ly, Dang Thi; Yuenyong, Chokchai

2016-01-01

Constructivism was introduced to Vietnam through many ways such as workshops, books, the Internet, and so on. However, due to the lack of professional education, fundamental ideas of constructivist learning perhaps were missing or neglected through classroom activities. Furthermore, due to the influence of culture and society, Vietnamese…

Action Learning and Constructivist Grounded Theory: Powerfully Overlapping Fields of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rand, Jane

2013-01-01

This paper considers the shared characteristics between action learning (AL) and the research methodology constructivist grounded theory (CGT). Mirroring Edmonstone's [2011. "Action Learning and Organisation Development: Overlapping Fields of Practice." "Action Learning: Research and Practice" 8 (2): 93-102] article, which…

Exploring Constructivist Social Learning Practices in Aiding Russian-Speaking Teachers to Learn Estonian: An Action Research Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kiilo, Tatjana; Kutsar, Dagmar

2012-01-01

Based on appreciative inquiry and threshold concepts from an intercultural learning perspective, the article makes insights into the constructivist social learning practice of Estonian language learning amongst Russian-speaking teachers in Estonia. The application of educational action research methodology, more specifically that of Bridget…

A Randomized Crossover Design to Assess Learning Impact and Student Preference for Active and Passive Online Learning Modules.

PubMed

Prunuske, Amy J; Henn, Lisa; Brearley, Ann M; Prunuske, Jacob

Medical education increasingly involves online learning experiences to facilitate the standardization of curriculum across time and space. In class, delivering material by lecture is less effective at promoting student learning than engaging students in active learning experience and it is unclear whether this difference also exists online. We sought to evaluate medical student preferences for online lecture or online active learning formats and the impact of format on short- and long-term learning gains. Students participated online in either lecture or constructivist learning activities in a first year neurologic sciences course at a US medical school. In 2012, students selected which format to complete and in 2013, students were randomly assigned in a crossover fashion to the modules. In the first iteration, students strongly preferred the lecture modules and valued being told "what they need to know" rather than figuring it out independently. In the crossover iteration, learning gains and knowledge retention were found to be equivalent regardless of format, and students uniformly demonstrated a strong preference for the lecture format, which also on average took less time to complete. When given a choice for online modules, students prefer passive lecture rather than completing constructivist activities, and in the time-limited environment of medical school, this choice results in similar performance on multiple-choice examinations with less time invested. Instructors need to look more carefully at whether assessments and learning strategies are helping students to obtain self-directed learning skills and to consider strategies to help students learn to value active learning in an online environment.

Democratic Practices in a Constructivist Science Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daher, Wajeeh; Saifi, Abdel-Gani

2018-01-01

The constructivist learning approach is suggested as a means for facilitating students' learning of science and increasing their participation in this learning. Several studies have shown the contribution of this approach to the different aspects of students' learning of science, though little research has examined the contribution of this…

Employees' and Managers' Accounts of Interactive Workplace Learning: A Grounded Theory of "Complex Integrative Learning"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Armson, Genevieve; Whiteley, Alma

2010-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate employees' and managers' accounts of interactive learning and what might encourage or inhibit emergent learning. Design/methodology/approach: The approach taken was a constructivist/social constructivist ontology, interpretive epistemology and qualitative methodology, using grounded theory…

The effect of pedagogy informed by constructivism: A comparison of student achievement across constructivist and traditional classroom environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gatlin, Linda Sue

Implicit in the call for educational reform in the teaching of science has been the suggestion that pursuing constructivist principles in science teaching will lead to improvement in student achievement. (Rutherford & Ahlgren, 1990; National Research Council, 1995; NSTA, 1992). The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two types of pedagogy; didactic/traditional and constructivist-informed pedagogy on student achievement. Secondly, this study examined the relationship between students' and teachers' perception of constructivism in classroom environments. A nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest and delayed posttest quasi-experimental design was used in this study. Subjects involved in this study included two teachers and their respective students from a suburban public school district in the South. The sample consisted of two groups, one taught by traditional/didactic instruction (n = 25) and the other taught by constructivist informed pedagogy (n = 26). Data for this study was collected using the Constructivist Learning Environmental Survey, The Science Classroom Observation Rubric, the Teaching Practices Assessment, and a demographic survey. Ancillary data was collected with the Student Outcome Assessment and interpretive methodologies. The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) (p < .05; pretest as covariate) was used to measure the effects of constructivist informed and traditional pedagogy on student achievement. Student achievement was measured with a researcher-designed pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest. A significance difference was found on the science achievement posttest where the students receiving the traditional pedagogy scored higher than the students taught by the constructivist pedagogy. However, the scores of students receiving constructivist-informed pedagogy showed a slight increase on the delayed posttest, while the traditionally taught students' scores decreased, thus the difference in the achievement of the two groups was diminished over time. A repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze the ancillary data from the Student Outcome Assessment. (p < .05) Among 51 students tested, those who received the constructivist informed pedagogy had higher retention, approaching significance of the biology concepts tested over time. Ancillary data was used to assist the interpretation of the assessment measurements. Using ratios of students' and teachers' scores of perceived constructivist attributes in their classroom appeared to be an effective way for teachers to compare student perceptions with their own.

"I Just See All Children as Children": Teachers' Perceptions about Inclusion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leatherman, Jane M.

2007-01-01

This narrative study examined teachers' perceptions of their inclusive classrooms. Eight early childhood teachers responded to open-ended interview questions about their experiences teaching children with and without disabilities in the same classroom environment. The social constructivist view of teaching and learning is highlighted as the…

Design as Knowledge Construction: Constructing Knowledge of Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cennamo, Katherine C.

2004-01-01

In this article, I present a model of instructional design that has evolved from analysis and reflection on the process of designing materials for constructivist learning environments. I observed how we addressed the critical questions for instructional design, comparing the process to traditional instructional design models and to my emerging…

Developing Constructivist Learning Environments: A Management Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haartsen-Geven, Manon; Sandberg, Jacobijn

2007-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to provide insight in the critical factors involved in creating an optimum in developing technology for educational innovation, for each stakeholder, in any relevant context and at any time. Design/methodology/approach: From literature review, four diagrams were constructed to contain the critical factors…

Designing, Developing, and Implementing a Course on LEGO Robotics for Technology Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chambers, Joan M.; Carbonaro, Mike

2003-01-01

Within a constructivist philosophy of learning, teachers, as students, are introduced to different perspectives of teaching with robotic technology while immersed in what Papert called a "constructionist" environment. Robotics allows students to creatively explore computer programming, mechanical design and construction, problem solving,…

Learning Experiences in Museums: Harnessing Dewey's Ideas on Continuity and Interaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winstanley, Carrie

2018-01-01

Museum and gallery educators have become increasingly adept at creating environments that foster constructivist thinking, invite interaction and encourage activity. Leading museum educator, Hein, for example, directly attributes Dewey's influence, describing his ideas about experiences, as a 'crucial lesson for museum educators: engagement with…

Theoretical Bases for Using Virtual Reality in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Chwen Jen

2009-01-01

This article elaborates on how the technical capabilities of virtual reality support the constructivist learning principles. It introduces VRID, a model for instructional design and development that offers explicit guidance on how to produce an educational virtual environment. The define phase of VRID consists of three main tasks: forming a…

Supporting the Writing up of Teacher Research: Peer and Mentor Roles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dikilitas, Kenan; Mumford, Simon E.

2016-01-01

This study focuses specifically on the writing up process of relatively inexperienced teacher researchers. The data consist of interviews with 11 teacher researchers at a private university in Turkey. There was evidence that mentor-supported collaboration created a socio-constructivist learning environment, leading to the development of academic…

Culture Learning from a Constructivist Perspective: An Investigation of Spanish Foreign Language Teachers' Views

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sercu, Lies; Garcia, Maria del Carmen Mendez; Prieto, Paloma Castro

2005-01-01

Today, teaching and learning tend to be viewed from a constructivist perspective. Learning is regarded as a self-directed process of constructing meaning, which takes place in interaction. The teacher supports the learning process by selecting input and approaches that can scaffold the learning process and guide learners towards independent…

What is coded into memory in the absence of outcome feedback?

PubMed

Henriksson, Maria P; Elwin, Ebba; Juslin, Peter

2010-01-01

Although people often have to learn from environments with scarce and highly selective outcome feedback, the question of how nonfeedback trials are represented in memory and affect later performance has received little attention in models of learning and decision making. In this article, the authors use the generalized context model (Nosofsky, 1986) as a vehicle to test contrasting hypotheses about the coding of nonfeedback trials. Data across 3 experiments with selective decision-contingent and selective outcome-contingent feedback provide support for the hypothesis of constructivist coding (Elwin, Juslin, Olsson, & Enkvist, 2007), according to which the outcomes on nonfeedback trials are coded with the most likely outcome, as inferred by the individual. The relation to sampling-based approaches to judgment, and the adaptive significance of constructivist coding, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

The Effect of Cooperative Learning Method and Systematic Teaching on Students' Achievement and Retention of Knowledge in Social Studies Lesson

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Korkmaz Toklucu, Selma; Tay, Bayram

2016-01-01

Problem Statement: Many effective instructional strategies, methods, and techniques, which were developed in accordance with constructivist approach, can be used together in social studies lessons. Constructivist education comprises active learning processes. Two active learning approaches are cooperative learning and systematic teaching. Purpose…

The effects of a new constructivist science curriculum (PIPS) for prospective elementary teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Ling L.

This study examines the effectiveness of a new constructivist curriculum model (Powerful Ideas in Physical Science, PIPS) in promoting preservice teachers' understanding of science concepts, in fostering a learning environment supporting conceptual change, and in improving preservice teachers' attitudes toward science as well as their science teaching efficacy beliefs. The PIPS curriculum model integrates a conceptual change perspective with a hands-on, inquiry-based approach and other promising effective teaching strategies such as cooperative learning. Three instructors each taught one class section using the PIPS and one using the existing curriculum for an introductory science course. Their students were 121 prospective elementary teachers at a large mid-western university. ANCOVA and Repeated Measures Analyses of Variance were performed to analyze the scores on concept tests and attitude surveys. Data from videotaped observations of lab sessions and interviews of prospective teachers and their instructors were analyzed by employing a naturalistic inquiry method to get insights into the process of science learning and teaching for the prospective teachers. The interpretations were made based on the findings that could be corroborated by both methodologies. For the twelve prospective teachers interviewed, it was found that the PIPS model was more effective in promoting conceptual understanding and positive attitudes toward science learning for those with lower past science performance. The PIPS approach left more room for self-reflection on the development of understanding of science concepts in contrast to the lecture-lab type teaching. Factors that might have influenced the teacher trainees' attitudes and beliefs about learning and teaching science were identified and discussed. It was also found that better cooperative learning and a more supportive learning environment have been promoted in the PIPS classrooms. However, the differential treatment effects on learning outcomes for all participants of the study, as measured by the paper-pencil instruments, were not statistically significant. Both students' and instructors' perspectives of the PIPS approach are presented in the study. Limitations of the present study as well as recommendations for future revision of the PIPS curriculum and effective implementation of the constructivist teaching in general, are also included.

A Systemic-Constructivist Approach to the Facilitation and Debriefing of Simulations and Games

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kriz, Willy Christian

2010-01-01

This article introduces some basic concepts of a systemic-constructivist perspective. These show that gaming simulation corresponds closely to a systemic-constructivist approach to learning and instruction. Some quality aspects of facilitating and debriefing simulation games are described from a systemic-constructivist point of view. Finally, a…

How Constructivist-Based Teaching Influences Students Learning Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seimears, C. Matt; Graves, Emily; Schroyer, M. Gail; Staver, John

2012-01-01

The purpose of this article is to provide details about the beneficial processes the constructivist pedagogy has in the area of teaching science. No Child Left Behind could possibly cause detrimental effects to the science classroom and the constructivist teacher, so this essay tells how constructivist-based teaching influences students and their…

Professional Learning in Initial Teacher Education: Vision in the Constructivist Conception of Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tang, Sylvia Y. F.; Wong, Angel K. Y.; Cheng, May M. H.

2012-01-01

With the constructivist view of learning as a conceptual lens, this paper examines student teachers' professional learning in initial teacher education (ITE). A mixed-method study was conducted with student teachers of a Bachelor of Education Programme in Hong Kong. The quantitative element of the study reveals that student teachers held a…

Pedagogy of Notation: Learning Styles Using a Constructivist, Second-Language Acquisition Approach to Dance Notation Pedagogy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heiland, Teresa L.

2015-01-01

Four undergraduate dance majors learned Motif Notation and Labanotation using a second-language acquisition, playful, constructivist approach to learning notation literacy in order to learn and dance the "Parsons Etude." Qualitative outcomes were gathered from student journals and pre- and post-tests that assessed for levels of improved…

Improving Bilingual Student Learning and Thinking Skills through the Use of the Constructivist Theory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomason, Juliann Elizabeth

This report describes a program for improving bilingual students' learning and thinking skills using the constructivist theory. It targeted bilingual high school students in a middle class, suburban Illinois high school. Students' learning and thinking behaviors were documented using methods that showed when and how they employed new learning and…

Learner-Centred Pedagogy for Swim Coaching: A Complex Learning Theory-Informed Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Light, Richard

2014-01-01

While constructivist theories of learning have been widely drawn on to understand and explain learning in games when using game-based approaches their use to inform pedagogy beyond games is limited. In particular, there has been little interest in applying constructivist perspectives on learning to sports in which technique is of prime importance.…

Personal construct psychology as a constructivist approach to learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fetherston, Tony

1994-12-01

This paper proposes that Kelly's Personal Construct Psychology deserves examination as a constructivist basis for science teaching and learning. It argues that because of the explicit nature of the psychology, the clear definition of learning and meaning and the integration of affective, psychomotor and cognitive dimensions of learning, the psychology has much to offer science education.

Study of the Influence of Social Relationships among Students on Knowledge Building Using a Moderately Constructivist Learning Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alonso, Fernando; Manrique, Daniel; Martínez, Loïc; Viñes, José M.

2015-01-01

The main objective of higher education institutions is to educate students to high standards to proficiently perform their role in society. Elsewhere we presented empirical evidence illustrating that the use of a blended learning approach to the learning process that applies a moderate constructivist e-learning instructional model improves…

Constructivist Instructional Practices and Teacher Beliefs Related to Secondary Science Teaching and Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, Adrienne Fleurette

The purpose of this mixed method research study was to examine the constructivist beliefs and instructional practices of secondary science teachers. The research also explored situations that impacted whether or not student centered instruction occurred. The study revealed science teachers held constructive beliefs pertaining to student questioning of the learning process and student autonomy in interacting with other learners. Teachers held the least constructivist beliefs pertaining to student teacher collaboration on lesson design. Additionally, teacher beliefs and practice were not congruent due to instructional practices being deemed less constructivist than reported. The study found that curricular demands, teacher perceptions about students, inadequate laboratory resources, and the lack of teacher understanding about the components of constructivist instruction inhibited student centered instruction. The results of this study led to six recommendations that can be implemented by school districts in collaboration with science teachers to promote constructivist instruction.

Relationships between High School Chemistry Students' Perceptions of a Constructivist Learning Environment and Their STEM Career Expectations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wild, Andrew

2015-01-01

Considerable attention has been devoted to factors affecting the persistence of women and historically underrepresented ethnic groups in their science education trajectories. The literature has focused more on structural factors that affect longitudinal outcomes rather than classroom experiences. This exploratory survey study described…

From Presentation to Programming: Doing Something Different, Not the Same Thing Differently.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galas, Cathleen

1998-01-01

Discusses the use of multimedia software and the need to apply constructivist theories so students become more involved with the software, progressing from simply watching presentations to creating simulations. A project-based learning environment that uses MicroWorlds software is described that focuses on marine biology and oceanography. (LRW)

Natural Sciences Teachers' Skills of Managing the Constructivist Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Can, Sendil; Kaymakçi, Güliz

2015-01-01

The quality of education and instruction is related to effective execution of educational and instructional activities and efficiency of these activities is related to how the class is managed. Considered to be the manager of the classroom processes and program, teachers are expected to effectively direct and manage various material and human…

Exploring Small Group Analysis of Instructional Design Cases in Online Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trespalacios, Jesus

2017-01-01

The case-based approach is a constructivist instructional strategy that helps students apply their emerging knowledge by studying design problems in authentic real-world situations. One important instructional strategy in case-based instruction is to analyze cases in small groups before discussing them with the whole class. This study investigates…

A Study of Students' Attitudes towards Using ICT in a Social Constructivist Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Silin; Kwok, David

2017-01-01

This study aims to examine the factors that support or hinder students' attitudes towards using information and communication technology (ICT) in problem-based learning (PBL) using the technology acceptance model (TAM) (Davis, 1989) among polytechnic students. A total of 737 first-year polytechnic students in Singapore participated in the…

Enhancing Teachers' Application of Inquiry-Based Strategies Using a Constructivist Sociocultural Professional Development Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brand, Brenda R.; Moore, Sandra J.

2011-05-01

This two-year school-wide initiative to improve teachers' pedagogical skills in inquiry-based science instruction using a constructivist sociocultural professional development model involved 30 elementary teachers from one school, three university faculty, and two central office content supervisors. Research was conducted for investigating the impact of the professional development activities on teachers' practices, documenting changes in their philosophies, instruction, and the learning environment. This report includes teachers' accounts of philosophical as well as instructional changes and how these changes shaped the learning environment. For the teachers in this study, examining their teaching practices in learner-centered collaborative group settings encouraged them to critically analyze their instructional practices, challenging their preconceived ideas on inquiry-based strategies. Additionally, other factors affecting teachers' understanding and use of inquiry-based strategies were highlighted, such as self-efficacy beliefs, prior experiences as students in science classrooms, teacher preparation programs, and expectations due to federal, state, and local mandates. These factors were discussed and reconciled, as they constructed new understandings and adapted their strategies to become more student-centered and inquiry-based.

E-Learning Content Design Standards Based on Interactive Digital Concepts Maps in the Light of Meaningful and Constructivist Learning Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Afify, Mohammed Kamal

2018-01-01

The present study aims to identify standards of interactive digital concepts maps design and their measurement indicators as a tool to develop, organize and administer e-learning content in the light of Meaningful Learning Theory and Constructivist Learning Theory. To achieve the objective of the research, the author prepared a list of E-learning…

The Effect of Constructivist Learning Principles Based Learning Materials to Students' Attitudes, Success and Retention in Social Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karaduman, Hidir; Gultekin, Mehmet

2007-01-01

The present study aims to investigate whether the learning materials that based on constructivist learning principles have an effect on fifth grade Social Studies students' attitudes, their academic success and their retention. The study was conducted at Sehit Ali Gaffar Okkan Elementary School, Eskisehir. The participants of the study were 5th…

Model Based Usability Heuristics for Constructivist E-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katre, Dinesh S.

2007-01-01

Many e-learning applications and games have been studied to identify the common interaction models of constructivist learning, namely: 1. Move the object to appropriate location; 2. Place objects in appropriate order and location(s); 3. Click to identify; 4. Change the variable factors to observe the effects; and 5. System personification and…

Supporting Social Constructivist Learning through the KEEP SLS ePortfolio System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Xuesong; Olfman, Lorne; Firpo, Daniel

2010-01-01

Traditional ePortfolio systems are usually used as an individual learning unit, or an assessment tool in education. However, these systems often lack social constructivist learning features such as sharing, peer review, and group collaboration. This paper describes a new ePortfolio system that supports both personal and social constructivist…

Constructivist Learning Approach in Science Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demirci, Cavide

2009-01-01

Constructivism is not a new concept. It has its roots in philosophy and has been applied to sociology and anthropology, as well as cognitive psychology and education. The aim of this research is to reveal if there is a significant difference between the means of achievement and retention learning scores of constructivist learning approach applied…

Using the Constructivist Tridimensional Design Model for Online Continuing Education for Health Care Clinical Faculty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seo, Kay Kyeong-Ju; Engelhard, Chalee

2014-01-01

This article presents a new paradigm for continuing education of Clinical Instructors (CIs): the Constructivist Tridimensional (CTD) model for the design of an online curriculum. Based on problem-based learning, self-regulated learning, and adult learning theory, the CTD model was designed to facilitate interactive, collaborative, and authentic…

"Accepting Emotional Complexity": A Socio-Constructivist Perspective on the Role of Emotions in the Mathematics Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eynde, Peter Op't; De Corte, Erik; Verschaffel, Lieven

2006-01-01

A socio-constructivist account of learning and emotions stresses the situatedness of every learning activity and points to the close interactions between cognitive, conative and affective factors in students' learning and problem solving. Emotions are perceived as being constituted by the dynamic interplay of cognitive, physiological, and…

Cloud Pedagogy: Utilizing Web-Based Technologies for the Promotion of Social Constructivist Learning in Science Teacher Preparation Courses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barak, Miri

2017-10-01

The new guidelines for science education emphasize the need to introduce computers and digital technologies as a means of enabling visualization and data collection and analysis. This requires science teachers to bring advanced technologies into the classroom and use them wisely. Hence, the goal of this study was twofold: to examine the application of web-based technologies in science teacher preparation courses and to examine pre-service teachers' perceptions of "cloud pedagogy"—an instructional framework that applies technologies for the promotion of social constructivist learning. The study included university teachers ( N = 48) and pre-service science teachers ( N = 73). Data were collected from an online survey, written reflections, and interviews. The findings indicated that university teachers use technologies mainly for information management and the distribution of learning materials and less for applying social constructivist pedagogy. University teachers expect their students (i.e., pre-service science teachers) to use digital tools in their future classroom to a greater extent than they themselves do. The findings also indicated that the "cloud pedagogy" was perceived as an appropriate instructional framework for contemporary science education. The application of the cloud pedagogy fosters four attributes: the ability to adapt to frequent changes and uncertain situations, the ability to collaborate and communicate in decentralized environments, the ability to generate data and manage it, and the ability to explore new venous.

Constructive Use of Authoritative Sources in Science Meaning-making

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeo, Jennifer; Chee Tan, Seng

2010-09-01

Researchers are skeptical about the role of authoritative sources of information in a constructivist learning environment for fear of usurping students' critical thinking. Taking a social semiotics perspective in this study, authoritative sources are regarded as inscriptions of cultural artifacts, and science learning involves meaning-making of these cultural artifacts. In studying the meaning-making process of a group of students doing problem-based learning (PBL), our findings show that authoritative sources played an important role in deepening and expanding students' scientific knowledge. We also found that constructive use of authoritative sources involves interpretation of meaning in context. This structural coupling of authoritative sources and context for meaningful sense-making has to be taken into consideration in the design of learning environment.

The supplemental instruction program: Student perceptions of the learning environment and impact on student academic achievement in college science at California State University, San Marcos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hizer, Suzanne Elizabeth

Higher education in science has been criticized and calls to increase student learning and persistence to degree has been recognized as a national problem by the Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, the National Research Council, and the National Academy of Sciences. One mode of academic assistance that may directly address this issue is the implementation of Supplemental Instruction (SI) in science courses. SI is a specific model of academic assistance designed to help students in historically difficult science classes master course content, thus increasing their academic achievement and retention. This study assessed the SI program at California State University, San Marcos, in supported science courses. Specifically, academic achievement based on final course grades were compared between SI participating and nonparticipating students, multiple affective factors were measured at the beginning and end of the semester, and students' perceptions of the classroom and SI session learning environments recorded. Overall, students who attended five or more SI sessions achieved higher final course grades. Students who chose to participate in SI had higher initial levels of responsibility and anxiety. Additionally, SI participants experienced a reduction in anxiety over the semester whereas nonparticipants experienced an increase in anxiety from beginning to the end of the semester. The learning environment of SI embodies higher levels of constructivist principles of active learning such as cooperation, cohesiveness, innovation, and personalization---with one exception for the physics course, which is a based on problem-based learning. Structural equation modeling of variables indicates that high self-efficacy at the end of the semester is directly related to high final course grades; this is mediated by cohesion in the classroom and the cooperation evidenced in SI sessions. These findings are elaborated by student descriptions of what happened in SI sessions and discussed given the theoretical frameworks of Bandura's concept of self-efficacy and learning environment activities that embody constructivist principles.

Integrating Curriculum: Developing Student Autonomy in Learning in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuksel, Ulku

2010-01-01

The need to combine social constructivist activities with cognitive constructivist ones has emerged which incorporates personalized learning approaches. Characteristics of education and educational institutions of the third millennium indicate that flexibility, inclusiveness, collaboration, authenticity, relevance and extended institutional…

The Constructivist Leader.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lambert, Linda; And Others

This book introduces the concept of leadership as the facilitation of constructivist reciprocal processes among participants in an educational community. Chapter 1, "Learning and Leading Theory: A Century in the Making," (Deborah Walker and Linda Lambert) traces the dynamic history of learning and leading during this century, concluding…

Analysis of Semiotic Principles in a Constructivist Learning Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Paul

To advance nuclear plant simulator training, the industry must focus on a more detailed and theoretical approach to conduct of this training. The use of semiotics is one method of refining the existing training and examining ways to diversify and blend it with new theoretical methods. Semiotics is the study of signs and how humans interpret them.…

The Effect of a Constructivist-Based Approach on Fifth Grade Reading Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harkness, Lori M.

2016-01-01

The problem investigated in this quantitative study was that schools in a small, rural East Texas town were falling below acceptable ratings in reading on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) and the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR). Researchers have found that constructive-based learning environments (CBLEs)…

Dismantling the Birdcage: Adolescent Girls' Attitudes towards Learning Mathematics with a Relational Pedagogy in a Problem-Based Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schettino, Carmel

2013-01-01

Although the Gender Achievement Gap is closing in mathematics, the "interest gap" in pursuing STEM fields is not. Mathematics education research has discussed constructivist, student-centered and inclusive methods of teaching that have been found to encourage students that have underachieved and been underrepresented in STEM fields. One…

The Use of Collaboration, Authentic Learning, Linking Material to Personal Knowledge, and Technology in the Constructivist Classroom: Interviews with Community College Faculty Members

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zielinski, Dianne E.

2017-01-01

This study explored how faculty members implemented constructivist teaching methods after training. The student-centered teaching methods were interactions and collaborations, authentic learning and real-world experiences, linking material to previously learned information, and using technology in the classroom. Seven faculty members trained in…

Ezines: A Constructivist Instructional Activity for Teaching Diagnosis and Psychopathology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Karyn Dayle; Granello, Paul F.

2008-01-01

Ezines (electronic zines) are independently made, online publications that can provide creative, pedagogical possibilities for constructivist learning in counselor education and, specifically, the diagnosis class. Making ezines about mental disorders and psychopathology allows students to engage in active learning about important topics while…

The Interdependence of Pedagogy, Learning Theory, Morality and Metaphysics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blunden, Ralph

1997-01-01

Explores the incompatibility between constructivist theories of learning and realist metaphysics (belief that knowledge and skills exist in mind-independent workplace practices). Shows how this results in conflict between constructivist teaching approaches and the transmission or banking mode favored by realist metaphysics. (SK)

Textbooks and Constructivist Pedagogy in Saudi Arabian School Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Abdulkareem, Rashid; Hentschke, Guilbert C.

2014-01-01

Constructivist "theories" of teaching and learning have continued to grow in popularity among educational policy makers, but it is far less certain whether constructivist teaching "practices" have found their way into most classrooms. Textbooks, arguably the most important non-personnel instructional resource in classrooms,…

Experimenting in a constructivist high school physics laboratory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roth, Wolff-Michael

Although laboratory activities have long been recognized for their potential to facilitate the learning of science concepts and skills, this potential has yet to be realized. To remediate this problem, researchers have called for constructivist learning environments in which students can pursue open inquiry and frame their own research problems. The present study was designed to describe and understand students' experimenting and problem solving in such an environment. An interpretive research methodology was adopted for the construction of meaning from the data. The data sources included videotapes, their transcripts, student laboratory reports and reflections, interviews with the students, and the teacher's course outline and reflective notes. Forty-six students from three sections of an introductory physics course taught at a private school for boys participated in the study. This article shows the students' remarkable ability and willingness to generate research questions and to design and develop apparatus for data collection. In their effort to frame research questions, students often used narrative explanations to explore and think about the phenomena to be studied. In some cases, blind alleys, students framed research questions and planned experiments that did not lead to the expected results. We observed a remarkable flexibility to deal with problems that arose during the implementation of their plans in the context of the inquiry. These problems, as well as their solutions and the necessary decision-making processes, were characterized by their situated nature. Finally, students pursued meaningful learning during the interpretation of data and graphs to arrive at reasonable answers of their research questions. We concluded that students should be provided with problem-rich learning environments in which they learn to investigate phenomena of their own interest and in which they can develop complex problem-solving skills.

Enhanced Learning Methodologies and the Implementation of an Identification Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guidorzi, Roberto

This paper proposes some considerations on the role played by information and communication technologies in the evolution of educational systems and describes the design philosophy and the realization of a basic course on dynamic system identification that relies on constructivist methodologies and on the use of e-learning environments. It reports also some of the opinions formulated by the students on the effectiveness of the available tools and on their role in acquiring proficiency in the application of identification techniques in modeling real processes.

ICT and Constructivist Strategies Instruction for Science and Mathematics Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kong, Ng Wai; Lai, Kong Sow

2005-01-01

Concept learning in science and mathematics had often times been taught based on assumptions of alternative concepts or even in some instances based on misconceptions. Some educational researchers favour a constructivist approach in teaching science and mathematics. The constructivist literature existing makes use of alternative conceptions as…

Constructivist Approach to Teacher Education: An Integrative Model for Reflective Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vijaya Kumari, S. N.

2014-01-01

The theory of constructivism states that learning is non-linear, recursive, continuous, complex and relational--Despite the difficulty of deducing constructivist pedagogy from constructivist theories, there are models and common elements to consider in planning new program. Reflective activities are a common feature of all the programs of…

Karyotype Analysis Activity: A Constructivist Learning Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ahmed, Noveera T.

2015-01-01

This classroom activity is based on a constructivist learning design and engages students in physically constructing a karyotype of three mock patients. Students then diagnose the chromosomal aneuploidy based on the karyotype, list the symptoms associated with the disorder, and discuss the implications of the diagnosis. This activity is targeted…

Constructivist Learning of Anatomy: Gaining Knowledge by Creating Anatomical Casts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hermiz, David J.; O'Sullivan, Daniel J.; Lujan, Heidi L.; DiCarlo, Stephen E.

2011-01-01

Educators are encouraged to provide inquiry-based, collaborative, and problem solving activities that enhance learning and promote curiosity, skepticism, objectivity, and the use of scientific reasoning. Making anatomical casts or models by injecting solidifying substances into organs is an example of a constructivist activity for achieving these…

Contemporary Constructivist Practices in Higher Education Settings and Academic Motivational Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alt, Dorit

2016-01-01

This study was aimed at assessing the relationships between college students' pre-entry factors, self-efficacy and motivation for learning, and the perceived constructivist learning in traditional lecture-based courses and seminars (SM). The study included 411 undergraduate third-year college students. Several scales were administered to the…

Teaching/Learning Methods and Students' Classification of Food Items

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamilton-Ekeke, Joy-Telu; Thomas, Malcolm

2011-01-01

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a teaching method (TLS (Teaching/Learning Sequence)) based on a social constructivist paradigm on students' conceptualisation of classification of food. Design/methodology/approach: The study compared the TLS model developed by the researcher based on the social constructivist paradigm…

Astonishment: A Post-Constructivist Investigation into Mathematics as Passion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roth, Wolff-Michael

2017-01-01

Constructivist learning theories have become the dominant ideology in educational circles, in part, because there is a primacy on the agential individual with its definite identity. However, precisely because "to construct" is a "transitive" verb, it occludes the fact that in learning and development, we come to know something…

A Moderate Constructivist E-Learning Instructional Model Evaluated on Computer Specialists

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alonso, Fernando; Manrique, Daniel; Vines, Jose M.

2009-01-01

This paper presents a novel instructional model for e-learning and an evaluation study to determine the effectiveness of this model for teaching Java language programming to information technology specialists working for the Spanish Public Administration. This is a general-purpose model that combines objectivist and constructivist learning…

Incremental Inductive Learning in a Constructivist Agent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perotto, Filipo Studzinski; Älvares, Luís Otávio

The constructivist paradigm in Artificial Intelligence has been definitively inaugurated in the earlier 1990's by Drescher's pioneer work [10]. He faces the challenge of design an alternative model for machine learning, founded in the human cognitive developmental process described by Piaget [x]. His effort has inspired many other researchers.

Constructivist Teaching/Learning Theory and Participatory Teaching Methods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fernando, Sithara Y. J. N.; Marikar, Faiz M. M. T.

2017-01-01

Evidence for the teaching involves transmission of knowledge, superiority of guided transmission is explained in the context of our knowledge, but it is also much more that. In this study we have examined General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University's cadet and civilian students' response to constructivist learning theory and participatory…

Learning Science-Based Fitness Knowledge in Constructivist Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sun, Haichun; Chen, Ang; Zhu, Xihe; Ennis, Catherine D.

2012-01-01

Teaching fitness-related knowledge has become critical in developing children's healthful living behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a science-based, constructivist physical education curriculum on learning fitness knowledge critical to healthful living in elementary school students. The schools (N = 30) were randomly…

Applying a Constructivist-Developmental Practice-Based Learning Framework to the Recreation Internship Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Craig, Patricia J.; Sable, Janet R.

2011-01-01

The recreation internship is one of the most critical components of professional preparation education, yet educators have done little to explore the experience from a constructivist-developmental growth perspective. This article presents a practice-based learning framework that shows promise for fostering moral development among recreation…

Constructing constructivism: The voyage of elementary science teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freed, Andrea Beth

This study examined how participation in a professional development institute, which provided a constructivist learning environment affected the interactions between teachers and students in elementary science classrooms. The investigation considered teacher gender and experience, and also compared the less experienced participants with their non-participating mentors. A multiple case study design was utilized. Six self-selected teachers participated. Data was gathered through videotaped observations of science lessons and audiotaped teacher interviews. The research was guided by the following questions: (1) How do teachers perceive changes in their own teaching as a result of participation in a two week professional development institute using constructivist strategies? (2) How do teachers' perceptions of the changes in their teaching as a result of the summer institute measure against what is seen during the observations? (3) Are the teaching strategies of the less experienced participating teachers distinguishable from the strategies used by the non-participating teachers who were judged similar in style prior to the institute, but did not attend the institute? (4) Do differences emerge based on length of teaching experience? This study revealed some interesting findings: (1) results based on gender indicated that the women in the study interacted approximately twice as often as the men; (2) a marked difference existed between the interactions of TASK participants compared with the interactions of the non-TASK participants; and (3) a professional development experience that provides a constructivist learning environment for participants may be effective in helping teachers to transfer the experience to their classrooms or in reinforcing and validating teachers' current practices.

Beyond Metaphor: Formalising in Mathematical Understanding within Constructivist Environments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pirie, Susan E. B.; Kieren, Thomas E.

1994-01-01

Discusses formalizing in mathematics and provides anecdotal illustrations of formalizing in a constructivist environment, using students aged 12 and 8 involved in fraction work. (Contains 19 references.) (MKR)

You Use! I Use! We Use! Questioning the Orthodoxy of One-to-One Computing in Primary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larkin, Kevin

2012-01-01

The current orthodoxy regarding computer use in schools appears to be that one-to-one (1:1) computing, wherein each child owns or has sole access to a computing device, is the most efficacious way to achieve a range of desirable educational outcomes, including individualised learning, collaborative environments, or constructivist pedagogies. This…

Certain Predictors in the Selection and Design of the New Media Environment for Learning and Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matijevic, Milan; Opic, Siniša

2016-01-01

In Croatian classrooms it is possible to observe teaching scenarios that follow the features of constructivist and traditional teaching theories and many variants and combinations of teaching didactics that are student centered and those that are teacher centered. Teachers struggle to find their way in the selection and design of a media…

The Use of Information and Communication Technologies to Educate Laity: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Francis, B. Mark

2011-01-01

Technology-based education is learning primarily based in constructivist styled pedagogies. It is neither good nor bad; its value is inherent to the user and environment where it is placed. While some churches place a high value on the benefits gleaned from its use, others abhor it in religious education. Why churches incorporate or reject…

Science Teacher Beliefs and Classroom Practice Related to Constructivism in Different School Settings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Savasci, Funda; Berlin, Donna F.

2012-02-01

Science teacher beliefs and classroom practice related to constructivism and factors that may influence classroom practice were examined in this cross-case study. Data from four science teachers in two schools included interviews, demographic questionnaire, Classroom Learning Environment Survey (preferred/perceived), and classroom observations and documents. Using an inductive analytic approach, results suggested that the teachers embraced constructivism, but classroom observations did not confirm implementation of these beliefs for three of the four teachers. The most preferred constructivist components were personal relevance and student negotiation; the most perceived component was critical voice. Shared control was the least preferred, least perceived, and least observed constructivist component. School type, grade, student behavior/ability, curriculum/standardized testing, and parental involvement may influence classroom practice.

Impact of audio narrated animation on students' understanding and learning environment based on gender

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nasrudin, Ajeng Ratih; Setiawan, Wawan; Sanjaya, Yayan

2017-05-01

This study is titled the impact of audio narrated animation on students' understanding in learning humanrespiratory system based on gender. This study was conducted in eight grade of junior high school. This study aims to investigate the difference of students' understanding and learning environment at boys and girls classes in learning human respiratory system using audio narrated animation. Research method that is used is quasy experiment with matching pre-test post-test comparison group design. The procedures of study are: (1) preliminary study and learning habituation using audio narrated animation; (2) implementation of learning using audio narrated animation and taking data; (3) analysis and discussion. The result of analysis shows that there is significant difference on students' understanding and learning environment at boys and girls classes in learning human respiratory system using audio narrated animation, both in general and specifically in achieving learning indicators. The discussion related to the impact of audio narrated animation, gender characteristics, and constructivist learning environment. It can be concluded that there is significant difference of students' understanding at boys and girls classes in learning human respiratory system using audio narrated animation. Additionally, based on interpretation of students' respond, there is the difference increment of agreement level in learning environment.

The Effect of Learning Cycle Constructivist-Based Approach on Students' Academic Achievement and Attitude towards Chemistry in Secondary Schools in North-Eastern Part of Nigeria

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jack, Gladys Uzezi

2017-01-01

This study investigated the effect of learning cycle constructivist-based approach on secondary schools students' academic achievement and their attitude towards chemistry. The design used was a pre-test, post-test non randomized control group quasi experimental research design. The design consisted of two instructional groups (learning cycle…

Development of Learning Management Model Based on Constructivist Theory and Reasoning Strategies for Enhancing the Critical Thinking of Secondary Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chaipichit, Dudduan; Jantharajit, Nirat; Chookhampaeng, Sumalee

2015-01-01

The objectives of this research were to study issues around the management of science learning, problems that are encountered, and to develop a learning management model to address those problems. The development of that model and the findings of its study were based on Constructivist Theory and literature on reasoning strategies for enhancing…

The Effects of a Constructivist Intervention on Pre-Service Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DiPietro, Kathryn

2004-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of pre-service teachers' participation in a constructivist intervention supported by technology on their confidence in their own ability to plan and create six technology-supported, constructivist, learning activities, as well as to understand their perceptions of the experience. Participants…

Art-Based Research of Constructivist Teaching=Umjetnicki utemeljeno istraživanje konstruktivisticke nastave

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Topolovcan, Tomislav

2016-01-01

This paper provides a critical analysis of art-based research in education, that is, in constructivist learning and teaching. It presents the methodological features and advantages of art-based research in terms of the axiological, ontological and epistemological features of the constructivist, participatory and critical scientific paradigm, and…

"Introduction to Teaching Online": Usability Evaluation of Interactivity in an Online Social Constructivist Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robinson, Heather A.; Sheffield, Anneliese; Phillips, Alana S.; Moore, Michelle

2017-01-01

In this study, the usability of a social constructivist online teacher preparation course was examined using a framework developed for asynchronous constructivist courses. In particular, students' approaches to learning through interactivity were examined. Students from around the world participated in the course. Data from weekly feedback were…

Effectiveness of a Constructivist-Based Science Camp for Gifted Secondary Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Hope E.; Zoellner, Brian

2016-01-01

Constructivist-based pedagogy is particularly applicable to gifted secondary students in the sciences due to the increased background knowledge of the population and the nature of the study of science. This research was an investigation of the effectiveness of a residential constructivist-based summer learning experience in aquatic biology and…

Radical Conversations: Part One Social-Constructivist Methods in the ABE Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muth, Bill

2008-01-01

For the past 40 years adult learning theory has stressed the need for adults to share in the planning of their own learning and socially construct new knowledge by building on their background knowledge and life experiences. Despite growing acceptance of social-constructivist pedagogies in community-based literacy programs and even corporate…

Using Social Constructivist Pedagogy to Implement Liberal Learning in Business Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chandler, Jennifer D.; Teckchandani, Atul

2015-01-01

This article outlines how decision sciences instructors, by pairing Liberal Learning (LL) philosophy with Social Constructivist Pedagogy (SCP), can lead the way in transforming business education. It outlines how these educators can cultivate more critical thinking and creativity in their classrooms in order to prepare students for the "real…

Does Constructivist Approach Applicable through Concept Maps to Achieve Meaningful Learning in Science?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jena, Ananta Kumar

2012-01-01

This study deals with the application of constructivist approach through individual and cooperative modes of spider and hierarchical concept maps to achieve meaningful learning on science concepts (e.g. acids, bases & salts, physical and chemical changes). The main research questions were: Q (1): is there any difference in individual and…

Teaching and Learning Cycles in a Constructivist Approach to Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singer, Florence Mihaela; Moscovici, Hedy

2008-01-01

This study attempts to analyze and synthesize the knowledge collected in the area of conceptual models used in teaching and learning during inquiry-based projects, and to propose a new frame for organizing the classroom interactions within a constructivist approach. The IMSTRA model consists in three general phases: Immersion, Structuring,…

Effectiveness of constructivist approach on students achievement in mathematics: A case study at primary school in Kuantan, Pahang

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samsudin, Syafiza Saila; Ujang, Suriyati; Sahlan, Nor Fasiha

2016-06-01

This study was conducted on students in Year 3 at Sekolah Kebangsaan Air Putih, Kuantan. The study used a constructivism approach in simplest fraction topic in Mathematics. Students were divided into 2 groups; the control group and the experimental group. Experimental group was taught using Constructivist Approach whereas the control group student was taught using the Traditional Approach. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of constructivist learning approach the topic of Simplest Fraction. It also aimed to compare the student's achievement between the constructivist approach and traditional approach. This study used the instrument in pre-test, post-test, questionnaires and observation. The data were analyzed with SPSS 15.0 for window. The finding shows there is a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test for experimental group after using constructivism approach in learning process. The mean scores (76.39) of the post-test is higher than the mean scores (60.28) for pre-test. It is proved that constructivist approach is more efficient and suitable for teaching and learning in simplest fraction topic in the classroom compared to traditional approaches. The findings also showed interest and the positive perception of this approach.

The Effects of Computer-Assisted Instruction Designed According to 7E Model of Constructivist Learning on Physics Student Teachers' Achievement, Concept Learning, Self-Efficacy Perceptions and Attitudes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kocakaya, Serhat; Gonen, Selahattin

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a Computer-Assisted Instruction designed according to 7E model of constructivist learning(CAI7E) related to "electrostatic'' topic on physics student teachers' cognitive development, misconceptions, self-efficacy perceptions and attitudes. The study was conducted in 2006-2007…

Web-Based Designed Activities for Young People in Health Education: A Constructivist Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldman, Juliette D. G.

2006-01-01

Modern Health Education in primary schools is increasingly using computer technologies in a variety of ways to enhance teaching and learning. Here, a Constructivist approach for a web-based educational activity for Grade 7 is discussed using an example of designing a healthy Food Handling Manual in the food industry. The Constructivist principles…

Influences of Constructivist-Oriented Nutrition Education on Urban Middle School Students' Nutrition Knowledge, Self-Efficacy, and Behaviors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCaughtry, Nate; Fahlman, Mariane; Martin, Jeffrey J.; Shen, Bo

2011-01-01

Background: Health professionals are looking to nutrition-based youth health interventions in K-12 schools to combat the growing obesity crisis; however, none have explored the influences of interventions guided by constructivist learning theory. Purpose: This study examined the influences of a constructivist-oriented nutrition education program…

Learning to care for older patients: hospitals and nursing homes as learning environments.

PubMed

Huls, Marije; de Rooij, Sophia E; Diepstraten, Annemie; Koopmans, Raymond; Helmich, Esther

2015-03-01

A significant challenge facing health care is the ageing of the population, which calls for a major response in medical education. Most clinical learning takes place within hospitals, but nursing homes may also represent suitable learning environments in which students can gain competencies in geriatric medicine. This study explores what students perceive as the main learning outcomes of a geriatric medicine clerkship in a hospital or a nursing home, and explicitly addresses factors that may stimulate or hamper the learning process. This qualitative study falls within a constructivist paradigm: it draws on socio-cultural learning theory and is guided by the principles of constructivist grounded theory. There were two phases of data collection. Firstly, a maximum variation sample of 68 students completed a worksheet, giving brief written answers on questions regarding their geriatric medicine clerkships. Secondly, focus group discussions were conducted with 19 purposively sampled students. We used template analysis, iteratively cycling between data collection and analysis, using a constant comparative process. Students described a broad range of learning outcomes and formative experiences that were largely distinct from their learning in previous clerkships with regard to specific geriatric knowledge, deliberate decision making, end-of-life care, interprofessional collaboration and communication. According to students, the nursing home differed from the hospital in three aspects: interprofessional collaboration was more prominent; the lower resources available in nursing homes stimulated students to be creative, and students reported having greater autonomy in nursing homes compared with the more extensive educational guidance provided in hospitals. In both hospitals and nursing homes, students not only learn to care for older patients, but also describe various broader learning outcomes necessary to become good doctors. The results of our study, in particular the specific benefits and challenges associated with learning in the nursing home, may further inform the implementation of geriatric medicine clerkships in hospitals and nursing homes. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

An Analysis of Pedagogical Moves for Facilitating the Development of In-Service Middle-School Mathematics Teachers' Recognition of Reasoning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cipriani, Phyllis J.

2017-01-01

A constructivist approach for teaching and learning mathematics was the foundation for a longitudinal study at Rutgers University in 1987 (Maher, 2011). One of the objectives of the longitudinal study was to provide an environment where students solve problems in collaborative groups (Maher, 2011). Videos from the longitudinal study are stored in…

[Learning about social determinants of health through chronicles, using a virtual learning environment].

PubMed

Restrepo-Palacio, Sonia; Amaya-Guio, Jairo

2016-01-01

To describe the contributions of a pedagogical strategy based on the construction of chronicles, using a Virtual Learning Environment for training medical students from Universidad de La Sabana on social determinants of health. Descriptive study with a qualitative approach. Design and implementation of a Virtual Learning Environment based on the ADDIE instructional model. A Virtual Learning Environment was implemented with an instructional design based on the five phases of the ADDIE model, on the grounds of meaningful learning and social constructivism, and through the narration of chronicles or life stories as a pedagogical strategy. During the course, the structural determinants and intermediaries were addressed, and nine chronicles were produced by working groups made up of four or five students, who demonstrated meaningful learning from real life stories, presented a coherent sequence, and kept a thread; 82% of these students incorporated in their contents most of the social determinants of health, emphasizing on the concepts of equity or inequity, equality or inequality, justice or injustice and social cohesion. A Virtual Learning Environment, based on an appropriate instructional design, allows to facilitate learning of social determinants of health through a constructivist pedagogical approach by analyzing chronicles or life stories created by ninth-semester students of medicine from Universidad de La Sabana.

Internet Self-Efficacy Preferences of Internet Based Environments and Achievement of Prospective Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozyalcin Oskay, Ozge

2011-01-01

The aims of this study are to determine prospective chemistry teachers' internet self-efficacy and preferences of constructivist internet-assisted environments and to examine the relationship between their internet self-efficacy and their preferences for constructivist internet-assisted environments, the relationship between their achievement in…

An Overview to Research on Education Technology Based on Constructivist Learning Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Asiksoy, Gulsum; Ozdamli, Fezile

2017-01-01

The aim of this research is to determine the trends of education technology researches on Constructivist Learning Approach, which were published on database of ScienceDirect between 2010 and 2016. It also aims to guide researchers who will do studies in this field. After scanning the database, 81 articles published on ScienceDirect's data base…

The Moore Method and the Constructivist Theory of Learning: Was R. L. Moore a Constructivist?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barrett, Lida K.; Long, B. Vena

2012-01-01

Constructivism is currently a hotly debated topic, with proponents and opponents equally adamant and emotional with respect to their viewpoints. Many misconceptions exist on both sides of the debate, and misuses of terminology and attribution are rampant. Constructivism is a theory of learning, not a particular approach to instruction and not a…

Applying Constructivist Instructional Strategies to E-Learning: A Case Study of a Web Development Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Ye Diana

2014-01-01

As the practice of e-learning continues to proliferate, online educators, especially in the computing disciplines, are facing special challenges, due to the lack of relevant literature, the technical nature of the courses, and the perceived need for direct student support mechanisms. This paper presents a constructivist instructional approach to…

An Analysis of Learners' Intentions toward Virtual Reality Learning Based on Constructivist and Technology Acceptance Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Hsiu-Mei; Liaw, Shu-Sheng

2018-01-01

Within a constructivist paradigm, the virtual reality technology focuses on the learner's actively interactive learning processes and attempts to reduce the gap between the learner's knowledge and a real-life experience. Recently, virtual reality technologies have been developed for a wide range of applications in education, but further research…

Constructivist Approach Enhances the Learning: A Search of Reality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dev, Meenu

2016-01-01

The primary aim of the study was to study the effect of constructivist approach of teaching on the learning of English Language on Primary School Students. The study consisted of 60 students of class VI from Janta Brahmi Sr. Secondary School, Nathupur, Sonipat. A single quasi experimental pre-test and post-test design was applied in the present…

A Meta-Analysis of Constructivist Learning Approach on Learners' Academic Achievements, Retention and Attitudes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Semerci, Çetin; Batdi, Veli

2015-01-01

This study attempts to answer the question "Does a Constructivist Learning Approach have any effect on learners' academic achievement, retention and attitude scores?" As a result of a systematic investigation of experimental studies carried out between 2002 and 2015 in national and international area, 324 (218 articles, 106 theses)…

Re-Appropriating a Question/Answer System to Support Dialectical Constructivist Learning Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carroll, John M.; Wu, Yu; Shih, Patrick C.; Zheng, Saijing

2016-01-01

Learning can be engaged by dialectic, that is, by identifying pros and cons that inhere in propositions, and more generally, by raising questions about the validity of claims. We report here on a classroom case study of dialectical constructivist pedagogy: Students created dialectical analyses of two lectures and four books as core activities in a…

Compulsory Participation in Online Discussions: Is This Constructivism or Normalisation of Learning?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gulati, Shalni

2008-01-01

A constructivist approach in teaching and learning requires one to change various habitual ways for thinking (von Glasersfeld 1995). There is a need for different ways of thinking and doing things, if conventional education is to realise a constructivist worldview. Educators and trainers in both academic and work sectors are promoting the use of…

The Effects of the Constructivist Learning Approach on Student's Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ayaz, Mehmet Fatih; Sekerci, Hanifi

2015-01-01

In this research, a meta-analysis study was conducted in order to determine the effects of constructivist learning approach on students' academic achievement. Master's thesis, doctoral dissertation and articles in national and international databases, which are realized between the years of 2003-2014, appropriate to the problem and which can be…

Academically at-risk students' perceptions of a constructivist high school biology pedagogy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sweeney, Heidi

Successful completion of the Living Environment, one state's high school biology course, is a state graduation requirement. The academically at-risk students enrolled in one suburban public high school had been disproportionately unsuccessful at achieving a passing grade in this course. In response, a constructivist biology curriculum was created to address the needs of at-risk students in a heterogeneous ability classroom. There is a gap in current research on students' perceptions of their learning experiences; consequently, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to obtain at-risk students' perceptions of a constructivist-based curriculum and to clarify what aspects of the Living Environment course assisted in their success. Eight academically at-risk students who successfully passed the Living Environment course were surveyed to seek their perceptions of the curricular and pedagogical change. These data were analyzed using the typological method with the inclusion of both inductive and predetermined categories. The students stated a preference for group work and active engagement. They also found that the binder system introduced in the course kept them better organized and helped them increase academic performance. Students perceived that effort was required but was rewarding. Findings derived from this study may contribute to social change by assisting teachers in tailoring curriculum and pedagogical decisions. This study provided a voice for the academically at-risk student and, in doing so, may contribute to social change by providing insight to teachers and administrators that can help students succeed academically, increase graduation rates, and enhance employment opportunities.

Constructivism and the use of performance assessment in science: A comparative study of beliefs among preservice and inservice teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bednarski, Marsha H.

Reform efforts in science education stress the importance of preservice and inservice teacher education in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. A change in current student assessment practices is seen as the catalyst in the reform of curriculum and instruction. Recommended for assessment of the proposed inquiry-based science programs are performance-based assessments (National Research Council, 1996). The constructivist philosophy, the foundation for these reform efforts, proposes that knowledge acquisition by the learner is a result of the interaction between what is brought to the learning situation and what is experienced while in it. Literature supports the use of constructivist-based instructional strategies for preservice and inservice teacher education (American Federation of Teachers, National Council on Measurement in Education, and National Education Association, 1990). Literature also provides support for the importance of teacher beliefs in relation to the successful transfer of these instructional strategies (Keegan, 1992; Nespor, 1987). There is not supporting evidence related to constructivist instructional strategies and teacher beliefs transferring to the use of performance assessment. This study identified whether preservice and inservice teachers differed with respect to their beliefs about constructivist-based learning strategies and performance assessment. It also identified whether teacher beliefs held about constructivist-based learning strategies were related to the construction of assessments they developed for use in their classrooms. Education majors enrolled in a Northeastern university's assessment course and inservice teachers from three Northeast public school districts participated in this study. Results of a 36-item belief survey, administered to preservice and inservice teachers, and a 10-item checklist, used to score assessment examples provided by the teachers, concluded that attitudes toward constructivist-based learning strategies is a predictor for group membership with the inservice teacher group. There is a correlation between attitudes toward constructivism and attitudes related to the benefits of using performance assessments for both the preservice and inservice groups. There is not a significant correlation between constructivist attitudes and using performance assessment. Although teachers in this study hold constructivist attitudes and acknowledge the benefits of using performance assessment, they do not use performance assessments.

The effects of a professional development geoscience education institute upon secondary school science teachers in Puerto Rico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Llerandi Roman, Pablo Antonio

The geographic and geologic settings of Puerto Rico served as the context to develop a mixed methods investigation on: (1) the effects of a five-day long constructivist and field-based earth science education professional development institute upon 26 secondary school science teachers' earth science conceptual knowledge, perceptions of fieldwork, and beliefs about teaching earth science; and (2) the implementation of participants' newly acquired knowledge and experience in their science lessons at school. Qualitative data included questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, pre-post concept maps, and pre-post lesson plans. The Geoscience Concept Inventory and the Science Outdoor Learning Environment Inventory were translated into Spanish and culturally validated to collect quantitative data. Data was analyzed through a constructivist grounded theory methodology, descriptive statistics, and non-parametric methods. Participants came to the institute with serious deficiencies in earth science conceptual understanding, negative earth science teaching perspectives, and inadequate earth science teaching methodologies. The institute helped participants to improve their understanding of earth science concepts, content, and processes mostly related to the study of rocks, the Earth's structure, plate tectonics, maps, and the geology of Puerto Rico. Participants also improved their earth science teaching beliefs, perceptions on field-based education, and reflected on their environmental awareness and social responsibility. Participants greatly benefited from the field-based learning environment, inquiry-based teaching approaches modeled, the attention given to their affective domain, and reflections on their teaching practice as part of the institute's activities. The constructivist learning environment and the institute's contextualized and meaningful learning conceptual model were effective in generating interest and confidence in earth science teaching. Some participants successfully integrated inquiry-based lessons on the nature of science and earth science at their schools, but were unsuccessful in integrating field trips. The lack of teacher education programs and the inadequacy of earth science conceptual and pedagogical understanding held by in-service teachers are the main barriers for effective earth science teaching in Puerto Rico. This study established a foundation for future earth science education projects for Latino teachers. Additionally, as a result of this investigation various recommendations were made to effectively implement earth science teacher education programs in Puerto Rico and internationally.

Do sophisticated epistemic beliefs predict meaningful learning? Findings from a structural equation model of undergraduate biology learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Silvia Wen-Yu; Liang, Jyh-Chong; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2016-10-01

This study investigated the relationships among college students' epistemic beliefs in biology (EBB), conceptions of learning biology (COLB), and strategies of learning biology (SLB). EBB includes four dimensions, namely 'multiple-source,' 'uncertainty,' 'development,' and 'justification.' COLB is further divided into 'constructivist' and 'reproductive' conceptions, while SLB represents deep strategies and surface learning strategies. Questionnaire responses were gathered from 303 college students. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling showed acceptable model fits. Mediation testing further revealed two paths with complete mediation. In sum, students' epistemic beliefs of 'uncertainty' and 'justification' in biology were statistically significant in explaining the constructivist and reproductive COLB, respectively; and 'uncertainty' was statistically significant in explaining the deep SLB as well. The results of mediation testing further revealed that 'uncertainty' predicted surface strategies through the mediation of 'reproductive' conceptions; and the relationship between 'justification' and deep strategies was mediated by 'constructivist' COLB. This study provides evidence for the essential roles some epistemic beliefs play in predicting students' learning.

A study of the effects of constructivist-based vs. traditional direct instruction on 8th grade science comprehension

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berube, Clair Thompson

2001-07-01

Studies conducted nationwide over the past several decades point consistently to the evidence that American school children lag behind several other countries in science scores. Problems arise from this dilemma, including the question of the ability of our youngsters to compete nationally and globally in the sciences as adults. Current research in this area of scores currently studies mostly mathematics. The few studies conducted concerning science mainly highlight students in other countries and neglects minorities and females regarding outcomes. By contrast, this study investigated the effects of teacher types (also defined as teaching styles or classroom orientation) on student outcomes on two measures; the standardized Standards of Learning 8th grade science test for the state of Virginia, and the Higher-Order Skills test (Berube, 2001), which was a researcher-constricted comprehension measurement. Minority and gender interactions were analyzed as well. Teacher type was designated by using the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (Taylor & Fraser, 1991). Participants included students from five large urban middle schools and thirteen middle school science teachers. Scores from the two measures were used to determine differences in student outcomes as they pertained to teacher type, gender and ethnicity. Analysis indicated that students who were taught by teachers with more traditional and mixed teaching styles performed better on the Higher-Order Skills comprehension measurement, while teachers with constructivist teaching styles actually had the lowest scoring students. Also, the interaction of ethnicity and teacher type was significant, indicating that Higher-Order Skills scores were influenced by that interaction, with Caucasians scoring the highest when taught by teachers with mixed teaching styles. Such findings could profit school administrators considering the interaction of student achievement and teaching styles on high-stakes testing environments. Suggestions are made for future studies concerning females and minorities in these same environments.

The Internet as an informal learning environment: Assessing knowledge acquisition of science and engineering students using constructivist and objectivist formats

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hargis, Jace

This study examined the effects of two different instructional formats on Internet WebPages in an informal learning environment. The purpose of this study is to (a) identify optimal instructional formats for on-line learning; (b) identify the relationship between post-assessment scores and the student's gender, age or racial identity; (c) examine the effects of verbal aptitudes on learning in different formats; (d) identify relationships between computer attitudes and achievement; and (e) identify the potential power for self-regulated learning and self-efficacy on Internet WebPages. Two learning strategy modules were developed; a constructivist and an objectivist instruction module. The study program consisted of an on-line consent form; a computer attitude survey; a Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire; a verbal aptitude test; a pre-assessment; instructional directions followed by the instructional module and a post-assessment. The study tested 145 post-secondary science and engineering participants from the University of Florida. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups or a control in a pretest/posttest design. An analysis of covariance with general linear models was used to account for effects of individual difference variables and aptitude treatment interaction (ATI). This statistical procedure was used to determine the relationships among the dependent variable, the achievement on each of the formats and the independent variables, attitudes, gender, racial identity, verbal aptitudes, and self-regulated learning/self-efficacy. Significant results at alpha = .05 were found for none of these variables. However, a linear prediction of age shows that older participants scored higher on the post-assessment after completing the objectivist module. Although there were no significant differences between the learning format and the variables, there was a difference between the modules and the control. Therefore, it is possible that regardless of characteristics, science and engineering students can learn on-line technical material.

Endangered Play, Endangered Development: A Constructivist View of the Role of Play in Development and Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levin, Diane E.

Piagetian and Vygotskian theories may be used as starting points to examine the role of play in development and learning from a constructivist perspective, including how children use play to deepen their understanding and skills, encounter new problems, and incorporate newly mastered skills into their play. Contemporary factors such as an emphasis…

Cooperative Learning and Dyadic Interactions: Two Modes of Knowledge Construction in Socio-Constructivist Settings for Team-Sport Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Darnis, Florence; Lafont, Lucile

2015-01-01

Background: Within a socio-constructivist perspective, this study is situated at the crossroads of three theoretical approaches. First, it is based upon team sport and the tactical act model in games teaching. Second, it took place in dyadic or small group learning conditions with verbal interaction. Furthermore, these interventions were based on…

A Constructivist Approach to Inquiry-Based Learning: A TUNEL Assay for the Detection of Apoptosis in Cheek Cells

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Correiro, Elizabeth E.; Griffin, Leanne R.; Hart, Peter E.

2008-01-01

A laboratory exercise is presented that incorporates constructivist principles into a learning experience designed for upper-level university biology courses. The specific objectives for this exercise are as follows: (1) To introduce students to cancer biology and to the regulation of programmed cell death as part of the cell cycle; (2) To engage…

Construct Validity of a Self-Report Measure of Teacher Beliefs Related to Constructivist and Traditional Approaches to Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woolley, Sandra L.; Benjamin, Woan-Jue J.; Woolley, Anita Williams

2004-01-01

The development and validation of the Teacher Beliefs Survey (TBS) is described. The TBS, an instrument for assessing the beliefs of teachers related to constructivist and traditional approaches to teaching and learning, contains 21 items in three hypothetical constructs. Elementary teachers, preservice (n = 61) and in-service (n = 137),…

Implementation of 7e learning cycle model using technology based constructivist teaching (TBCT) approach to improve students' understanding achievment in mechanical wave material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Warliani, Resti; Muslim, Setiawan, Wawan

2017-05-01

This study aims to determine the increase in the understanding achievement in senior high school students through the Learning Cycle 7E with technology based constructivist teaching approach (TBCT). This study uses a pretest-posttest control group design. The participants were 67 high school students of eleventh grade in Garut city with two class in control and experiment class. Experiment class applying the Learning Cycle 7E through TBCT approach and control class applying the 7E Learning Cycle through Constructivist Teaching approach (CT). Data collection tools from mechanical wave concept test with totally 22 questions with reability coefficient was found 0,86. The findings show the increase of the understanding achievement of the experiment class is in the amount of 0.51 was higher than the control class that is in the amount of 0.33.

Teaching population health and community-based care across diverse clinical experiences: integration of conceptual pillars and constructivist learning.

PubMed

Valentine-Maher, Sarah K; Van Dyk, Elizabeth J; Aktan, Nadine M; Bliss, Julie Beshore

2014-03-01

Nursing programs are challenged to prepare future nurses to provide care and affect determinants of health for individuals and populations. This article advances a pedagogical model for clinical education that builds concepts related to both population-level care and direct care in the community through a contextual learning approach. Because the conceptual pillars and hybrid constructivist approach allow for conceptual learning consistency across experiences, the model expands programmatic capacity to use diverse community clinical sites that accept only small numbers of students. The concept-based and hybrid constructivist learning approach is expected to contribute to the development of broad intellectual skills and lifelong learning. The pillar concepts include determinants of health and nursing care of population aggregates; direct care, based on evidence and best practices; appreciation of lived experience of health and illness; public health nursing roles and relationship to ethical and professional formation; and multidisciplinary collaboration. Copyright 2014, SLACK Incorporated.

Shaping a valued learning journey: Student satisfaction with learning in undergraduate nursing programs, a grounded theory study.

PubMed

Smith, Morgan R; Grealish, Laurie; Henderson, Saras

2018-05-01

Student satisfaction is a quality measure of increasing importance in undergraduate programs, including nursing programs. To date theories of student satisfaction have focused primarily on students' perceptions of the educational environment rather than their perceptions of learning. Understanding how students determine satisfaction with learning is necessary to facilitate student learning across a range of educational contexts and meet the expectations of diverse stakeholders. To understand undergraduate nursing students' satisfaction with learning. Constructivist grounded theory methodology was used to identify how nursing students determined satisfaction with learning. Two large, multi-campus, nursing schools in Australia. Seventeen demographically diverse undergraduate nursing students studying different stages of a three year program participated in the study. Twenty nine semi-structured interviews were conducted. Students were invited to describe situations where they had been satisfied or dissatisfied with their learning. A constructivist grounded theory approach was used to analyse the data. Students are satisfied with learning when they shape a valued learning journey that accommodates social contexts of self, university and nursing workplace. The theory has three phases. Phase 1 - orienting self to valued learning in the pedagogical landscape; phase 2 - engaging with valued learning experiences across diverse pedagogical terrain; and phase 3 - recognising valued achievement along the way. When students experience a valued learning journey they are satisfied with their learning. Student satisfaction with learning is unique to the individual, changes over time and maybe transient or sustained, mild or intense. Finding from the research indicate areas where nurse academics may facilitate satisfaction with learning in undergraduate nursing programs while mindful of the expectations of other stakeholders such as the university, nurse registering authorities, employers and the receivers of nursing care. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Essential Criteria to Characterize Constructivist Teaching: Derived from a Review of the Literature and Applied to Five Constructivist-Teaching Method Articles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baviskar, Sandhya N.; Hartle, R. Todd; Whitney, Tiffany

2009-01-01

Constructivism is an important theory of learning that is used to guide the development of new teaching methods, particularly in science education. However, because it is a theory of learning and not of teaching, constructivism is often either misused or misunderstood. Here we describe the four essential features of constructivism: eliciting prior…

Critical Thinking as a Dimension of Constructivist Learning: Some of the Characteristics of Students of Lower Secondary Education in Croatia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Topolovcan, Tomislav; Matijevic, Milan

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine the characteristics of the frequency of constructivist learning and its dimensions, including critical thinking, the differences in them with regard to certain demographic characteristics, and correlations with the frequency of use of certain new media in teaching students in the final grade of lower secondary…

Opinions of Turkish Language and Literature Teachers on the Curriculum of Turkish Literature Course Based on the Constructivist Learning Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Epcacan, Cahit

2013-01-01

The main objective of this study is to collect the opinions of Turkish Language and Literature teachers at secondary schools about the Curriculum of the Turkish Literature Course based on the constructivist learning theory. To this end, the descriptive method was employed to collect teacher opinions. Structured interview was used as a data…

Multidimensional Knowledge Structures.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schuh, Kathy L.

Multidimensional knowledge structures, described from a constructivist perspective and aligned with the "Mind as Rhizome" metaphor, provide support for constructivist learning strategies. This qualitative study was conducted to seek empirical support for a description of multidimensional knowledge structures, focusing on the…

Creating Constructivist Environments and Constructing Creative Mathematics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pirie, Susan; Kieren, Thomas

1992-01-01

Proposes and describes four teachers' beliefs necessary in creating constructivist classroom environments. Presents the background, description, and analysis of seven teaching episodes that examine the mathematical understanding actions of pupils in classrooms in which teachers exhibit these beliefs in an effort to verify the necessity of the…

Examining the literacy component of science literacy: 25 years of language arts and science research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yore, Larry D.; Bisanz, Gay L.; Hand, Brian M.

2003-06-01

This review, written to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the International Journal of Science Education, revealed a period of changes in the theoretical views of the language arts, the perceived roles of language in science education, and the research approaches used to investigate oral and written language in science, science teaching, and learning. The early years were dominated by behavioralist and logico-mathematical interpretations of human learning and by reductionist research approaches, while the later years reflected an applied cognitive science and constructivist interpretations of learning and a wider array of research approaches that recognizes the holistic nature of teaching and learning. The early years focus on coding oral language into categories reflecting source of speech, functional purpose, level of question and response, reading research focused on the readability of textbooks using formulae and the reader's decoding skills, and writing research was not well documented since the advocates for writing in service of learning were grass roots practitioners and many science teachers were using writing as an evaluation technique. The advent of applied cognitive science and the constructivist perspectives ushered in interactive-constructive models of discourse, reading and writing that more clearly revealed the role of language in science and in science teaching and learning. A review of recent research revealed that the quantity and quality of oral interactions were low and unfocused in science classrooms; reading has expanded to consider comprehension strategies, metacognition, sources other than textbooks, and the design of inquiry environments for classrooms; and writing-to-learn science has focused on sequential writing tasks requiring transformation of ideas to enhance science learning. Several promising trends and future research directions flow from the synthesis of this 25-year period of examining the literacy component of science literacy - among them are critical listening and reading of various sources, multi-media presentations and representations, effective debate and argument, quality explanation and the role of information and communication technologies/environments.

Cancer Cell Biology: A Student-Centered Instructional Module Exploring the Use of Multimedia to Enrich Interactive, Constructivist Learning of Science

PubMed Central

Bockholt, Susanne M.; West, J. Paige; Bollenbacher, Walter E.

2003-01-01

Multimedia has the potential of providing bioscience education novel learning environments and pedagogy applications to foster student interest, involve students in the research process, advance critical thinking/problem-solving skills, and develop conceptual understanding of biological topics. Cancer Cell Biology, an interactive, multimedia, problem-based module, focuses on how mutations in protooncogenes and tumor suppressor genes can lead to uncontrolled cell proliferation by engaging students as research scientists/physicians with the task of diagnosing the molecular basis of tumor growth for a group of patients. The process of constructing the module, which was guided by scientist and student feedback/responses, is described. The completed module and insights gained from its development are presented as a potential “multimedia pedagogy” for the development of other multimedia science learning environments. PMID:12822037

A Constructivist Cloud Lab.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Emery, Dave

1996-01-01

Describes a lab involving a cloud formation activity that uses the constructivist learning model to get students more involved in creating the lab. Enables students to develop a greater understanding of the concepts involved and more interest in the lab's outcomes. (JRH)

A narrative study of novice elementary teachers' perceptions of science instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harrell, Roberta

It is hoped that, once implemented, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) will engage students more deeply in science learning and build science knowledge sequentially beginning in Kindergarten (NRC, 2013). Early instruction is encouraged but must be delivered by qualified elementary teachers who have both the science content knowledge and the necessary instructional skills to teach science effectively to young children (Ejiwale, 2012, Spencer, Vogel, 2009, Walker, 2011). The purpose of this research study is to gain insight into novice elementary teachers' perceptions of science instruction. This research suggests that infusion of constructivist teaching in the elementary classroom is beneficial to the teacher's instruction of science concepts to elementary students. Constructivism is theory that learning is centered on the learner constructing new ideas or concepts built upon their current/past knowledge (Bruner, 1966). Based on this theory, it is recommended that the instructor should try to encourage students to discover principles independently; essentially the instructor presents the problem and lets students go (Good & Brophy, 2004). Discovery learning, hands-on, experimental, collaborative, and project-based learning are all approaches that use constructivist principles. The NGSS are based on constructivist principles. This narrative study provides insight into novice elementary teachers' perceptions of science instruction considered through the lens of Constructivist Theory (Bruner, 1960).

The influence of social information on children's statistical and causal inferences.

PubMed

Sobel, David M; Kirkham, Natasha Z

2012-01-01

Constructivist accounts of learning posit that causal inference is a child-driven process. Recent interpretations of such accounts also suggest that the process children use for causal learning is rational: Children interpret and learn from new evidence in light of their existing beliefs. We argue that such mechanisms are also driven by informative social cues and suggest ways in which such information influences both preschoolers' and infants' inferences. In doing so, we argue that a rational constructivist account should not only focus on describing the child's internal cognitive mechanisms for learning but also on how social information affects the process of learning.

Creating learning momentum through overt teaching interactions during real acute care episodes.

PubMed

Piquette, Dominique; Moulton, Carol-Anne; LeBlanc, Vicki R

2015-10-01

Clinical supervisors fulfill a dual responsibility towards patient care and learning during clinical activities. Assuming such roles in today's clinical environments may be challenging. Acute care environments present unique learning opportunities for medical trainees, as well as specific challenges. The goal of this paper was to better understand the specific contexts in which overt teaching interactions occurred in acute care environments. We conducted a naturalistic observational study based on constructivist grounded theory methodology. Using participant observation, we collected data on the teaching interactions occurring between clinical supervisors and medical trainees during 74 acute care episodes in the critical care unit of two academic centers, in Toronto, Canada. Three themes contributed to a better understanding of the conditions in which overt teaching interactions among trainees and clinical supervisors occurred during acute care episodes: seizing emergent learning opportunities, coming up against challenging conditions, and creating learning momentum. Our findings illustrate how overt learning opportunities emerged from certain clinical situations and how clinical supervisors and trainees could purposefully modify unfavorable learning conditions. None of the acute care episodes encountered in the critical care environment represented ideal conditions for learning. Yet, clinical supervisors and trainees succeeded in engaging in overt teaching interactions during many episodes. The educational value of these overt teaching interactions should be further explored, as well as the impact of interventions aimed at increasing their use in acute care environments.

Constructing Media Artifacts in a Social Constructivist Environment to Enhance Students' Environmental Awareness and Activism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karahan, Engin; Roehrig, Gillian

2015-02-01

Current science education reforms and policy documents highlight the importance of environmental awareness and perceived need for activism. As "environmental problems are socially constructed in terms of their conceptualized effects on individuals, groups, other living things and systems research based on constructivist principles provides not only a coherent framework in which to theorize about learning, but also a context for understanding socially constructed issues" (Palmer and Suggate in Res Pap Educ 19(2), 2004, p. 208). This research study investigated the impacts of the learning processes structured based on the theories of constructionism and social constructivism on students' environmental awareness and perceived need for activism. Students constructed multimedia artifacts expressing their knowledge, attitudes, awareness, and activism about environmental issues through a constructionist design process. In addition, a social networking site was designed and used to promote social interaction among students. Twenty-two high school environmental science students participated in this study. A convergent mixed methods design was implemented to allow for the triangulation of methods by directly comparing and contrasting quantitative results with qualitative findings for corroboration and validation purposes. Using a mixed method approach, quantitative findings are supported with qualitative data (student video projects, writing prompts, blog entries, video projects of the students, observational field notes, and reflective journals) including spontaneous responses in both synchronous and asynchronous conversations on the social network to provide a better understanding of the change in students' environmental awareness and perceived need for activism. The findings of the study indicated that students' environmental awareness and perceived need for activism were improved at different scales (personal, community, global) throughout the constructionist and social constructivist learning processes.

Grade Level Differences in High School Students' Conceptions of and Motives for Learning Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Ya-Ling; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2017-08-01

Students' conceptions of learning science and their relations with motive for learning may vary as the education level increases. This study aimed to compare the quantitative patterns in students' conceptions of learning science (COLS) and motives for learning science (MLS) across grade levels by adopting two survey instruments. A total of 768 high school students were surveyed in Taiwan, including 204 eighth graders, 262 tenth graders, and 302 12th graders. In the current research, memorizing, testing, and calculating and practicing were categorized as reproductive conceptions of learning science, while increase of knowledge, applying, understanding and seeing-in-a-new-way were regarded as constructivist conceptions. The results of multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) revealed that conceptions of learning science are more constructivist as education level increases. Both tenth graders and 12th graders endorsed understanding, seeing-in-a-new-way, and the constructivist COLS composite more strongly than the eighth graders did. In addition, the results of multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis indicated that the positive relations between testing and reproductive COLS were stronger as the grade level increased, while the negative relations between reproductive COLS and deep motive were tighter with the increase in grade level.

The relationship between constructivist supervisory practices, school climate, and student proficiency in reading, mathematics, and science: Evidence from NELS:88

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molnar, John Alexander

In an effort to improve instruction and student learning, school reform efforts have become prevalent. School reformers have examined many aspects of the school experience, including learning theories such as behaviorism and constructivism, the changing roles of teachers and supervisors, and even the concept of the school itself. The theoretical framework for this study centered around constructivist learning theory. The study itself focused on the application of constructivist learning theory to the supervisory process. The study examined five areas of interest: (a) teachers' perceptions of constructivist supervisory behavior; (b) teachers' perceptions of efficacy and control in the classroom; (c) teachers' perceptions of school climate; (d) teachers' perceptions of job satisfaction, and (e) the influences of each of the aforementioned on student proficiency in mathematics, reading, and science. Data for the study was drawn from the first follow-up survey of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS: 88). NELS: 88 investigated a wide variety of factors that influence the educational process. The first follow-up focuses on environmental factors that affect teachers and students. Variables were selected from the NELS:88 data set that represented the areas to be examined. Factor analysis and correlational analysis were applied to ensure that the variables were measuring distinct constructs and to determine ways they could be grouped for analysis. Multiple linear regression analysis was applied to determine relationships among the individual and composite variables, controlling for student and teacher demographic factors. The results of the study suggest that varying relationships do exist between constructivist supervisory practices and the constructs measuring school climate and job satisfaction. The results also suggest that varying relationships exist between each of these factors and student proficiency in mathematics, reading, and science. Specifically, school climate, job satisfaction, and student proficiency were influenced by constructivist supervisory practices that included teachers' freedom to experiment with teaching and teachers' control over texts and materials.

The Learning Virus: An Affective, Constructivist Movement Shaped by Ultrasociality in the Age of Social Media

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ershler, Jeff; Stabile, Chris

2015-01-01

Redefining the discourse toward a "better fit" cultural framework of beliefs, thought, language, and action through ultrasociality, a constructivist meme can help nurture an epistemological break (or rupture) from the traditional objectivist paradigm in education.

Re-Conceptualizing Teacher Authority: When to Exact

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tzuo, Pei-Wen; Chen, Der-Thanq

2011-01-01

Background: This paper re-conceptualizes issues related to teacher authority by integrating the constructivist (including social constructivist) and critical perspectives. The traditional perspectives perceive that teacher authority inhibits children's autonomy of learning. This perspective has been largely challenged by two groups of studies--the…

The History of Workplace Learning in the United States and the Question of Control: A Selective Review of the Literature and the Implications of a Constructivist Paradigm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Altman, Brian A.

2008-01-01

Anderson (1980) and Harris's (2000) examinations of the history of workplace learning and training in the United States highlight issues of power and control in the determination of what training is provided to workers. This paper reviews these two texts and considers the implications of a constructivist paradigm in addressing the dilemmas of…

The Effect of the Computer Assisted Teaching and 7e Model of the Constructivist Learning Methods on the Achievements and Attitudes of High School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gönen, Selahattin; Kocakaya, Serhat; Inan, Cemil

2006-01-01

This study provides a comparative effect study of the Computer Assisted Teaching and the 7E model of the Constructivist Learning methods on attitudes and achievements of the students in physics classes. The experiments have been carried out in a private high school in Diyarbakir/Turkey on groups of first year students whose pre-test scores of…

Learning Science-Based Fitness Knowledge in Constructivist Physical Education

PubMed Central

Sun, Haichun; Chen, Ang; Zhu, Xihe; Ennis, Catherine D.

2015-01-01

Teaching fitness-related knowledge has become critical in developing children’s healthful living behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a science-based, constructivist physical education curriculum on learning fitness knowledge critical to healthful living in elementary school students. The schools (N = 30) were randomly selected from one of the largest school districts in the United States and randomly assigned to treatment curriculum and control conditions. Students in third, fourth, and fifth grade (N = 5,717) were pre- and posttested on a standardized knowledge test on exercise principles and benefits in cardiorespiratory health, muscular capacity, and healthful nutrition and body flexibility. The results indicated that children in the treatment curriculum condition learned at a faster rate than their counterparts in the control condition. The results suggest that the constructivist curriculum is capable of inducing superior knowledge gain in third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade children. PMID:26269659

Misconceptions in Astronomy: Before and After a Constructivist Learning Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruzhitskaya, Lanika; Speck, A.

2009-01-01

We present results of a pilot study on college students’ misconceptions in astronomy. The study was conducted on the campus of a Midwestern university among 43 non-science major students enrolled in an introductory astronomy laboratory course. The laboratory course was based on a constructivist learning environment where students learned astronomy by doing astronomy. During the course, students worked with educational simulations created by Project CLEA team and RedShift College Education Astronomy Workbook by Bill Walker as well as were involved in think-pair-share discussions based on Lecture-Tutorials (Prather et al 2008). Several laboratories were prompted by an instructor's brief presentations. On the first and last days of the course students were surveyed on what their beliefs were about causes of the seasons, the moon's apparent size in the sky and its phases, planetary orbits, structure of the solar system, the sun, distant stars, and the nature of light. The majority of the surveys’ questions were based on Neil Comins’ 50 most commonly cited misconceptions. The outcome of the study showed that while students constructed correct understanding of a number of phenomena, they also created a set of new misconceptions. For example, if on the first day of the course, nine out of 43 students knew what caused the seasons on Earth; on the last day of the course, 20 students gained the similar understanding. However, by the end of the course more students believed that smaller planets must rotate faster based on the conservation of angular momentum and Kepler's laws. Our findings suggest that misconceptions pointed out by Neil Comins over a decade ago are still relevant today; and that learning based exclusively on simulations and collaborative group discussions does not necessarily produce the best results, but may set a ground for creating new misconceptions.

Design Considerations of a Compounded Sterile Preparations Course

PubMed Central

Petraglia, Christine; Mattison, Melissa J.

2016-01-01

Objective. To design a comprehensive learning and assessment environment for the practical application of compounded sterile preparations using a constructivist approach. Design. Compounded Sterile Preparations Laboratory is a required 1-credit course that builds upon the themes of training aseptic technique typically used in health system settings and threads application of concepts from other courses in the curriculum. Students used critical-thinking skills to devise appropriate strategies to compound sterile preparations. Assessment. Aseptic technique skills were assessed with objective, structured, checklist-based rubrics. Most students successfully completed practical assessments using appropriate technique (mean assessment grade=83.2%). Almost all students passed the practical media fill (98%) and gloved fingertip sampling (86%) tests on the first attempt; all passed on the second attempt. Conclusion. Employing a constructivist scaffold approach to teaching proper hygiene and aseptic technique prepared students to pass media fill and gloved fingertip tests and to perform well on practical compounding assessments. PMID:26941438

Foster interaction by the integration of ICT with sociocultural and constructivist learning principles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Nhung; Williams, P. John

2018-01-01

Research shows that it is challenging to introduce an interactive way of teaching and learning into Asian classrooms where Confucian philosophy has considerable influence. This study was conducted within the context of an ASEAN undergraduate physics course. A goal of the study was to use information communication technology (ICT) to integrate sociocultural and constructivist learning principles to foster interaction within the learning environment. Ninety-three students, a lecturer and a teaching assistant participated in the study. The study employed a mixed method approach, using a questionnaire and interviews with students, the lecturer and the teaching assistant to collect the data, to triangulate, complement and explain the findings. Data was also collected from different groups of people in order to investigate, compare and synthesize perspectives from each group (i.e. students, lecturer, and teaching assistant). SPSS was used to analyze quantitative data from the questionnaire, and NVivo was used to analyze qualitative data from the interviews. The findings of this study obtained from the different sources showed that the interactions within the learning environment were enhanced using this framework. Interviews with the lecturer and the teaching assistant showed that interaction was fostered, and the integration of ICT with the learning principles provided opportunities for new ways of teaching and learning. The lecturer designed learning tasks that required the participant students to search and study different learning resources, and then design group presentation on the topic of optics to explain these topics to their classmates. The lecturer also provided support and motivation for this process. In this way, the lecturer believed that he had created opportunities for the students to interact with learning resources, work in groups, discuss physics content and working processes. Data analysis of the students' interviews revealed this undergraduate ASEAN physics course was more interactive than other courses that the participant students was studying. Interaction in this learning environment occurred between students-students, students-learning materials and students-lecturer. Examples of these interactions were found in class discussion, exchange of ideas and solutions for assignments, and explaining concepts to their peers. The students involved in the study worked in groups outside of class to discuss and carry out their learning tasks. In collaboration with each other, they shared the workload among the group members in order to complete their learning tasks. Students' feedback to the questionnaire (reliability 0.7), confirmed the interview findings. T-test result of the questionnaire showed that in this course, the participant students interacted with learning resources, their classmates and their lecturer more frequently than they had in other courses.

The impact of constructivist teaching strategies on the acquisition of higher order cognition and learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Merrill, Alison Saricks

The purpose of this quasi-experimental quantitative mixed design study was to compare the effectiveness of brain-based teaching strategies versus a traditional lecture format in the acquisition of higher order cognition as determined by test scores. A second purpose was to elicit student feedback about the two teaching approaches. The design was a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design study with repeated measures on the last factor. The independent variables were type of student, teaching method, and a within group change over time. Dependent variables were a between group comparison of pre-test, post-test gain scores and a within and between group comparison of course examination scores. A convenience sample of students enrolled in medical-surgical nursing was used. One group (n=36) was made up of traditional students and the other group (n=36) consisted of second-degree students. Four learning units were included in this study. Pre- and post-tests were given on the first two units. Course examinations scores from all four units were compared. In one cohort two of the units were taught via lecture format and two using constructivist activities. These methods were reversed for the other cohort. The conceptual basis for this study derives from neuroscience and cognitive psychology. Learning is defined as the growth of new dendrites. Cognitive psychologists view learning as a constructive activity in which new knowledge is built on an internal foundation of existing knowledge. Constructivist teaching strategies are designed to stimulate the brain's natural learning ability. There was a statistically significant difference based on type of teaching strategy (t = -2.078, df = 270, p = .039, d = .25)) with higher mean scores on the examinations covering brain-based learning units. There was no statistical significance based on type of student. Qualitative data collection was conducted in an on-line forum at the end of the semester. Students had overall positive responses about the constructivist activities. Major themes were described. Constructivist strategies help bridge the gap between neurological and cognitive sciences and classroom teaching and learning. A variety of implications for nursing educators are outlined as well as directions for future research.

Empowering Students in Science through Active Learning: Voices From Inside the Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erickson, Sabrina Ann

Preparing students for success in the 21st century has shifted the focus of science education from acquiring information and knowledge to mastery of critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine teacher and student perspectives of the relationship between (a) active learning, problem solving, and achievement in science and (b) the conditions that help facilitate this environment. Adapting a social constructivist theoretical framework, high school science teachers and students were interviewed, school records analyzed, curriculum documents studied, and classes observed. The findings revealed that students were engaged with the material in an active learning environment, which led to a sense of involvement, interest, and meaningful learning. Students felt empowered to take ownership of their learning, developed the critical thinking skills necessary to solve problems independently and became aware of how they learn best, which students reported as interactive learning. Moreover, student reflections revealed that an active environment contributed to deeper understanding and higher skills through interaction and discussion, including questioning, explaining, arguing, and contemplating scientific concepts with their peers. Recommendations are for science teachers to provide opportunities for students to work actively, collaborate in groups, and discuss their ideas to develop the necessary skills for achievement and for administrators to facilitate the conditions needed for active learning to occur.

Radical constructivism: Between realism and solipsism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martínez-Delgado, Alberto

2002-11-01

This paper criticizes radical constructivism of the Glasersfeld type, pointing out some contradictions between the declared radical principles and their theoretical and practical development. These contradictions manifest themselves in a frequent oscillation between solipsism and realism, despite constructivist claims to be an anti-realist theory. The paper also points out the contradiction between the relativism of the radical constructivist principles and the constructivist exclusion of other epistemological or educational paradigms. It also disputes the originality and importance of the radical constructivist paradigm, suggesting the idea of an isomorphism between radical constructivist theory and contemplative realism. In addition, some pedagogical and scientific methodological aspects of the radical constructivist model are examined. Although radical constructivism claims to be a rational theory and advocates deductive thinking, it is argued that there is no logical deductive connection between the radical principles of constructivism and the radical constructivist ideas about scientific research and learning. The paper suggests the possibility of an ideological substratum in the construction and hegemonic success of subjective constructivism and, finally, briefly advances an alternative realist model to epistemological and educational radical constructivism.

Instructional decision making of high school science teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carver, Jeffrey S.

The instructional decision-making processes of high school science teachers have not been well established in the literature. Several models for decision-making do exist in other teaching disciplines, business, computer game programming, nursing, and some fields of science. A model that incorporates differences in science teaching that is consistent with constructivist theory as opposed to conventional science teaching is useful in the current climate of standards-based instruction that includes an inquiry-based approach to teaching science. This study focuses on three aspects of the decision-making process. First, it defines what factors, both internal and external, influence high school science teacher decision-making. Second, those factors are analyzed further to determine what instructional decision-making processes are articulated or demonstrated by the participants. Third, by analyzing the types of decisions that are made in the classroom, the classroom learning environments established as a result of those instructional decisions are studied for similarities and differences between conventional and constructivist models. While the decision-making process for each of these teachers was not clearly articulated by the teachers themselves, the patterns that establish the process were clearly exhibited by the teachers. It was also clear that the classroom learning environments that were established were, at least in part, established as a result of the instructional decisions that were made in planning and implementation of instruction. Patterns of instructional decision-making were different for each teacher as a result of primary instructional goals that were different for each teacher. There were similarities between teachers who exhibited more constructivist epistemological tendencies as well as similarities between teachers who exhibited a more conventional epistemology. While the decisions that will result from these two camps may be different, the six step process for instructional decision-making that was established during this study shows promise for use in both situations.

Qualitative Differences Between Learning Environments Using Videos in Small Groups and Whole Class Discussions: A Preliminary Study in Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mayo, Ashleigh; Sharma, Manjula D.; Muller, Derek A.

2009-08-01

Interactivity, group learning and student engagement are accepted as key features of social constructivist learning theories. The challenge is to understand the interplay between such features in different learning environments. This study focused on the qualitative differences between two interventions—small-groups and whole-class discussions. In both interventions, three short video slices on the abstract topic ‘the physics of superconductivity’ were interspersed with the different discussion styles. The video slices are based on the Bruner stages. Twenty-nine first year university physics students completed a pre-test, underwent the intervention and completed a post-test. The remainder of the data were collected from student drawings, video recordings, observer notes and facilitator feedback. Results indicate that the use of the video slices in both interventions were successful in changing students’ understandings of superconductivity. However, the small groups treatment tended to facilitate questioning, meaning-making and subsequent changes of ideas more so than the whole class discussions. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Towards a Constructivist Pedagogy for Year 12 Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheppard, Ian

2008-01-01

Constructivist pedagogies are generally not considered to support the teaching of mathematics for externally assessed examination-based courses. In large part, teachers have believed that such approaches are inefficient in covering a set syllabus. This article summarises the author's learning journey in Year 12 mathematics in 2004 where attempts…

Simulation-Based Constructivist Approach for Education Leaders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shapira-Lishchinsky, Orly

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to reflect the leadership strategies that may arise using a constructivist approach based on organizational learning. This approach involved the use of simulations that focused on ethical tensions in school principals' daily experiences, and the development of codes of ethical conduct to reduce these tensions. The…

A Constructivist-Informed Approach to Teaching Swimming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Light, Richard; Wallian, Nathalie

2008-01-01

Interest in constructivism has fueled enthusiasm for the development of games and team-sport pedagogy over the past decade, but individual sports have yet to receive the same attention. In this article we redress this oversight by suggesting that constructivist perspectives on learning can be used to develop student-centered, inquiry-based…

Constructivist Instructional Practices and Teacher Beliefs Related to Secondary Science Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Adrienne Fleurette

2017-01-01

The purpose of this mixed method research study was to examine the constructivist beliefs and instructional practices of secondary science teachers. The research also explored situations that impacted whether or not student centered instruction occurred. The study revealed science teachers held constructive beliefs pertaining to student…

Pedagogical perspectives and implicit theories of teaching: First year science teachers emerging from a constructivist science education program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dias, Michael James

Traditional, teacher-centered pedagogies dominate current teaching practice in science education despite numerous research-based assertions that promote more progressive, student-centered teaching methods. Best-practice research emerging from science education reform efforts promotes experiential, collaborative learning environments in line with the constructivist referent. Thus there is a need to identify specific teacher education program designs that will promote the utilization of constructivist theory among new teachers. This study explored the learning-to-teach process of four first-year high school teachers, all graduates of a constructivist-based science education program known as Teacher Education Environments in Mathematics and Science (TEEMS). Pedagogical perspectives and implicit theories were explored to identify common themes and their relation to the pre-service program and the teaching context. Qualitative methods were employed to gather and analyze the data. In depth, semi-structured interviews (Seidman, 1998) formed the primary data for probing the context and details of the teachers' experience as well as the personal meaning derived from first year practice. Teacher journals and teaching artifacts were utilized to validate and challenge the primary data. Through an open-coding technique (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) codes, and themes were generated from which assertions were made. The pedagogical perspectives apparent among the participants in this study emerged as six patterns in teaching method: (1) utilization of grouping strategies, (2) utilization of techniques that allow the students to help teach, (3) similar format of daily instructional strategy, (4) utilization of techniques intended to promote engagement, (5) utilization of review strategies, (6) assessment by daily monitoring and traditional tests, (7) restructuring content knowledge. Assertions from implicit theory data include: (1) Time constraints and lack of teaching experience made inquiry teaching difficult to implement for the first year teachers in this study. (2) Commitment to teaching and supportive relationships at the school helped the first year teachers negotiate a satisfying role. (3) A congruence existed between the first-year teachers' implicit theories and the social/experiential design of TEEMS. This congruence represented a narrowing of the gap between educational theory and practice. Implications for science-teacher education highlight the potential for experiential program designs to narrow the gap between educational theory and practice.

Teacher Assessment Related to the Use of Digital Media and Constructivist Learning in Primary and Secondary Education=Nastavnicke procjene upotrebe digitalnih medija i konstruktivisticke nastave u primarnom i sekundarnom obrazovanju

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matijevic, Milan; Topolovcan, Tomislav; Rajic, Višnja

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine the frequency of use and the motivation to use digital media in teaching and in the organisation of constructivist learning, as well as differences between teachers in elementary and secondary school (N = 368). The results of the study show that both subgroups of teachers only sometimes or rarely use various…

Resigned professionalism? Non-acute inpatients and resident education.

PubMed

Vanstone, Meredith; Watling, Christopher; Goldszmidt, Mark; Weijer, Charles; Lingard, Lorelei

2014-10-01

A growing group of inpatients on acute clinical teaching units have non-acute needs, yet require attention by the team. While anecdotally, these patients have inspired frustration and resource pressures in clinical settings, little is known about the ways in which they influence physician perceptions of the learning environment. This qualitative study explored residents' and attending physicians' perceptions of caring for these patients, including their educational value. Using constructivist grounded theory, we conducted seven homogeneous focus groups and three interviews with residents and attending physicians from neurology and general internal medicine. A constant comparative analytical approach was employed alongside data collection, using theoretical sampling to explore emergent themes. Residents consistently described non-acute patients as non-educational, uninteresting, but still in need of care. Some attending physicians echoed this view, while others described multiple learning opportunities presented by non-acute patients. Both groups described residents as engaging with non-acute patients in a professional capacity, but not as learners. This engagement in a professional capacity could be considered diligent disinterest, or resigned professionalism. A constructivist understanding of the dynamics which influence learning in the workplace was used to explore the reasons why the residents in our study did not recognize the learning opportunities presented by non-acute patients. Our results resonate with Billett's theory of workplace affordances, which offers an explanation as to why learners may not identify or take advantage of potential learning opportunities. Overall, our study assists our understanding of the sociocultural factors that influence learners' choices to engage with particular clinical learning opportunities.

Conceptual, Pedagogical, Cultural, and Political Dilemmas of Implementing a Constructivist Workshop Approach to Teaching Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Porath, Suzanne L.

2016-01-01

Approached as an epistemology, implementing a constructivist workshop approach to literacy can challenge the traditional paradigm of teacher-focused instruction and transform to one where students construct knowledge together and learn through active engagement in authentic reading and writing. This study illustrated how two third-grade teachers…

Experimentation with a Socio-Constructivist Process for Climate Change Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pruneau, Diane; Gravel, Helene; Bourque, Wendy; Langis, Joanne

2003-01-01

A socio-constructivist and experiential process for climate change education was experimented within two coastal communities of Eastern Canada with 39 students 13 and 14 years of age. The pedagogical process, based on local observation of climate change, Duit's conceptual change theory (1999) and experiential learning, aimed for the improvement of…

Characteristics of Using Digital Media as Predictors of Constructivist Teaching in Lower Secondary Education in Croatia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Topolovcan, Tomislav; Matijevic, Milan

2016-01-01

The aim of this research was to investigate whether particular socio-demographic characteristics of pupils in lower secondary education, their level of computer selfefficacy and motivation for using digital media in class are considered significant predictors of constructivist learning. Furthermore, the aim was to investigate the characteristics…

Some Interrelationships between Constructivist Models of Learning and Current Neurobiological Theory, with Implications for Science Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, O. Roger

1992-01-01

This paper examines how some fundamental mechanisms of nervous system activity can explain human information processing and the acquisition of knowledge and provides additional theoretical support for constructivist applications to science education reform. The implications for scientific epistemology and conceptual change processes in science…

Mindfulness in Teacher Education: A Constructivist Approach to Stress Reduction for Teacher Candidates and Their Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartigan, Barbara F.

2017-01-01

Mindfulness in teacher education, and especially early childhood special education, offers new teachers self-help methodologies that can relieve their personal stress while passing along these same strategies to the special education students in their classrooms. This study explores a constructivist approach to learning mindfulness in teacher…

A Constructivist Perspective on Teaching and Learning Mathematics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schifter, Deborah

1996-01-01

Compares two first-grade teachers' hands-on approaches to teach measurement concepts. One, a constructivist, allowed students to figure out the dimensions of a Mayflower ship outline; the other immediately showed kids how to use a yardstick to estimate a whale's dimensions. Although initially more confused, the first class got more out of their…

Pre-Service Science and Technology Teachers' Mental Images of Science Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duban, Nil Yildiz

2013-01-01

Problem Statement: The constructivist reorganization of the elementary education programs in Turkey has revealed the importance of training skilled teachers who are familiar with both constructivist theory and the educational programs. In this way, teachers can adapt to their new roles, learn how to guide students, and prepare the best learning…

Applications of social constructivist learning theories in knowledge translation for healthcare professionals: a scoping review.

PubMed

Thomas, Aliki; Menon, Anita; Boruff, Jill; Rodriguez, Ana Maria; Ahmed, Sara

2014-05-06

Use of theory is essential for advancing the science of knowledge translation (KT) and for increasing the likelihood that KT interventions will be successful in reducing existing research-practice gaps in health care. As a sociological theory of knowledge, social constructivist theory may be useful for informing the design and evaluation of KT interventions. As such, this scoping review explored the extent to which social constructivist theory has been applied in the KT literature for healthcare professionals. Searches were conducted in six databases: Ovid MEDLINE (1948 - May 16, 2011), Ovid EMBASE, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycInfo, and AMED. Inclusion criteria were: publications from all health professions, research methodologies, as well as conceptual and theoretical papers related to KT. To be included in the review, key words such as constructivism, social constructivism, or social constructivist theories had to be included within the title or abstract. Papers that discussed the use of social constructivist theories in the context of undergraduate learning in academic settings were excluded from the review. An analytical framework of quantitative (numerical) and thematic analysis was used to examine and combine study findings. Of the 514 articles screened, 35 papers published between 1992 and 2011 were deemed eligible and included in the review. This review indicated that use of social constructivist theory in the KT literature was limited and haphazard. The lack of justification for the use of theory continues to represent a shortcoming of the papers reviewed. Potential applications and relevance of social constructivist theory in KT in general and in the specific studies were not made explicit in most papers. For the acquisition, expression and application of knowledge in practice, there was emphasis on how the social constructivist theory supports clinicians in expressing this knowledge in their professional interactions. This scoping review was the first to examine use of social constructivism in KT studies. While the links between social constructivism and KT have not been fully explored, the Knowledge to Action framework has strong constructivist underpinnings that can be used in moving forward within the broader KT enterprise.

Applications of social constructivist learning theories in knowledge translation for healthcare professionals: a scoping review

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Use of theory is essential for advancing the science of knowledge translation (KT) and for increasing the likelihood that KT interventions will be successful in reducing existing research-practice gaps in health care. As a sociological theory of knowledge, social constructivist theory may be useful for informing the design and evaluation of KT interventions. As such, this scoping review explored the extent to which social constructivist theory has been applied in the KT literature for healthcare professionals. Methods Searches were conducted in six databases: Ovid MEDLINE (1948 – May 16, 2011), Ovid EMBASE, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycInfo, and AMED. Inclusion criteria were: publications from all health professions, research methodologies, as well as conceptual and theoretical papers related to KT. To be included in the review, key words such as constructivism, social constructivism, or social constructivist theories had to be included within the title or abstract. Papers that discussed the use of social constructivist theories in the context of undergraduate learning in academic settings were excluded from the review. An analytical framework of quantitative (numerical) and thematic analysis was used to examine and combine study findings. Results Of the 514 articles screened, 35 papers published between 1992 and 2011 were deemed eligible and included in the review. This review indicated that use of social constructivist theory in the KT literature was limited and haphazard. The lack of justification for the use of theory continues to represent a shortcoming of the papers reviewed. Potential applications and relevance of social constructivist theory in KT in general and in the specific studies were not made explicit in most papers. For the acquisition, expression and application of knowledge in practice, there was emphasis on how the social constructivist theory supports clinicians in expressing this knowledge in their professional interactions. Conclusions This scoping review was the first to examine use of social constructivism in KT studies. While the links between social constructivism and KT have not been fully explored, the Knowledge to Action framework has strong constructivist underpinnings that can be used in moving forward within the broader KT enterprise. PMID:24885925

Virtual collaboration in the online educational setting: a concept analysis.

PubMed

Breen, Henny

2013-01-01

This study was designed to explore the concept of virtual collaboration within the context of an online learning environment in an academic setting. Rodgers' method of evolutionary concept analysis was used to provide a contextual view of the concept to identify attributes, antecedents, and consequences of virtual collaboration. Commonly used terms to describe virtual collaboration are collaborative and cooperative learning, group work, group interaction, group learning, and teamwork. A constructivist pedagogy, group-based process with a shared purpose, support, and web-based technology is required for virtual collaboration to take place. Consequences of virtual collaboration are higher order thinking and learning to work with others. A comprehensive definition of virtual collaboration is offered as an outcome of this analysis. Clarification of virtual collaboration prior to using it as a pedagogical tool in the online learning environment will enhance nursing education with the changes in nursing curriculum being implemented today. Further research is recommended to describe the developmental stages of the collaborative process among nursing students in online education and how virtual collaboration facilitates collaboration in practice. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Rate of Learning Models, Mental Models, and Item Response Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pritchard, David E.; Lee, Y.; Bao, L.

2006-12-01

We present three learning models that make different assumptions about how the rate of a student's learning depends on the amount that they know already. These are motivated by the mental models of Tabula Rasa, Constructivist, and Tutoring theories. These models predict the postscore for a given prescore after a given period of instruction. Constructivist models show a close connection with Item Response Theory. Comparison with data from both Hake and MIT shows that the Tabula Rasa models not only fit incomparably better, but fit the MIT data within error across a wide range of pretest scores. We discuss the implications of this finding.

[Teaching practices and learning strategies in health careers].

PubMed

Carrasco Z, Constanza; Pérez V, Cristhian; Torres A, Graciela; Fasce H, Eduardo

2016-09-01

Medical Education, according to the constructivist education paradigm, puts students as the protagonists of the teaching and learning process. It demands changes in the practice of teaching. However, it is unclear whether this new model is coherent with the teachers’ ways to cope with learning. To analyze the relationship between teaching practices and learning strategies among teachers of health careers in Chilean universities. The Teaching Practices Questionnaire and Learning Strategies Inventory of Schmeck were applied to 200 teachers aged 24 to 72 years (64% females). Teachers use different types of teaching practices. They commonly use deep and elaborative learning strategies. A multiple regression analysis showed that learning strategies had a 13% predictive value to identify student-centered teaching, but they failed to predict teacher-centered teaching. Teaching practices and learning strategies of teachers are related. Teachers frequently select constructivist model strategies, using different teaching practices in their work.

Can Virtual Museums Motivate Students? Toward a Constructivist Learning Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Katz, James E.; Halpern, Daniel

2015-12-01

This study aims to assess the effectiveness of immersive environments that have been implemented by museums to attract new visitors. Based on the frameworks introduced by telepresence and media richness theories, and following a constructivist-based learning approach, we argue that the greater the similarity of an online museum experience is to its physical counterpart, the more positive will be the observer's perception of the collection. We reason that the similarity would lead online visitors to develop greater cognitive involvement which in turn will produce more positive attitudes toward the collection. In support of this argument, we present the results of a comparative study in which 565 participants were exposed randomly to four different exhibitions: two-dimensional collections of art and aircraft museums and three-dimensional tours of similar museums. Results indicate that whereas 3D tours have a strong effect on users' intentions to visit the real museum, cognitive involvement and sense of presence mediate the association between these variables. In terms of managerial implications, our study shows that if educational professionals want to stimulate their students to visit museums, 3D tours appear to be more effective for engaging learners through a realistic-looking environment. By offering richer perceptual cues and multimodal feedback (e.g., users can view 3D objects from multiple viewpoints or zoom in/out the objects), the study suggests that participants may increase their reasoning process and become more interested in cultural content.

Students' approaches to learning in clinical interprofessional context.

PubMed

Hylin, Uffe; Lonka, Kirsti; Ponzer, Sari

2011-01-01

Health care professionals are supposed to work in teams. Students in health care need to learn how to collaborate during their undergraduate education. Interprofessional learning environments, where collaboration is necessary, may be differently accepted by students depending on their approach to learning. We investigated health care students' evaluations of interprofessional clinical training in relation to their study orientations. The participants were 369 students (40 occupational therapy-, 85 medical-, 52 physiotherapy-, and 192 nursing students) attending an IPE course at a Swedish University Hospital. Data were collected by questionnaires measuring orientations to studying and attitudes towards the clinical training and the IPE concept before and after the training. The response rate was 77 %. Study groups were formed by a cluster analysis on the basis of the students' learning orientations. Three clusters were found: Low collaboration-, Collaborative Constructivist-, and Cookbook groups. These clusters were related to different professions and how students perceived their interprofessional learning environment. Study orientations appear to play a role in the way students evaluate interprofessional training. This should be taken into account in instruction. Students with a 'Cookbook' approach to learning showed an increased understanding of interprofessional collaboration after the course.

Designing and Experimenting of English Instructional Material for Facilitating Constructivist Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharma, Ritu

2011-01-01

Background: Constructivism has emerged as one of the greatest influences on the practice of education in the last twenty-five years. Teachers have embraced constructivist-based pedagogy with an enthusiasm that is rare in these days of quick fixes and a shopping mall approach to school improvement. For many teachers, the focus on constructing…

Rhythmic Instruction from Square One: A Constructivist Teacher and Her Metronome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Beth Ann

2012-01-01

Adhering to a constructivist approach, this teacher focused on problem solving and group discussion as she initiated a study of traditional notation. She began with the metronome to make the steady beat less abstract for those students who still learn best through concrete operations. The students were challenged to match magnets of various…

An Action Research on Employing Constructivist Multi-Assessment Strategy in Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gündogdu, Kerim

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of utilizing the multi-assessment strategy through a constructivist learning atmosphere with regard to perceptions of the pre-service teachers. The participants were 98 third year (junior) pre-service teachers attending to classroom management course in a public university in Turkey.…

Wolff-Michael Roth's passibility: at the limits of the constructivist metaphor: a book review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brendel, Michelle

2014-12-01

Wolff-Michael Roth deconstructs the preeminent role conceded to constructivism in Science Education and demonstrates how we learn and know through pain, suffering, love or passion. This review explores his book "Passibility: At the Limits of the Constructivist Metaphor" through the eyes of an outsider to the world of science education.

Determining US Workers' Training: History and Constructivist Paradigm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Altman, Brian A.

2009-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to review two accounts of the history of workplace learning and training in the USA that emphasize issues of power and control in the determination of what training occurs, and place these issues at the center of their analyses. Design/methodology/approach: The two texts are reviewed and a constructivist paradigm…

Applying Constructivist and Objectivist Learning Theories in the Design of a Web-based Course: Implications for Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moallem, Mahnaz

2001-01-01

Provides an overview of the process of designing and developing a Web-based course using instructional design principles and models, including constructivist and objectivist theories. Explains the process of implementing an instructional design model in designing a Web-based undergraduate course and evaluates the model based on course evaluations.…

Toward a Pragmatic Discourse of Constructivism: Reflections on Lessons from Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gordon, Mordechai

2009-01-01

In the past few decades, a constructivist discourse has emerged as a very powerful model for explaining how knowledge is produced in the world, as well as how students learn. Constructivists believe that what is deemed knowledge is always informed by a particular perspective and shaped by various implicit value judgments. However, there is an…

"Me? Teach Science?" Exploring EC-4 Pre-Service Teachers' Self Efficacy in an Inquiry-Based Constructivist Physics Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Narayan, Ratna; Lamp, David

2010-01-01

In this qualitative and interpretive study, we investigated factors that influenced elementary preservice teachers' self-efficacy in a constructivist, inquiry-based physics class. Bandura's (1977) theory of social learning was used as a basis to examine preservice teacher's self-efficacy. Participants included 70 female EC-4 preservice teachers…

Toward a Post-Constructivist Ethics in/of Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roth, Wolff-Michael

2013-01-01

Constructivist epistemologies focus on ethics as a system of values in the mind--even when previously co-constructed in a social context--against which social agents compare the actions that they mentally plan before performing them. This approach is problematic, as it forces a wedge between thought and action, body and mind, universal and…

Does alignment of constructivist teaching, curriculum, and assessment strategies promote meaningful learning?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jimarez, Teresa

Despite our national efforts to attract more students to the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, the number of students continues to be small. Empirical studies have suggested that in order to actively engage students in the science learning processes, lessons need to be designed which consider student prior experiences and provide a sound curriculum, within an environment promoting social interaction---that is, allowing for sharing and negotiation of those ideas which promote reflective thinking. These premises require an embedded assessment system that continuously provides feedback to both student and teacher. This technique allows adaptation and modification of lessons to better facilitate conceptual understanding. This study focused on the use of constructivist strategies that, when aligned, promoted conceptual understanding while facilitating development of science process skills. Skill development leads to meaningful learning, known to promote a change of attitude toward science. A mixed research design embedded in a case study approach was used to understand the complexity of the variables examined in this study. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection were used to strengthen the validity and interpretation of the findings. Students from one of three ninth-grade physical science classes were selected for this study. The students numbered 29, 13 boys and 16 girls; the majority of these students were of Hispanic background. The analysis of data suggested that the use of constructivist strategies promotes conceptual understanding of science concepts and development of science process skills and a change of attitude towards science. This study concluded that selecting teaching and multiple assessment strategies is vital to engage students in science careers. Due to the limited nature of this case study, the researcher recommends a replication or followup with a different teacher and school, including a control group and student interviews to add validity to student written pieces of work.

Aids to Computer-Based Multimedia Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mayer, Richard E.; Moreno, Roxana

2002-01-01

Presents a cognitive theory of multimedia learning that draws on dual coding theory, cognitive load theory, and constructivist learning theory and derives some principles of instructional design for fostering multimedia learning. These include principles of multiple representation, contiguity, coherence, modality, and redundancy. (SLD)

Students' beliefs, attitudes, and conceptual change in a traditional and a constructivistic high school physics classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adams, April Dean

In this study, the relationships between student beliefs about the nature of science, student attitudes, and conceptual change about the nature of forces were investigated within a traditional and within a constructivistic high school physics classroom. Students in both classrooms were honors students taking a first year high school physics course and were primarily white and middle to upper SES. Students in the traditional classroom were all high ability juniors, and physics instruction was integrated with pre-calculus. Students in the constructivistic classroom were a mixture of juniors and seniors. Due to the interrelated nature of these factors and the complexity of their interactions, a naturalistic inquiry design was chosen. The data sources included videotape of 7-9 weeks of instruction; analysis of the videotapes using the Secondary Teacher Analysis Matrix (Gallagher & Parker, 1995); field notes; pretest/posttest assessment with the Force Concept Inventory (Hestenes, Wells, & Swackhammer, 1992); student responses from the Views on Science-Technology-Society questionnaire (Aikenhead & Ryan, 1992), the Questionnaire for the Assessment of a Science Course (Chiappetta, 1995), and the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (Taylor, Fraser, & White, 1994); student interviews; and teacher interviews. In the traditional classroom, (a) students did not think that physics was relevant to everyday experiences; (b) high conceptual change students were more likely to have an angular world view (Cobern, 1993) and have views more similar to the teacher's about the nature of science; and (c) high conceptual change students were able to develop an internally consistent understanding of the content; however, that content appeared to be isolated knowledge in some students. In the constructivistic classroom, (a) students saw physics as relevant and useful; (b) there was no difference in world view or agreement with the teacher's views on the nature of science between high and low conceptual change students; (c) students appreciated the importance of empirical evidence; and (d) low conceptual change students had low classroom engagement. Mean gains in conceptual change were larger for the traditional classroom.

A Joyful Classroom Learning System with Robot Learning Companion for Children to Learn Mathematics Multiplication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wei, Chun-Wang; Hung, I-Chun; Lee, Ling; Chen, Nian-Shing

2011-01-01

This research demonstrates the design of a Joyful Classroom Learning System (JCLS) with flexible, mobile and joyful features. The theoretical foundations of this research include the experiential learning theory, constructivist learning theory and joyful learning. The developed JCLS consists of the robot learning companion (RLC), sensing input…

A safe place with space for learning: Experiences from an interprofessional training ward.

PubMed

Hallin, Karin; Kiessling, Anna

2016-01-01

Interprofessional learning in a real ward context effectively increases collaborative and professional competence among students. However, less is known on the processes behind this. The aim of this study was to explore medical, nurse, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy students' perspectives on the process of their own learning at an interprofessional training ward (IPTW). We performed a qualitative content analysis on free-text answers of 333 student questionnaires from the years 2004 to 2011. Two main themes emerged: first, students found that the IPTW provided an enriching learning environment--a safe place with space. It included authentic and relevant patients, well-composed and functioning student teams, competent and supportive supervisors, and adjusted ward structures to support learning. Second, they developed an awareness of their own development with faith in the future--from chaos to clarity. It included personal, professional, and interprofessional development towards a comprehensive view of practice and a faith in their ability to work as professionals in the future. Our findings are discussed with a social constructivist perspective. This study suggests that when an IPTW provides a supportive and permissive learning environment with possibilities to interact with one another--a safe place with space--it enables students to move from insecurity to faith in their abilities--from chaos to clarity. However, if the learning environment is impaired, the students' development could be halted.

Achieving meaningful mathematics literacy for students with learning disabilities. Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt.

PubMed

Goldman, S R; Hasselbring, T S

1997-01-01

In this article we consider issues relevant to the future of mathematics instruction and achievement for students with learning disabilities. The starting point for envisioning the future is the changing standards for mathematics learning and basic mathematical literacy. We argue that the shift from behaviorist learning theories to constructivist and social constructivist theories (see Rivera, this series) provides an opportunity to develop and implement a hybrid model of mathematics instruction. The hybrid model we propose embeds, or situates, important skill learning in meaningful contexts. We discuss some examples of instructional approaches to complex mathematical problem solving that make use of meaningful contexts. Evaluation data on these approaches have yielded positive and encouraging results for students with learning disabilities as well as general education students. Finally, we discuss various ways in which technology is important for realizing hybrid instructional models in mathematics.

Students' Perceptions and Supervisors' Rating as Assessments of Interactive-Constructivist Science Teaching in Elementary School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shymansky, James A.; Yore, Larry D.; Henriques, Laura; Dunkhase, John A.; Bancroft, Jean

This study took place within the context of a four-year local systemic reform effort collaboratively undertaken by the Science Education Center at the University of Iowa and the Iowa City Community School District. The goal of the project was to move teachers towards an interactive-constructivist model of teaching and learning that assumes a…

Using Social Impact Games (SIGS) to Support Constructivist Learning: Creating a Foundation for Effective Use in the Secondary Social Studies Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ray, Beverly; Faure, Caroline; Kelle, Fay

2013-01-01

This paper examines how Social Impact Games (SIGs) can provide important instructional support in secondary social studies classrooms. When used within the framework of the constructivist teaching philosophy and teaching methods, as recommended by the NCSS (2010), SIGs have the potential to hone critical thinking, collaboration, and problem…

Students' Conceptual Knowledge of Limits in Calculus: A Two-Part Constructivist Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Margaret Smolinka

2013-01-01

This case study investigated students' conceptual knowledge of limits in calculus by implementing semi-structured interviews. The constructivist learning principles of Piaget and Inhelder as well as theories of understanding by Skemp guided the study. In Phase I, a pilot study was conducted with 15 students from a Calculus III class. By using…

Using Writing as a Constructivist Instructional Tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Narayanan, M.

2006-12-01

Researchers in the area of cognitive science and educational psychology have shown that instructors who encourage student writing are actually helping in motivating a reluctant pupil. It has also been reported that writing indirectly rewards an individual with dynamic interest. Furthermore, it is believed that writing strengthens the self-confidence of a lethargic learner. (Kosakowski, 1998). All in all, promoting writing helps and supports learners cultivate a positive attitude toward the subject matter in question. The constructivist approach promotes a learning paradigm and helps individuals learn and understand by "constructing" knowledge. Learners are effectively encouraged to generate and build their own knowledge base. Learners document progress by constructing new concepts based on previously gained knowledge. The role of the teacher is actually to facilitate the creation of a learning environment. The constructivist approach when used in the classroom enables the students to become more active, independent thinkers of knowledge. Education World writer Gloria Chaika (Chaika, 2000) states that "Talent is important, but practice creates the solid base that allows that unique talent to soar. Like athletes, writers learn by doing. Good writing requires the same kind of dedicated practice that athletes put in. Young writers often lack the support they need to practice writing and develop their talent to the fullest, though." The author has successfully utilized some of these principles and techniques in a senior level course he teaches. He has encouraged students to try to solve problems their own way and has asked them to observe, document, assess and evaluate the results. In the classroom, the author takes the role of a coach and helps the students approach the problem with a different viewpoint. Eventually the students document their conclusions in a page-long essay. This type of writing assignment not only builds critical thinking abilities but also generates improved written communication skills among learners. References: Kosakowski, John, (1998). The Benefits of Information Technology. ERIC Digests; Technology Integration; Technology Role, ED0-IR-98-04 Chaika, Gloria (2000),Encourage Student Writing: Published on the Web, Education World http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech042.shtml

The effectiveness of using multimedia computer simulations coupled with social constructivist pedagogy in a college introductory physics classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chou, Chiu-Hsiang

Electricity and Magnetism is legendarily considered a subject incomprehensible to the students in the college introductory level. From a social constructivist perspective, learners are encouraged to assess the quantity and the quality of prior knowledge in a subject domain and to co-construct shared knowledge and understanding by implementing and building on each other's ideas. They become challenged by new data and perspectives thus stimulate a reconceptualization of knowledge and to be actively engaged in discovering new meanings based on experiences grounded in the real-world phenomena they are expected to learn. This process is categorized as a conceptual change learning environment and can facilitate learning of E & M. Computer simulations are an excellent tool to assist the teacher and leaner in achieving these goals and were used in this study. This study examined the effectiveness of computer simulations within a conceptual change learning environment and compared it to more lecture-centered, traditional ways of teaching E & M. An experimental and control group were compared and the following differences were observed. Statistic analyses were done with ANOVA (F-test). The results indicated that the treatment group significantly outperformed the control group on the achievement test, F(1,54) = 12.34, p <.05 and the treatment group had a higher rate of improvement than the control group on two subscales: Isolation of Variables and Abstract Transformation. The results from the Maryland Physics Expectations Survey (MPEX) showed that the treatment students became more field independent and were aware of more fundamental role played by physics concepts in complex problem solving. The protocol analysis of structured interviews revealed that students in the treatment group tended to visualize the problem from different aspects and articulated what they thought in a more scientific approach. Responses to the instructional evaluation questionnaire indicated overwhelming positive ratings of appropriateness and instructional effectiveness of computer simulation instruction. In conclusion, the CSI developed and evaluated in this study provided opportunities for students to refine their preconceptions and practice using new understandings. It suggests substantial promise for the computer simulation in a classroom environment.

Changing the attitudes and practices of professional developers through a constructivist model: The Technical Assistance Academy for Mathematics and Science Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charles, Karen Jungblut

For much of this century, mathematics and science have been taught in a didactic manner that is characterized by a passive student and a lecturing teacher. Since the late eighties national standards have encouraged professional developers specializing in mathematics and science education to deliver the messages of inquiry-based learning, active student engagement, and learner-constructed knowledge to the teachers they support. Follow-up studies of professional development programs, however, found that telling teachers was no more effective than telling students. Information transmitted in a passive setting was not transferring into effective classroom practices. This phenomenological case study was conducted to determine the effects of a constructivist-oriented professional development experience, the Technical Assistance Academy, in changing the practices and attitudes of mathematics and science professional developers regarding the use of constructivist strategies in workshop design. This study focused on 45 professional developers who participated in the Technical Assistance Academy. Data from a 2 1/2 year period were collected from session evaluations, journal reflections, a follow-up interview, and site visits that included observations and collaborative planning. Content analysis procedures were used to find common themes among the data. Use of new skills developed as a result of participation in the Technical Assistance Academy was determined using the Concerns-Based Adoption Model Levels of Use framework (Hall & Hord, 1987). Changes in attitude were determined by examining participants' journal reflections related to common constructivist themes such as those discussed by Fosnot (1996c): learning is developmental, disequilibrium and reflection facilitate learning, and the construction of "big ideas" results from the opportunity to struggle with new information. Results verified that all 45 participants demonstrated some level of use, and that most were in the 3 highest of 5 levels of use: mechanical (11%), routine (16%), refinement (27%), integration (24%), and renewal (22%). Participants reported valuing (a) active engagement necessary for the developmental progression of learning to occur, (b) their own disequilibrium, (c) opportunity to reflect, and they acknowledged a clearer understanding and appreciation of the big ideas in workshop design such as networking, collaboration, content and staff development standards, equity, and community building. Results support the conclusion that learning about constructivist instructional strategies in a long-term program that models them positively affects participants' attitudes and enhances their use of similar strategies in the design of professional development experiences for others. Knowledge developed in a constructivist setting transferred into effective facilitator practices.

Bringing Action Reflection Learning into Action Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rimanoczy, Isabel; Brown, Carole

2008-01-01

This paper introduces Action Reflection Learning (ARL) as a learning methodology that can contribute to, and enrich, the practice of action learning programs. It describes the Swedish constructivist origins of the model, its evolution and the coded responses that resulted from researching the practice. The paper presents the resulting sixteen ARL…

"Learning to Like Learning": An Appreciative Inquiry into Emotions in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naude, L.; van den Bergh, T. J.; Kruger, I. S.

2014-01-01

Various learning philosophies, such as humanistic, constructivist, and socio-cultural approaches, have accentuated the importance of emotion in learning. In this article, we reviewed these approaches and explored the affective dimensions of learning. We conducted focus group and individual interviews with a group of female students in the…

Strong Community, Deep Learning: Exploring the Link

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chapman, Carole; Ramondt, Leonie; Smiley, Glenn

2005-01-01

This explores the constructivist understanding that shared practitioner research in collaborative online spaces leads to deeper learning. The research was developed within the context of building the National College of School Leaderships (NCSLs) online learning communities. A community and a learning scale, both emerging through grounded…

Impact of Technological Advancement on Pedagogy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abik, Mounia; Ajhoun, Rachida; Ensias, Lerma

2012-01-01

To improve the quality of learning, pedagogues have prescribed different pedagogical approaches (constructivist, cognitivist...). However, the effective implementation of the majority of these approaches has not been possible only after the advent of new forms of learning (E_learning, M-learning...). These forms are closely related to…

Virtual Learning Environment in Continuing Education for Nursing in Oncology: an Experimental Study.

PubMed

das Graças Silva Matsubara, Maria; De Domenico, Edvane Birelo Lopes

2016-12-01

Nurses working in oncology require continuing education and nowadays distance education is a possibility. To compare learning outcomes of the professionals participating in classroom learning versus distance learning; describing the sociodemographic characteristics and digital fluency of participants; comparing learning outcomes with independent variables; assessing the adequacy of educational practices in Virtual Environment Moodle Learning through the constructivist online learning environment survey. An experimental, randomized controlled study; conducted at the A C Camargo Cancer Center, located in São Paulo, SP, Brazil. The study included 97 nurses, with average training of 1 to 2 years. A control group (n = 44) had face to face training and the experiment group (n = 53) had training by distance learning, both with identical program content. The dependent variable was the result of learning, measured by applying a pre-assessment questionnaire and post-intervention for both groups. The sociodemographic and digital fluency data were uniform among the groups. The performance of both groups was statistically significant (p 0.005), and the control group had a greater advantage (40.4 %). Distance education has proven to be an effective alternative for training nurses, especially when they have more complex knowledge, more experience in the area and institutional time. Distance Education may be a possibility for the training of nurses for work in oncology. The association of age, training time and the institution, and the experience in Oncology interfered in the performance of both groups.

An Extension to the Constructivist Coding Hypothesis as a Learning Model for Selective Feedback when the Base Rate Is High

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ghaffarzadegan, Navid; Stewart, Thomas R.

2011-01-01

Elwin, Juslin, Olsson, and Enkvist (2007) and Henriksson, Elwin, and Juslin (2010) offered the constructivist coding hypothesis to describe how people code the outcomes of their decisions when availability of feedback is conditional on the decision. They provided empirical evidence only for the 0.5 base rate condition. This commentary argues that…

Use of Technology-Assisted Techniques of Mind Mapping and Concept Mapping in Science Education: A Constructivist Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balim, Ali Günay

2013-01-01

The study aims to investigate the effects of using mind maps and concept maps on students' learning of concepts in science courses. A total of 51 students participated in this study which used a quasi-experimental research design with pre-test/post-test control groups. The constructivist-inspired study was carried out in the sixth-grade science…

Meaningful Learning in the Cooperative Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharan, Yael

2015-01-01

Meaningful learning is based on more than what teachers transmit; it promotes the construction of knowledge out of learners' experience, feelings and exchanges with other learners. This educational view is based on the constructivist approach to learning and the co-operative learning approach. Researchers and practitioners in various…

Affect and Learning: An Exploratory Look into the Role of Affect in Learning with AutoTutor

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Craig, Scotty D.; Graesser, Arthur C.; Sullins, Jeremiah; Gholson, Barry

2004-01-01

The role that affective states play in learning was investigated from the perspective of a constructivist learning framework. We observed six different affect states (frustration, boredom, flow, confusion, eureka and neutral) that potentially occur during the process of learning introductory computer literacy with AutoTutor, an intelligent…

Constructing Media Artifacts in a Social Constructivist Environment to Enhance Students' Environmental Awareness and Activism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karahan, Engin; Roehrig, Gillian

2015-01-01

Current science education reforms and policy documents highlight the importance of environmental awareness and perceived need for activism. As "environmental problems are socially constructed in terms of their conceptualized effects on individuals, groups, other living things and systems research based on constructivist principles provides…

Academically At-Risk Students' Perceptions of a Constructivist High School Biology Pedagogy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sweeney, Heidi

2010-01-01

Successful completion of the Living Environment, one state's high school biology course, is a state graduation requirement. The academically at-risk students enrolled in one suburban public high school had been disproportionately unsuccessful at achieving a passing grade in this course. In response, a constructivist biology curriculum was created…

Cognitive Load Theory vs. Constructivist Approaches: Which Best Leads to Efficient, Deep Learning?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vogel-Walcutt, J. J.; Gebrim, J. B.; Bowers, C.; Carper, T. M.; Nicholson, D.

2011-01-01

Computer-assisted learning, in the form of simulation-based training, is heavily focused upon by the military. Because computer-based learning offers highly portable, reusable, and cost-efficient training options, the military has dedicated significant resources to the investigation of instructional strategies that improve learning efficiency…

Emerging Vocabulary Learning: From a Perspective of Activities Facilitated by Mobile Devices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hu, Zengning

2013-01-01

This paper examines the current mobile vocabulary learning practice to discover how far mobile devices are being used to support vocabulary learning. An activity-centered perspective is undertaken, with the consideration of new practice against existing theories of learning activities including behaviorist activities, constructivist activities,…

Spicing Up Information Literacy Tutorials: Interactive Class Activities that Worked

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zdravkovic, Neda

2010-01-01

Constructivist learning theories promote students' engagement as one of the key factors in successful learning and knowledge building. Research indicates that the short attention span of adult learners, their need to "learn-by-doing," interact and multitask in the learning process can be accommodated with a positive outcome by…

Longitudinal Analysis of Teacher Education: The Case of History Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martell, Christopher Charles

2011-01-01

In the United States, learning history has traditionally been rooted in a transmission-oriented view of teaching and learning. From this perspective, teachers transfer their historical knowledge to their students. Alternatively, this dissertation positions itself within constructivist theories of teaching and learning, where learning is a process…

Measuring the impact of informal science education in zoos on environmental knowledge, attitudes and behaviors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilson, Christopher David

Despite the emphasis in modern zoos and aquaria on conservation and environmental education, we know very little about what people learn in these settings, and even less about how they learn it. Research on informal learning in settings such as zoos has suffered from a lack of theory, with few connections being made to theories of learning in formal settings, or to theories regarding the nature of the educational goals. This dissertation consists of three parts: the development and analysis of a test instrument designed to measure constructs of environmental learning in zoos; the application of the test instrument along with qualitative data collection in an evaluation designed to measure the effectiveness of a zoo's education programs; and the analysis of individually matched pre- and post-test data to examine how environmental learning takes place, with respect to the constructivist view of learning, as well as theories of environmental learning and the barriers to pro-environmental behavior. The test instrument consisted of 40 items split into four scales: environmental knowledge, attitudes toward the environment, support for conservation, and environmentally responsible behavior. A model-driven approach was used to develop the instrument, which was analyzed using Item Response Theory and the Rasch dichotomous measurement model. After removal of two items with extremely high difficulty, the instrument was found to be unidimensional and sufficiently reliable. The results of the IRT analyses are interpreted with respect to a modern validity framework. The evaluation portion of this study applied this test instrument to measuring the impact of zoo education programs on 750 fourth through seventh grade students. Qualitative data was collected from program observations and teacher surveys, and a comparison was also made between programs that took place at the zoo, and those that took place in the school classroom, thereby asking questions regarding the role of setting in environmental education. It was found that students in both program types significantly increased their environmental knowledge as a result of the program, but only students in the school-based programs significantly improved their attitudes towards the environment. Analyzing by grade, seventh grade students scored significantly lower on all aspects of the test than the younger students, suggesting a detrimental effect of novel settings on learning in adolescents. Teacher survey data suggests that teachers place great importance on how the education program would fit in with their school-based curriculum, but did little to integrate the program into their classroom teaching. Observations of the programs revealed some logistical issues, and some concerns regarding the zoo instructors' use of curriculum materials. Analyzing the test data from a constructivist perspective revealed that students with high incoming environmental attitudes had significant increases in environmental knowledge. That is, students with positive attitudes towards the environment are predisposed to engage in learning about the environment. Some gender-specific findings are also discussed.

The Insidious Nature of "Hard-Core" Alternative Conceptions: Implications for the Constructivist Research Programme of Patterns in High School Students' and Pre-Service Teachers' Thinking about Ionisation Energy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taber, Keith S.; Tan, Kim Chwee Daniel

2011-01-01

The present study contributes to the constructivist research programme (RP) into learning science by comparing patterns in responses from two groups of learners--senior high school students and pre-service teachers--in the same educational context (Singapore), to a diagnostic instrument relating to the topic of ionisation energies. This topic is…

Do Science Teachers Distinguish Between Their own Learning and the Learning of Their Students?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brauer, Heike; Wilde, Matthias

2018-02-01

Learning beliefs influence learning and teaching. For this reason, teachers and teacher educators need to be aware of them. To support students' knowledge construction, teachers must develop appropriate learning and teaching beliefs. Teachers appear to have difficulties when analysing students' learning. This seems to be due to the inability to differentiate the beliefs about their students' learning from those about their own learning. Both types of beliefs seem to be intertwined. This study focuses on whether pre-service teachers' beliefs about their own learning are identical to those about their students' learning. Using a sample of pre-service teachers, we measured general beliefs about "constructivist" and "transmissive" learning and science-specific beliefs about "connectivity" and "taking pre-concepts into account". We also analysed the development of these four beliefs during teacher professionalisation by comparing beginning and advanced pre-service teachers. Our results show that although pre-service teachers make the distinction between their own learning and the learning of their students for the general tenets of constructivist and transmissive learning, there is no significant difference for science-specific beliefs. The beliefs pre-service teachers hold about their students' science learning remain closely tied to their own.

Does reviewing lead to better learning and decision making? Answers from a randomized stock market experiment.

PubMed

Wessa, Patrick; Holliday, Ian E

2012-01-01

The literature is not univocal about the effects of Peer Review (PR) within the context of constructivist learning. Due to the predominant focus on using PR as an assessment tool, rather than a constructivist learning activity, and because most studies implicitly assume that the benefits of PR are limited to the reviewee, little is known about the effects upon students who are required to review their peers. Much of the theoretical debate in the literature is focused on explaining how and why constructivist learning is beneficial. At the same time these discussions are marked by an underlying presupposition of a causal relationship between reviewing and deep learning. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether the writing of PR feedback causes students to benefit in terms of: perceived utility about statistics, actual use of statistics, better understanding of statistical concepts and associated methods, changed attitudes towards market risks, and outcomes of decisions that were made. We conducted a randomized experiment, assigning students randomly to receive PR or non-PR treatments and used two cohorts with a different time span. The paper discusses the experimental design and all the software components that we used to support the learning process: Reproducible Computing technology which allows students to reproduce or re-use statistical results from peers, Collaborative PR, and an AI-enhanced Stock Market Engine. The results establish that the writing of PR feedback messages causes students to experience benefits in terms of Behavior, Non-Rote Learning, and Attitudes, provided the sequence of PR activities are maintained for a period that is sufficiently long.

From Information Center to Discovery System: Next Step for Libraries?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marcum, James W.

2001-01-01

Proposes a discovery system model to guide technology integration in academic libraries that fuses organizational learning, systems learning, and knowledge creation techniques with constructivist learning practices to suggest possible future directions for digital libraries. Topics include accessing visual and continuous media; information…

Critique in Academic Disciplines and Active Learning of Academic Content

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ford, Michael J.

2010-01-01

This article argues for increased theoretical specificity in the active learning process. Whereas constructivist learning emphasizes construction of meaning, the process articulated here complements meaning construction with disciplinary critique. This process is an implication of how disciplinary communities generate new knowledge claims, which…

Connecting Authentic Activities with Multimedia to Enhance Teaching and Learning, an Exemplar from Scottish History

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hillis, Peter

2010-01-01

Much of the current focus on maximizing the potential of ICT to enhance teaching and learning is on learning tasks rather than the technology. These learning tasks increasingly employ a constructivist, problem-based methodology especially one based around authentic learning. The problem-based nature of history provides fertile ground for this…

Computer-Supported Team-Based Learning: The Impact of Motivation, Enjoyment and Team Contributions on Learning Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gomez, Elizabeth Avery; Wu, Dezhi; Passerini, Katia

2010-01-01

The benefits of teamwork and collaboration have long been advocated by many educational theories, such as constructivist and social learning models. Among the various applications of collaborative learning, the iterative team-based learning (TBL) process proposed by Michaelsen, Fink, and Knight (2002) has been successfully used in the classroom…

Promoting Effective E-Learning Practices through the Constructivist Pedagogy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keengwe, Jared; Onchwari, Grace; Agamba, Joachim

2014-01-01

Although rapid advances in technology has allowed for the growth of collaborative e-learning experiences unconstrained by time and space, technology has not been heavily infused in the activities of teaching and learning. This article examines the theory of constructivism as well as the design of e-learning activities using constructivist…

Learning by Example: Designing and Developing Linked Data Application

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tharani, Karim

2016-01-01

According to constructivist theory of learning, new knowledge is learned on the basis of what is already known by learners. Thus for an emerging and transformative technology such as Linked Data to be learned, the technology must be made relevant for learners and must be compatible with their skillset. Designing and developing Linked Data…

Learning through Group Work in Physical Education: A Symbolic Interactionist Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barker, Dean; Quennerstedt, Mikael; Annerstedt, Claes

2015-01-01

In line with contemporary constructivist pedagogies, students are frequently expected to learn through interaction in physical education (PE). There is a relatively sophisticated body of literature focusing on learning in groups, peer teaching, and cooperative learning. Current research has not, however, focused on how the body is implicated in…

Enabling the Development of Student Teacher Professional Identity through Vicarious Learning during an Educational Excursion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steenekamp, Karen; van der Merwe, Martyn; Mehmedova, Aygul Salieva

2018-01-01

This paper explores the views of student teachers who were provided vicarious learning opportunities during an educational excursion, and how the learning enabled them to develop their teacher professional identity. This qualitative research study, using a social-constructivist lens highlights how vicarious learning influenced student teachers'…

Beyond Universal Design for Learning: Guiding Principles to Reduce Barriers to Digital & Media Literacy Competence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dalton, Elizabeth M.

2017-01-01

Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a framework for designing instruction to address the wide range of learner variation in today's inclusive classrooms, can be applied effectively to broaden access, understanding, and engagement in digital and media literacy learning for ALL. UDL supports constructivist learning principles. UDL strategies and…

Empowering Students in the Process of Social Inquiry Learning through Flipping the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jong, Morris Siu-Yung

2017-01-01

The "flipped classroom" is an educational strategy about inverting the traditional use of in-class time for conducting lower-level learning activities and out-of-class time for conducting higher-level learning activities. "Guided social inquiry learning" (GSIL), which is a scaffolded constructivist pedagogic approach, has been…

Theorizing Learning Process: An Experiential, Constructivist Approach to Young People's Learning about Global Poverty and Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Kate

2015-01-01

Learning processes in global education have not been significantly theorized, with the notable exception of the application of transformative learning theory. No theory of learning is complete, and to understand the complexity of learning, multiple theoretical lenses must be applied. This article looks at Jarvis's (2006) model of lifelong learning…

Problem-Based Learning and Civic Engagement in Undergraduate Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keegan, Louise C.; Losardo, Angela; McCullough, Kim C.

2017-01-01

Problem-based learning and civic engagement are complementary constructivist andragogical approaches that emphasize active learning by guiding students to develop their own understanding and knowledge of a topic through experience and reflection. By providing examples of clinical cases and community-based experiences, these approaches can enhance…

Learning from WebQuests

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gaskill, Martonia; McNulty, Anastasia; Brooks, David W.

2006-01-01

WebQuests are activities in which students use Web resources to learn about school topics. WebQuests are advocated as constructivist activities and ones generally well regarded by students. Two experiments were conducted in school settings to compare learning using WebQuests versus conventional instruction. Students and teachers both enjoyed…

Video-recorded simulated patient interactions: can they help develop clinical and communication skills in today's learning environment?

PubMed

Seif, Gretchen A; Brown, Debora

2013-01-01

It is difficult to provide real-world learning experiences for students to master clinical and communication skills. The purpose of this paper is to describe a novel instructional method using self- and peer-assessment, reflection, and technology to help students develop effective interpersonal and clinical skills. The teaching method is described by the constructivist learning theory and incorporates the use of educational technology. The learning activities were incorporated into the pre-clinical didactic curriculum. The students participated in two video-recording assignments and performed self-assessments on each and had a peer-assessment on the second video-recording. The learning activity was evaluated through the self- and peer-assessments and an instructor-designed survey. This evaluation identified several themes related to the assignment, student performance, clinical behaviors and establishing rapport. Overall the students perceived that the learning activities assisted in the development of clinical and communication skills prior to direct patient care. The use of video recordings of a simulated history and examination is a unique learning activity for preclinical PT students in the development of clinical and communication skills.

Professional Learning as a Predictor for Instructional Quality: A Secondary Analysis of TALIS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dogan, Selçuk; Yurtseven, Nihal

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of teachers' professional learning opportunities on instructional quality, which represents a combined approach of behaviorist, cognitivist, and constructivist principles in teaching. We incorporated professional learning communities (PLCs), professional development (PD) days, as well as 3 PD…

Teaching for Engagement: Part 3: Designing for Active Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunter, William J.

2015-01-01

In the first two parts of this series, ("Teaching for Engagement: Part 1: Constructivist Principles, Case-Based Teaching, and Active Learning") and ("Teaching for Engagement: Part 2: Technology in the Service of Active Learning"), William J. Hunter sought to outline the theoretical rationale and research basis for such active…

Drama and Learning Science: An Empty Space?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Braund, Martin

2015-01-01

Constructivist teaching methods such as using drama have been promoted as productive ways of learning, especially in science. Specifically, role plays, using given roles or simulated and improvised enactments, are claimed to improve learning of concepts, understanding the nature of science and appreciation of science's relationship with…

Perspectives from the European Language Portfolio: Learner Autonomy and Self-Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuhn, Barbel, Ed.; Cavana, Maria Luisa Perez, Ed.

2012-01-01

Using constructivist principles and autonomous learning techniques the ELP has pioneered innovative and cutting edge approaches to learning languages that can be applied to learning across the spectrum. Although articles on the success of the ELP project have appeared in some academic journals, "Perspectives from the European Language…

An Investigation of Teaching Strategy in the Distance Learning Mathematics Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DePriter, Tiffany

2013-01-01

Distance learning has become increasingly popular among higher learning institutions, and more academic disciplines, such as mathematics, are now being offered at a distance. This experimental study investigated whether an objectivist-based teaching strategy or a constructivist-based teaching strategy yields greater achievement scores for adult…

From Reproduction to Construction: Bhutanese Higher Education Students' Attitudes towards Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stacy, Ivan; Bennett, Cathryn B.

2017-01-01

The rationale for the study is the developing state of Bhutanese higher education, and Bhutanese students' current tendency to employ reproductive learning strategies. This research therefore aims to determine whether using non-linear, semi-autonomous learning activities encourages Bhutanese students to adopt constructivist attitudes towards…

Online Social Media Applications for Constructivism and Observational Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mbati, Lydia

2013-01-01

Web 2.0 technologies have a range of possibilities for fostering constructivist learning and observational learning. This is due to the available applications which allow for synchronous and asynchronous interaction and the sharing of knowledge between users. Web 2.0 tools include online social media applications which have potential pedagogical…

Immersive Educational Technology: Changing Families and Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ehrich, Roger W.; McCreary, Faith

Since the popularization of networked computing that began in 1993, many excited educators have employed networked computers to improve motivation and learning in the classroom. Computers have also become a focal point for the improvement of instruction through the introduction of teaching methods that better support constructivist learning. While…

Enhancing Teacher Education Students' Generic Skills through Problem-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murray-Harvey, Rosalind; Curtis, David D.; Cattley, Georgina; Slee, Phillip T.

2005-01-01

Claims made for the value of problem-based learning (PBL) as an effective method for professional education programmes draw on constructivist principles of teaching and learning to achieve essential content knowledge, higher order thinking skills, and a team approach to problem-solving through the interdisciplinary, student-directed study of…

Using a Self-Administered Visual Basic Software Tool To Teach Psychological Concepts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strang, Harold R.; Sullivan, Amie K.; Schoeny, Zahrl G.

2002-01-01

Introduces LearningLinks, a Visual Basic software tool that allows teachers to create individualized learning modules that use constructivist and behavioral learning principles. Describes field testing of undergraduates at the University of Virginia that tested a module designed to improve understanding of the psychological concepts of…

Developing a constructivist learning environment in online postsecondary science courses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hackworth, Sylvester N.

This Delphi study addressed the concerns of postsecondary educators regarding the quality of education received by postsecondary science students who receive their instruction online. This study was framed with the constructivist learning theory and Piaget's and Dewey's cognitive development theories. The overarching question addressed a gap in research literature surrounding the pedagogical practices that could be successfully applied to future postsecondary online science education. The panel consisted of 30 experts in the area of online postsecondary education. Qualitative data from the initial seed questions were used to create a Likert-type survey to seek consensus of the themes derived from participant responses. Participants reached agreement on six items: apply constructivism to science curricula, identify strengths and challenges of online collegiate students, explicate students' consequences due to lack of participation in discussion forums, ensure that online course content is relevant to students' lives, reinforce academic integrity, and identify qualities face-to-face collegiate science instructors need when transitioning to online science instructors. The majority of participants agreed that gender is not an important factor in determining the success of an online collegiate science student. There was no consensus on the efficacy of virtual labs in an online science classroom. This study contributes to positive social change by providing information to new and struggling postsecondary science teachers to help them successfully align their instruction with students' needs and, as a result, increase students' success.

Knowledge Management through the Equilibrium Pattern Model for Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarirete, Akila; Noble, Elizabeth; Chikh, Azeddine

Contemporary students are characterized by having very applied learning styles and methods of acquiring knowledge. This behavior is consistent with the constructivist models where students are co-partners in the learning process. In the present work the authors developed a new model of learning based on the constructivist theory coupled with the cognitive development theory of Piaget. The model considers the level of learning based on several stages and the move from one stage to another requires learners' challenge. At each time a new concept is introduced creates a disequilibrium that needs to be worked out to return back to its equilibrium stage. This process of "disequilibrium/equilibrium" has been analyzed and validated using a course in computer networking as part of Cisco Networking Academy Program at Effat College, a women college in Saudi Arabia. The model provides a theoretical foundation for teaching especially in a complex knowledge domain such as engineering and can be used in a knowledge economy.

Tangible User Interfaces and Contrasting Cases as a Preparation for Future Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schneider, Bertrand; Blikstein, Paulo

2018-04-01

In this paper, we describe an experiment that compared the use of a Tangible User Interface (physical objects augmented with digital information) and a set of Contrasting Cases as a preparation for future learning. We carried out an experiment (N = 40) with a 2 × 2 design: the first factor compared traditional instruction ("Tell & Practice") with a constructivist activity designed using the Preparation for Future Learning framework (PFL). The second factor contrasted state-of-the-art PFL learning activity (i.e., students studying Contrasting Cases) with an interactive tabletop featuring digitally enhanced manipulatives. In agreement with prior work, we found that dyads of students who followed the PFL activity achieved significantly higher learning gains compared to their peers who followed a traditional "Tell & Practice" instruction (large effect size). A similar effect was found in favor of the interactive tabletop compared to the Contrasting Cases (small-to-moderate effect size). We discuss implications for designing socio-constructivist activities using new computer interfaces.

Designing Web 2.0 Based Constructivist-Oriented E-Learning Units

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chai, Ching Sing; Woo, Huay Lit; Wang, Qiyun

2010-01-01

Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to present how meaningful e-learning units can be created by using an online tool called Meaningful E-learning Units (MeLU). The paper also aims to describe how created e-learning units can be shared by teachers and students. Design/methodology/approach: This tool can help to produce e-learning units that…

Does Reviewing Lead to Better Learning and Decision Making? Answers from a Randomized Stock Market Experiment

PubMed Central

Wessa, Patrick; Holliday, Ian E.

2012-01-01

Background The literature is not univocal about the effects of Peer Review (PR) within the context of constructivist learning. Due to the predominant focus on using PR as an assessment tool, rather than a constructivist learning activity, and because most studies implicitly assume that the benefits of PR are limited to the reviewee, little is known about the effects upon students who are required to review their peers. Much of the theoretical debate in the literature is focused on explaining how and why constructivist learning is beneficial. At the same time these discussions are marked by an underlying presupposition of a causal relationship between reviewing and deep learning. Objectives The purpose of the study is to investigate whether the writing of PR feedback causes students to benefit in terms of: perceived utility about statistics, actual use of statistics, better understanding of statistical concepts and associated methods, changed attitudes towards market risks, and outcomes of decisions that were made. Methods We conducted a randomized experiment, assigning students randomly to receive PR or non–PR treatments and used two cohorts with a different time span. The paper discusses the experimental design and all the software components that we used to support the learning process: Reproducible Computing technology which allows students to reproduce or re–use statistical results from peers, Collaborative PR, and an AI–enhanced Stock Market Engine. Results The results establish that the writing of PR feedback messages causes students to experience benefits in terms of Behavior, Non–Rote Learning, and Attitudes, provided the sequence of PR activities are maintained for a period that is sufficiently long. PMID:22666385

The effectiveness of problem-based learning on teaching the first law of thermodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tatar, Erdal; Oktay, Münir

2011-11-01

Background: Problem-based learning (PBL) is a teaching approach working in cooperation with self-learning and involving research to solve real problems. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but that energy is conserved. Students had difficulty learning or misconceptions about this law. This study is related to the teaching of the first law of thermodynamics within a PBL environment. Purpose: This study examined the effectiveness of PBL on candidate science teachers' understanding of the first law of thermodynamics and their science process skills. This study also examined their opinions about PBL. Sample: The sample consists of 48 third-grade university students from the Department of Science Education in one of the public universities in Turkey. Design and methods: A one-group pretest-posttest experimental design was used. Data collection tools included the Achievement Test, Science Process Skill Test, Constructivist Learning Environment Survey and an interview with open-ended questions. Paired samples t-test was conducted to examine differences in pre/post tests. Results: The PBL approach has a positive effect on the students' learning abilities and science process skills. The students thought that the PBL environment supports effective and permanent learning, and self-learning planning skills. On the other hand, some students think that the limited time and unfamiliarity of the approach impede learning. Conclusions: The PBL is an active learning approach supporting students in the process of learning. But there are still many practical disadvantages that could reduce the effectiveness of the PBL. To prevent the alienation of the students, simple PBL activities should be applied from the primary school level. In order to overcome time limitations, education researchers should examine short-term and effective PBL activities.

Expanding nursing education through e-learning: A case study in Malaysia.

PubMed

Syed-Mohamad, Sharifah-Mastura; Pardi, Kasmah-Wati; Zainal, Nor-Azmi; Ismail, Zalina

2006-01-01

The School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (SHS) is planning to expand its contribution to produce more graduate nurses by offering a nursing degree through e-learning. After three years of using e-learning by four lecturers in seven nursing courses, we conducted a study to get the lecturers feedback and to compare the students' preference and their actual experiences in e-learning. Lecturers' feedback were collected based on six open-ended questions. Feedback from all the 36 final year nursing students were collected using Constructivist On-line Learning Environment Survey (COLLES)--the Student Experience/Preferred Form. Results show that lecturers and students have positive perception on e-learning. They perceive e-learning as a powerful and effective tool for expanding nursing education to meet the demand for a labour force that is knowledgeable, highly skilled and equipped with positive values. We believe blended learning is the most suitable approach to implement e-learning and social constructivism theory provides the dynamic view of learning. To increase success in e-learning implementation for the nursing programme, lecturers should be educated regarding proper instructional design so that their content delivery blends well with the technology and pedagogy.

The Development of SCORM-Conformant Learning Content Based on the Learning Cycle Using Participatory Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Su, C. Y.; Chiu, C. H.; Wang, T. I.

2010-01-01

This study incorporates the 5E learning cycle strategy to design and develop Sharable Content Object Reference Model-conformant materials for elementary science education. The 5E learning cycle that supports the constructivist approach has been widely applied in science education. The strategy consists of five phases: engagement, exploration,…

Problem-Based Learning in Web-Based Science Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Heeyoung; Chung, Ji-Sook; Kim, Younghoon

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how general problem-based learning (PBL) models and social-constructivist perspectives are applied to the design and development of a Web-based science program, which emphasizes inquiry-based learning for fifth grade students. The paper also deals with the general features and learning process of a Web-based…

The Role of Perceptions of Friendships and Peers in Learning Skills in Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koekoek, Jeroen; Knoppers, Annelies

2015-01-01

Background: Most research on how children learn when using the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) approach has focused on cognitive dimensions in teaching games models. A social constructivist perspective suggests, however, that learning also takes place during social interactions. Since the process of learning game skills tends to have a…

Action Learning, the Tool for Problem-Solving in Universities; Uganda Martyrs Nkozi, Makerere and Nkumba Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bwegyeme, Jacinta; Munene, John C.

2015-01-01

The article presents an account of how action learning principles were implemented to alleviate complex problems in universities. It focuses on the registrars and administrators under the academic Registrar's department. The Marquardt model of action learning was used in combination with the constructivist theories of learning, namely community of…

Investigating the Effectiveness of Teaching Methods Based on a Four-Step Constructivist Strategy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Çalik, Muammer; Ayas, Alipaşa; Coll, Richard K.

2010-02-01

This paper reports on an investigation of the effectiveness an intervention using several different methods for teaching solution chemistry. The teaching strategy comprised a four-step approach derived from a constructivist view of learning. A sample consisting of 44 students (18 boys and 26 girls) was selected purposively from two different Grade 9 classes in the city of Trabzon, Turkey. Data collection employed a purpose-designed `solution chemistry concept test', consisting of 17 items, with the quantitative data from the survey supported by qualitative interview data. The findings suggest that using different methods embedded within the four-step constructivist-based teaching strategy enables students to refute some alternative conceptions, but does not completely eliminate student alternative conceptions for solution chemistry.

Candles, Corks and Contracts: Essential Relationships between Learners and Libraries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burge, Elizabeth J.; Snow, Judith E.

2000-01-01

Current relationships between libraries and adult learners are shaped by technology adoption, learner demographics, constructivist learning, and institutional pressures. Future relationships must emphasize learner-centered action over technological efficiency, stronger learning leadership, and greater integration of libraries in educational…

Preparing new nurses with complexity science and problem-based learning.

PubMed

Hodges, Helen F

2011-01-01

Successful nurses function effectively with adaptability, improvability, and interconnectedness, and can see emerging and unpredictable complex problems. Preparing new nurses for complexity requires a significant change in prevalent but dated nursing education models for rising graduates. The science of complexity coupled with problem-based learning and peer review contributes a feasible framework for a constructivist learning environment to examine real-time systems data; explore uncertainty, inherent patterns, and ambiguity; and develop skills for unstructured problem solving. This article describes a pilot study of a problem-based learning strategy guided by principles of complexity science in a community clinical nursing course. Thirty-five senior nursing students participated during a 3-year period. Assessments included peer review, a final project paper, reflection, and a satisfaction survey. Results were higher than expected levels of student satisfaction, increased breadth and analysis of complex data, acknowledgment of community as complex adaptive systems, and overall higher level thinking skills than in previous years. 2011, SLACK Incorporated.

Implementation of a flipped classroom approach to promote active learning in the third-year surgery clerkship.

PubMed

Lewis, Catherine E; Chen, David C; Relan, Anju

2018-02-01

Constructivist student-centered instructional models such as the flipped classroom (FC) have been shown to improve learning. A FC approach was implemented for the surgery clerkship. Data was collected in phase 1 to evaluate student learning and attitudes. Based on these results, questions for the phase 2 open-ended survey were developed to improve understanding of learner attitudes, and ascertain how well the FC aligns with constructivist principles. There was no significant difference in shelf exam performance between the control and intervention groups. A majority of students agreed that they preferred the FC over lectures, and that their learning improved. Open-ended survey analysis demonstrated that the FC fostered self-directed, active learning, and that the in-class sessions facilitated application of concepts and deeper learning. Areas identified for improvement included better alignment with learning preferences through greater variety of pre-class learning options, improvement of podcast technical quality, and utilization of smaller in-class discussion groups. Students had a positive perception of the FC. The FC supports self-directed and more active and deeper in-class learning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Designing a primary science curriculum in a globalizing world: How do social constructivism and Vietnamese culture meet?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hằng, Ngô Vũ Thu; Meijer, Marijn Roland; Bulte, Astrid M. W.; Pilot, Albert

2017-09-01

The implementation of social constructivist approaches to learning science in primary education in Vietnamese culture as an example of Confucian heritage culture remains challenging and problematic. This theoretical paper focuses on the initial phase of a design-based research approach; that is, the description of the design of a formal, written curriculum for primary science education in which features of social constructivist approaches to learning are synthesized with essential aspects of Vietnamese culture. The written design comprises learning aims, a framework that is the synthesis of learning functions, learning settings and educational expectations for learning phases, and exemplary curriculum units. Learning aims are formulated to comprehensively develop scientific knowledge, skills, and attitudes toward science for primary students. Derived from these learning aims, the designed framework consists of four learning phases respectively labeled as Engagement, Experience, Exchange, and Follow-up. The designed framework refers to knowledge of the "nature of science" education and characteristics of Vietnamese culture as an example of Confucian heritage culture. The curriculum design aims to serve as an educational product that addresses previously analyzed problems of primary science education in the Vietnamese culture in a globalizing world.

Developing an Inclusive Democratic Classroom "in Action" through Cooperative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferguson-Patrick, Kate

2012-01-01

This paper examines how Cooperative learning (CL) and democracy can be examined in relation to one another. CL supports a social constructivist view of students learning together to form knowledge through direct interaction. The overriding benefits of CL are that that it is an effective strategy for maximising both social and academic learning…

What Drives Student Engagement: Is It Learning Space, Instructor Behavior, or Teaching Philosophy?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sawers, Kimberly M.; Wicks, David; Mvududu, Nyaradzo; Seeley, Lane; Copeland, Raedene

2016-01-01

This study investigates how instructor teaching philosophy (traditional vs. constructivist) and type of learning space (traditional vs. active) influence instructor perceptions of student engagement. In a quasi-experimental study, we found that instructors perceived that students were more engaged in the active learning classroom (ALC) than in the…

Comments in MOOCs: Who Is Doing the Talking and Does It Help?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swinnerton, B.; Hotchkiss, S.; Morris, N. P.

2017-01-01

This paper investigates the characteristics and behaviour of learners on nine Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on the FutureLearn platform in 2014 and 2015. FutureLearn's social constructivist approach, which emphasizes learning through social interaction, makes the focus on forum posting within these MOOCs particularly appropriate. This study…

Reconstructing Constructivism: Causal Models, Bayesian Learning Mechanisms, and the Theory Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gopnik, Alison; Wellman, Henry M.

2012-01-01

We propose a new version of the "theory theory" grounded in the computational framework of probabilistic causal models and Bayesian learning. Probabilistic models allow a constructivist but rigorous and detailed approach to cognitive development. They also explain the learning of both more specific causal hypotheses and more abstract framework…

Teaching for Engagement: Part 2: Technology in the Service of Active Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunter, William J.

2015-01-01

In the first piece in this series ("Teaching for Engagement: Part 1: Constructivist Principles, Case-Based Teaching, and Active Learning"), William Hunter sought to make the case that a wide range of teaching methods (e.g., case-based teaching, problem-based learning, anchored instruction) that share an intellectual grounding in…

Learning the Electric Field Concept as Oriented Research Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Furio, C.; Guisasola, J.; Almudi, J. M.; Ceberio, M.

2003-01-01

This work is grounded in a constructivistic conception of the learning of science, more particularly on the model known as teaching-learning as oriented research. In accordance with this theoretical basis we have developed an empirical research project to investigate the teaching of electrostatics in high schools. The designs developed have…

Impact of Collaborative Project-Based Learning on Self-Efficacy of Urban Minority Students in Engineering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Pearl; Hernandez, Anthony; Dong, Jane

2015-01-01

This paper presents an interdisciplinary research project that studies the impact of collaborative project-based learning (CPBL) on the development of self-efficacy of students from various ethnic groups in an undergraduate senior-level computer networking class. Grounded in social constructivist and situated theories of learning, the study…

Mathematical Learning Models that Depend on Prior Knowledge and Instructional Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pritchard, David E.; Lee, Young-Jin; Bao, Lei

2008-01-01

We present mathematical learning models--predictions of student's knowledge vs amount of instruction--that are based on assumptions motivated by various theories of learning: tabula rasa, constructivist, and tutoring. These models predict the improvement (on the post-test) as a function of the pretest score due to intervening instruction and also…

A Dynamic Social Feedback System to Support Learning and Social Interaction in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thoms, Brian

2011-01-01

In this research, we examine the design, construction, and implementation of a dynamic, easy to use, feedback mechanism for social software. The tool was integrated into an existing university's online learning community (OLC). In line with constructivist learning models and practical information systems (IS) design, the feedback system provides…

Life History Methodologies: An Investigation into Work-Based Learning Experiences of Community Education Workers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Issler, Sally; Nixon, David

2007-01-01

This article focuses on an investigation into the learning journeys undertaken by managers of a community education project in an area of urban deprivation. A constructivist interpretation of life history narrative revealed the positive effects of community workers' heavy dependence on experiential work-based learning, which resulted in the…

Social Work Learning Spaces: The Social Work Studio

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zufferey, Carole; King, Sue

2016-01-01

This paper explores the contribution of a physical learning space to student engagement in social work education. Drawing on a constructivist methodology, this paper examines the findings of a survey conducted with students and staff in a social work and human service programme about their experiences of a Social Work Studio learning space. The…

Simulation Methodology in Nursing Education and Adult Learning Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rutherford-Hemming, Tonya

2012-01-01

Simulation is often used in nursing education as a teaching methodology. Simulation is rooted in adult learning theory. Three learning theories, cognitive, social, and constructivist, explain how learners gain knowledge with simulation experiences. This article takes an in-depth look at each of these three theories as each relates to simulation.…

The Effect of Asian Origin, Culture and Learning Beliefs on High School Students' Physical Science Learning Beliefs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Xiaolan

2013-01-01

Asian Americans have been recognized as the "model minority" in the United States since the 1960s. Students from Asian countries are winning in international competitions, especially in science and mathematics. Modern Western scholars working within the constructivist learning theory advocate malleable intelligence and effort, which…

Improvements in Anatomy Knowledge When Utilizing a Novel Cyclical "Observe-Reflect-Draw-Edit-Repeat" Learning Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Backhouse, Mark; Fitzpatrick, Michael; Hutchinson, Joseph; Thandi, Charankumal S.; Keenan, Iain D.

2017-01-01

Innovative educational strategies can provide variety and enhance student learning while addressing complex logistical and financial issues facing modern anatomy education. "Observe-Reflect-Draw-Edit-Repeat" (ORDER), a novel cyclical artistic process, has been designed based on cognitivist and constructivist learning theories, and on…

A Natural Teaching Method Based on Learning Theory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smilkstein, Rita

1991-01-01

The natural teaching method is active and student-centered, based on schema and constructivist theories, and informed by research in neuroplasticity. A schema is a mental picture or understanding of something we have learned. Humans can have knowledge only to the degree to which they have constructed schemas from learning experiences and practice.…

How Preschool Children Learn in Hong Kong and Canada: A Cross-Cultural Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Margaret N. C.

2008-01-01

This paper reviews literacy learning conducted in two laboratory preschools in Hong Kong and Canada, and examines the link between cultural values and educational practices. Both preschools maintain that a constructivist view of child learning underpins their practice. However, the author's experience in these two settings illustrates how…

Retrospective Evaluation of a Collaborative LearningScience Module: The Users' Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeWitt, Dorothy; Siraj, Saedah; Alias, Norlidah; Leng, Chin Hai

2013-01-01

This study focuses on the retrospective evaluation of collaborative mLearning (CmL) Science module for teaching secondary school science which was designed based on social constructivist learning theories and Merrill's First Principle of Instruction. This study is part of a developmental research in which computer-mediated communication (CMC)…

The Effect of Cooperative Learning: University Example

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tombak, Busra; Altun, Sertel

2016-01-01

Problem Statement: Motivation is a significant component of success in education, and it is best achieved by constructivist learning methods, especially cooperative Learning (CL). CL is a popular method among primary and secondary schools, but it is rarely used in higher education due to the large numbers of students and time restrictions. The…

Combining Adaptive Hypermedia with Project and Case-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papanikolaou, Kyparisia; Grigoriadou, Maria

2009-01-01

In this article we investigate the design of educational hypermedia based on constructivist learning theories. According to the principles of project and case-based learning we present the design rational of an Adaptive Educational Hypermedia system prototype named MyProject; learners working with MyProject undertake a project and the system…

Reformed Teaching and Learning in Science Education: A Comparative Study of Turkish and US Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozfidan, Burhan; Cavlazoglu, Baki; Burlbaw, Lynn; Aydin, Hasan

2017-01-01

Achievements of educational reform advantage constructivist understandings of teaching and learning, and therefore highlight a shift in beliefs of teachers and apply these perceptions to the real world. Science teachers' beliefs have been crucial in understanding and reforming science education as beliefs of teachers regarding learning and…

Constructivist E-Learning in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bognar, Branko; Gajger, Vesna; Ivic, Vlatka

2015-01-01

The use of e-learning has been recommended at all levels of the educational system, thus in higher education as well, but it is very often reduced to downloading teaching materials from the teachers' websites. Students rarely participate in forums discussing some teaching topics, and they even less use the learning management system in their…

Appraising the Qualities of Social Work Students' Theoretical Knowledge: A Qualitative Exploration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Bommel, Marijke; Boshuizen, Henny P. A.; Kwakman, Kitty

2012-01-01

Higher professional education aims to prepare students for entering practice with an adequate theoretical body of knowledge. In constructivist programmes, authentic learning contexts and self-directed learning are assumed to support knowledge learning and the transition from education to practice. Through an in-depth exploration, this case study…

Knowledge Creation in Constructivist Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jaleel, Sajna; Verghis, Alie Molly

2015-01-01

In today's competitive global economy characterized by knowledge acquisition, the concept of knowledge management has become increasingly prevalent in academic and business practices. Knowledge creation is an important factor and remains a source of competitive advantage over knowledge management. Constructivism holds that learners learn actively…

Teaching Evolution through the Founder Effect: A Standards-Based Activity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leonard, William H.; Edmondson, Elizabeth

2003-01-01

Presents an activity called "The Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium, Founder Effect, and Evolution" to allow students to learn about evolution in an engaging, constructivist manner. The activity also uses the tools of mathematics to learn several related biology concepts. (Author/SOE)

A Cross-cultural Exploration of Children's Everyday Ideas: Implications for science teaching and learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wee, Bryan

2012-03-01

Children's everyday ideas form critical foundations for science learning yet little research has been conducted to understand and legitimize these ideas, particularly from an international perspective. This paper explores children's everyday ideas about the environment across the US, Singapore and China to understand what they reveal about children's relationship to the environment and discuss its implications for science teaching and learning. A social constructivist lens guides research, and a visual methodology is used to frame children's realities. Participants' ages range from elementary to middle school, and a total of 210 children comprized mainly of Asians and Asian Americans were sampled from urban settings. Drawings are used to elicit children's everyday ideas and analyzed inductively using open coding and categorizing of data. Several categories support existing literature about how children view the environment; however, novel categories such as affect also emerged and lend new insight into the role that language, socio-cultural norms and perhaps ethnicity play in shaping children's everyday ideas. The findings imply the need for (a) a change in the role of science teachers from knowledge providers to social developers, (b) a science curriculum that is specific to learners' experiences in different socio-cultural settings, and (c) a shift away from inter-country comparisons using international science test scores.

Ownership and Use of New Media by Teachers in Rural and Urban Areas of Croatia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Topolovcan, Tomislav; Toplak, Tea; Matijevic, Milan

2013-01-01

The development and use of new media in the class emphasizes independent learning based on the activities of the students, constructivist learning and student-centred lessons in general. Using new media in the class does not prompt more efficient learning and teaching in itself, but can initiate the learning processes by didactically shaping the…

The CABES (Clare Adult Basic Education Service) Framework as a Tool for Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greene, Moira

2015-01-01

This article describes a Framework that can be used to help bridge the gap between theory and practice in adult learning. The Framework promotes practice informed by three strands important to adult literacy work: social theories of literacy, social-constructivist learning theory and principles of adult learning. The Framework shows how five key…

The Determinants of Students' Perceived Learning Outcomes and Satisfaction in University Online Education: An Update

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eom, Sean B.; Ashill, Nicholas

2016-01-01

A stream of research over the past decade that identifies predictors of e-learning success suggests that there are several critical success factors (CSFs) that must be managed effectively to fully realize promise for e-learning. Grounded in constructivist learning theories, this study advances previous work on CSFs in university online education.…

The Analysis of Interactivity in a Teaching and Learning Sequence of Rugby: The Transfer of Control and Learning Responsibility

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Llobet-Martí, Bernat; López-Ros, Víctor; Vila, Ignasi

2018-01-01

Background: The social constructivist perspective emphasises that learning is a process of self-construction of knowledge in a social context. Game-centred approaches, such as teaching games for understanding, have been used in accordance with this perspective. The process of transferring learning responsibility takes place when the learner is…

Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of an Inquiry-Based Physics Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ballone Duran, Lena; McArthur, Julia; van Hook, Stephen

2004-04-01

The purpose of this study was to examine middle childhood students'' perceptions of the learning environment in a reform-based physics course. A lecture-style, introductory physics course was modified into an inquiry-based course designed for preservice middle childhood teachers through the collaborative efforts of faculty in the Colleges of Education and Arts and Sciences. Focus group interviews were conducted to examine students'' perceptions. The results suggested that the students initially felt a level of frustration with a new constructivist experience; however, they were able to embrace the inquiry method and expressed a desire for additional specialized content courses for preservice teachers.

Three Generations of Distance Education Pedagogy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Terry; Dron, Jon

2011-01-01

This paper defines and examines three generations of distance education pedagogy. Unlike earlier classifications of distance education based on the technology used, this analysis focuses on the pedagogy that defines the learning experiences encapsulated in the learning design. The three generations of cognitive-behaviourist, social constructivist,…

Undergraduate Research in Agriculture: Constructivism and the Scholarship of Discovery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Splan, Rebecca K.; Porr, C. A. Shea; Broyles, Thomas W.

2011-01-01

Experiential learning is a hallmark of undergraduate education programs in the agricultural sciences, and is aligned with constructivist learning theory. This interpretivist qualitative study used historical research methodology to analyze the epistemological underpinnings of constructivism and explore the construct's relationship to undergraduate…

Cognitive Play and Mathematical Learning in Computer Microworlds.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steffe, Leslie P.; Wiegel, Heide G.

1994-01-01

Uses the constructivist principle of active learning to explore the possibly essential elements in transforming a cognitive play activity into mathematical activity. Suggests that for such transformation to occur, cognitive play activity must involve operations of intelligence that, yield situations of mathematical schemes. Illustrates the…

The Role of Narrative in Multimedia Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diamond, Myrna Elyse

2011-01-01

This descriptive case study investigated the role of narrative in multimedia learning and teaching and observed how teachers applied their understanding of narrative, and new constructivist technologies, to design multimedia presentations for instruction. The study looked specifically at the cognitive strategies, visual narrative concepts, and…

Eyes Closed for Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Statham, Mick

2016-01-01

A constructivist philosophy underpinning science teaching and learning for over 100 years in United Kingdom (UK) classrooms places "conceptual change" at the heart of classroom work in which children's scientific ideas form, strengthen and change. In this article, the author explains how the simple, effective method of "eyes…

Interviews: Linking Leadership Theory to Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Deborah N.; Roebuck, Deborah B.

2010-01-01

Leadership educators use various tools to enable their students to learn about leadership. This article describes the assignment "Interview with a Leader" which the authors have incorporated into several different leadership courses. Grounded in constructivist and social learning theories, the authors have found this assignment to be…

Influence of Professional Learning Community (PLC) on Learning a Constructivist Teaching Approach (POE): A Case of Secondary Science Teachers in Bangladesh

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rahman, S. M. Hafizur

2012-01-01

No major change has occurred up until now with regard to the teaching-learning methods of science used in Bangladesh. Teachers, in most cases, tend to teach the same things in the same ways they were taught when they were students. This study will, therefore, investigate how science teachers' learning in a professional learning community (PLC)…

Using Podcasting to Facilitate Student Learning: A Constructivist Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ng'ambi, Dick; Lombe, Annette

2012-01-01

The paper employs two case studies to develop an approach for using podcasts to enhance student learning. The case studies involve two cohorts of postgraduate students enrolled on a blended course, over two years. In both cases, the institutional learning management system was used as a server to host the podcasts, giving students discretion on…

Creating Interactive User Feedback in DGS Using Scripting Interfaces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fest, Andreas

2010-01-01

Feedback is an important component of interactive learning software. A conclusion from cognitive learning theory is that good software must give the learner more information about what he did. Following the ideas of constructivist learning theory the user should be in control of both the time and the level of feedback he receives. At the same time…

Designing Social Media into University Learning: Technology of Collaboration or Collaboration for Technology?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tay, Elaine; Allen, Matthew

2011-01-01

Using the example of an undergraduate unit of study that is taught both on-campus and externally, but uses Internet-based learning in both cases, we explore how social media might be used effectively in higher education. We place into question the assumption that such technologies necessarily engage students in constructivist learning; we argue…

Comparing the Effectiveness of Peer Instruction to Individual Learning during a Chromatography Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morice, J.; Michinov, N.; Delaval, M.; Sideridou, A.; Ferrières, V.

2015-01-01

Peer instruction has been recognized as an instructional method having a positive impact on learning compared to traditional lectures in science. This method has been widely supported by the socio-constructivist approach to learning giving a positive role to interaction between peers in the construction of knowledge. As far as we know, no study…

Exploring In-Service Teachers' Perceptions on Values-Based Water Education via Interactive Instructional Strategies that Enhance Meaningful Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thoe, Ng Khar

2007-01-01

Instructional strategies determine the approaches an educator may take to achieve learning objectives. Research has shown that sets of strategies or instructional models anchored on social constructivist learning theories were found to be effective in enhancing active participation. It is particularly influential and meaningful in many areas of…

Constructing an Inquiry Orientation from a Learning Theory Perspective: Democratizing Access through Task Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buell, Catherine A.; Greenstein, Steven; Wilstein, Zahava

2017-01-01

It is widely accepted in the mathematics education community that pedagogies oriented toward inquiry are aligned with a constructivist theory of learning, and that these pedagogies effectively support students' learning of mathematics. In order to promote such an orientation, we first separate the idea of inquiry from its conception as a…

Impact of Professional Learning Community Participation on Teachers' Thinking about Classroom Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Padwad, Amol; Dixit, Krishna K.

2008-01-01

Teacher education seems to exhibit a shift from product-oriented mode to social constructivist, process-oriented mode of working. The emergence of professional learning communities (PLCs) of teachers may be seen as one manifestation of this shift. PLCs are increasingly seen as an effective channel for teacher learning and professional development.…

Learning Hypotheses and an Associated Tool to Design and to Analyse Teaching-Learning Sequences. Special Issue

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buty, Christian; Tiberghien, Andree; Le Marechal, Jean-Francois

2004-01-01

This contribution presents a tool elaborated from a theoretical framework linking epistemological, learning and didactical hypotheses. This framework lead to design teaching sequences from a socio-constructivist perspective, and is based on the role of models in physics or chemistry, and on the role of students' initial knowledge in learning…

Distributed Learning and Constructivist Philosophy (Uzaktan Ögretim Ve Yapilandirmaci Felsefe)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tekinarslan, Erkan

2003-01-01

Distance education and its new form of distributed learning have been used in many countries to provide education to people who need training. Recent developments in instructional technology enable the institutions to distribute their education to more people in distant places than ever before. The field of distributed learning has a lot of…

Theories for Deep Change in Affect-sensitive Cognitive Machines: A Constructivist Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kort, Barry; Reilly, Rob

2002-01-01

There is an interplay between emotions and learning, but this interaction is far more complex than previous learning theories have articulated. This article proffers a novel model by which to regard the interplay of emotions upon learning and discusses the larger practical aim of crafting computer-based models that will recognize a learner's…

Impact of constructivist pedagogy on science education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chrishon-Ford, Grace E.

This study focused on how constructivist pedagogy impacts science achievement of the fourth grade students in an elementary Department of Defense School. Constructivism is a learning or meaning-making theory that offers an explanation of the nature of knowledge and how human beings learn. The population of this study was two fourth grade classes in an elementary Department of Defense District School. Data collection was accomplished in four ways: (1) focus group interviews of students, (2) individual interviews of students selected from the focus groups, (3) interviews of teachers, and (4) unobtrusive observations of science instruction. A six-step process was followed to gain entry for this study. The steps were my university dissertation committee, Department of Defense Education Activity Research Study Request, Endorsement and Agreement form to the Headquarters Office, school superintendent, school principal, teacher participants, and the final step was to seek parental approval of the fourth graders involved in the study. The findings from this study were an increase of 47% test scores; 57% revealed experiments/projects and 64% working on the computers in groups were the fun things; 100% student interaction; 100% student attentativeness; and 70% using other resources. Implications have demonstrated that the traditional classroom can be converted if the teachers and administrators would buy into the approach that this project demonstrated. As an advocate of the constructivist model the case study demonstrated students do indeed respond to the constructivist theory. If approached in a positive manner, it could be done in any kind of school setting.

A Conceptual Paper on the Application of the Picture Word Inductive Model Using Bruner's Constructivist View of Learning and the Cognitive Load Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jiang, Xuan; Perkins, Kyle

2013-01-01

Bruner's constructs of learning, specifically the structure of learning, spiral curriculum, and discovery learning, in conjunction with the Cognitive Load Theory, are used to evaluate the Picture Word Inductive Model (PWIM), an inquiry-oriented inductive language arts strategy designed to teach K-6 children phonics and spelling. The PWIM reflects…

Investigating the Impact of a LEGO(TM)-Based, Engineering-Oriented Curriculum Compared to an Inquiry-Based Curriculum on Fifth Graders' Content Learning of Simple Machines

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marulcu, Ismail

2010-01-01

This mixed method study examined the impact of a LEGO-based, engineering-oriented curriculum compared to an inquiry-based curriculum on fifth graders' content learning of simple machines. This study takes a social constructivist theoretical stance that science learning involves learning scientific concepts and their relations to each other. From…

A Taxonomy of Learning through Asynchronous Discussion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knowlton, Dave S.

2005-01-01

This article presents a five-tiered taxonomy that describes the nature of participation in, and learning through, asynchronous discussion. The taxonomy is framed by a constructivist view of asynchronous discussion. The five tiers of the taxonomy include the following: (a) passive participation, (b) developmental participation, (c) generative…

Understanding a High School Physics Teacher's Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Argumentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Jianlan; Buck, Gayle A.

2016-01-01

Scientific argumentation is an important learning objective in science education. It is also an effective instructional approach to constructivist science learning. The implementation of argumentation in school settings requires science teachers, who are pivotal agents of transforming classroom practices, to develop sophisticated knowledge of…

Organizational Epistemology, Education and Social Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartley, David

2007-01-01

Organizational learning or epistemology has emerged in order to manage the creation of knowledge and innovation within contemporary capitalism. Its insights are being applied also to the public sector. Much of the research in organizational learning has drawn upon the discipline of psychology, particularly constructivist theory. Two approaches in…

The creation of a pedagogy of promise: Examples of educational excellence in high-stakes science classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCollough, Cherie A.

The current reform movement in education has two forces that appear contradictory in nature. The first is an emphasis on rigor and accountability that is assessed through high-stakes testing. The second is the recommendation to have student centered approaches to teaching and learning, especially those that emphasize inquiry methodology and constructivist pedagogy. Literature reports that current reform efforts involving accountability through high-stakes tests are detrimental to student learning and are contradictory to student-centered teaching approaches. However, by focusing attention on those teachers who "teach against the grain" and raise the achievement levels of students from diverse backgrounds, instructional strategies and personal characteristics of exemplary teachers can be identified. This mixed-methods research study investigated four exemplary urban high school science teachers in high-stakes (TAKS) tested science classrooms. Classroom observations, teacher and student interviews, pre-/postcontent tests and the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) (Johnson & McClure, 2004) provided the main data sources. The How People Learn (National Research Council, 2000) theoretical framework provided evidence of elements of inquiry-based, student-centered teaching. Descriptive case analysis (Yin, 1994) and quantitative analysis of pre/post tests and the CLES revealed the following results. First, all participating teachers included elements of learner-centeredness, knowledge-centeredness, assessment-centeredness and community-centeredness in their teaching as recommended by the National Research Council, (2000), thus creating student-centered classroom environments. Second, by establishing a climate of caring where students felt supported and motivated to learn, teachers managed tensions resulting from the incorporation of student-centered elements and the accountability-based instructional mandates outlined by their school district and state agencies. For example, their classroom climate was fair and democratic with elements of mutual respect, student advocacy, the freedom to make mistakes, and student-teacher negotiation practices. Common teacher qualities included being enthusiastic, life-long learners with high expectations for students. When teachers did not agree with administrative mandates that were not in the best interest of their students, they utilized a "close-door" policy. This report provides recommendations including the increased development of student-centered curricula, using multiple test-criteria versus one single standardized test, and increased teacher training to assist in the creation of a climate of caring. Future studies are also suggested.

A five year study of the attitudes, perceptions, and philosophies of five secondary science education teachers prepared in the constructivist teaching methodology advanced at the University of Iowa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hollenbeck, James Edward

1999-11-01

The present study researched the attitudes, Perceptions, and philosophies of five secondary education science teachers prepared in the constructivist teaching methodology advanced at the University of Iowa. This study is a continuation of a three-year study---the Salish I Project supported by the US Department of Education. The teachers studied are five 1993 University of Iowa Science Education Center graduates who have taught for five years. The main objective of the present study was finding answers to four questions aiming at further understanding of the impact and importance of the preservice education in I the constructivist teaching methodology of new teachers, and the changes they experience in the first five years of teaching. The instruments used in the study are various as they cover a wide range of different categories of beliefs I in terms of teaching, learning, teacher performance and view of school. The following trends came out on reviewing all of the data: in the first year of teaching three of the five teachers studied taught as constructivist teachers. in the third year of teaching, the classroom practices of the teachers converged more closely to their beliefs and preservice preparation. In the fifth year, all five teachers were ranked as constructivist in their teaching methodology in the classroom. Using the Wilcoxson test, significant, positive relationships were revealed between the teacher's philosophy of teaching and learning, with their actual practice. Teacher's philosophy and teaching practice were compared with selected standards set forth by the National Science Education Standards and were found to be in close alignment in their fifth year of teaching. Teachers prepared in the constructivist methodology are concerned about their subject content and value student input and reflection. The teachers reported using student-initiated ideas, alternative assessment strategies and being receptive to alternatives. Other important factors identified by the teachers as condition to their successes are maturation, experience, and acceptance in the school and community. All five teachers attributed their preservice education at the University of Iowa as a significant factor in their successes in the science classroom. in the science classroom.

Perceptions of Constructivist Pedagogy in Project Lead the Way

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Capers, Gesa Maria

In 2016, six of six American Nobel Prize winners in science were immigrants. The numbers of U.S. educated graduates who enter the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields have been on the decline, and policymakers and educators have continually sought new policies and programs to try resolve this problem with long-term solutions. In recent years, several Alabama schools have implemented Project Lead the Way (PLTW), a program that is aimed toward promoting students' interest in STEM. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore how Alabama's educators perceived the use of constructivist pedagogy in PLTW on student learning behaviors and student interests in science and mathematics. Piaget's developmental theory and Vygotsky's social developmental theory provided the theoretical framework for this study. The data collection procedure for this multiple case study included one-on-one interviews with 23 educators in four Alabama PLTW schools. Themes that emerged from the study included motivation and enthusiasm, critical thinking and problem solving, career awareness, student interest in science and math, collaboration, hands-on learning, confidence and engagement, perceived problems, and satisfaction with PLTW. All interviewees perceived that with PLTW's emphasis on constructivist pedagogy, students were excited, engaged, practiced critical thinking and problem solving skills, and that participation in PLTW had a positive effect on the students' learning behaviors and interests in science and mathematics.

At-risk children's use of reflection and revision in hands-on experimental activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrosino, Anthony J., Jr.

The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of incorporating opportunities for reflection and revision in hands-on science instruction which emphasized experimentation using model rockets. The participants were low achieving sixth grade summer school students (n = 23) designated as at-risk for school failure by their district. The group was asked a series of interview questions based on work by Schauble et al. (1995) relating to experimentation. The interviews took place over three distinct time points corresponding to a "hands-on only" condition, a "hands-on with reflection and revision" condition and a "hands-on with repeated reflection and revision" condition. A Friedman's Two-Way Analysis of Variance by Ranks indicate students score low at first with traditional hands-on instruction but improve significantly with opportunities to reflect and revise their experiments. In addition, a sociocultural analysis was conducted during the summer school session to assess the model rocket activity as an apprenticeship, as guided participation and as participatory appropriation using a framework established by Rogoff (1994). Finally, a survey (the Classroom Environment Survey) was administered to the students measuring five constructs consistent with a constructivist classroom: participation, autonomy, relevance, commitment to learning and disruptions to learning. Analysis indicate students in the summer school model rocket intervention experienced a greater sense of constructivist principles during the activity than a similar comparison group utilizing reform minded instruction but not including opportunities for reflection and revision cycles. This research provides important evidence that, like scientists, students in school can learn effectively from extended practice in a varied context. Importantly, the data indicate that hands-on instruction is best utilized when opportunities for reflection and revision are made explicit. Implications are discussed related to designing instruction, the incorporation of computer supported scaffolding and implications for future research.

Engineering the path to higher-order thinking in elementary education: A problem-based learning approach for STEM integration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rehmat, Abeera Parvaiz

As we progress into the 21st century, higher-order thinking skills and achievement in science and math are essential to meet the educational requirement of STEM careers. Educators need to think of innovative ways to engage and prepare students for current and future challenges while cultivating an interest among students in STEM disciplines. An instructional pedagogy that can capture students' attention, support interdisciplinary STEM practices, and foster higher-order thinking skills is problem-based learning. Problem-based learning embedded in the social constructivist view of teaching and learning (Savery & Duffy, 1995) promotes self-regulated learning that is enhanced through exploration, cooperative social activity, and discourse (Fosnot, 1996). This quasi-experimental mixed methods study was conducted with 98 fourth grade students. The study utilized STEM content assessments, a standardized critical thinking test, STEM attitude survey, PBL questionnaire, and field notes from classroom observations to investigate the impact of problem-based learning on students' content knowledge, critical thinking, and their attitude towards STEM. Subsequently, it explored students' experiences of STEM integration in a PBL environment. The quantitative results revealed a significant difference between groups in regards to their content knowledge, critical thinking skills, and STEM attitude. From the qualitative results, three themes emerged: learning approaches, increased interaction, and design and engineering implementation. From the overall data set, students described the PBL environment to be highly interactive that prompted them to employ multiple approaches, including design and engineering to solve the problem.

Facilitating Facilitators: Enhancing PBL through a Structured Facilitator Development Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salinitri, Francine D.; Wilhelm, Sheila M.; Crabtree, Brian L.

2015-01-01

With increasing adoption of the problem-based learning (PBL) model, creative approaches to enhancing facilitator training and optimizing resources to maintain effective learning in small groups is essential. We describe a theoretical framework for the development of a PBL facilitator training program that uses the constructivist approach as the…

A Service-Learning Model for At-Risk Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Judith A.; Eckstein, Daniel

2008-01-01

This article describes a service-learning case study and program description involving the development and the delivery of services in a Disciplinary Alternative Education Program for secondary students. Following an overview of the philosophy of constructivist theory applied to the concept of the dissemination of information concerning adolescent…

Harriet Jacobs: Using Online Slave Narratives in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bolick, Cheryl Mason; McGlinn, Meghan M.

2004-01-01

Teachers most interested in a constructivist approach to historical instruction often use new technology to provide realistic, inquiry-based learning situations for their students. Recent research in social studies learning has de-emphasized student memorization of facts and text-based instruction in favor of engaging students in historical…

Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities: Constructivism or Behaviorism?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steele, Marcee M.

2005-01-01

There is much controversy concerning the use of constructivist and behaviorist principles for teaching children with learning disabilities. Although many educators support the use of one paradigm exclusively, the author recommends combining ideas from both perspectives for the most effective instruction. This article includes a brief discussion of…

The SNAP Platform: Social Networking for Academic Purposes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirkwood, Keith

2010-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to introduce an enterprise-wide Web 2.0 learning support platform--SNAP, developed at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. Design/methodology/approach: Pointing to the evolution of the social web, the paper discusses the potential for the development of e-learning platforms that employ constructivist, connectivist,…

MUD for Learning: Classification and Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsieh, Chung-Hsiang; Sun, Chuen-Tsai

2006-01-01

From a constructivist point of view, the importance of MUDs (Multiple User Dungeons) in education is justified based on their community-forming, learning, and role-playing functions. The authors propose a typology for educational MUDs and discuss their individual instructional approaches in order to measure MUD potential in ten-os of…

Role of Teachers in Constructivistic Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karpagam, S.; Ananthasayanam, R.

2011-01-01

This paper attempts to explain learner centered methodology of teaching at the school level due to implementation of National curriculum frame work for school (2005), since NCF [National Curriculum Framework] 2005 emphasizes the process of constructing knowledge i.e. learning to learn, willing to unlearn, and relearn as a new paradigm of learning…

Culturally Responsive Instruction for English Language Learners with Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Orosco, Michael John; O'Connor, Rollanda

2014-01-01

This case study describes the culturally responsive instruction of one special education teacher with Latino English language learners (ELLs) with learning disabilities in an urban elementary school setting. This study was situated in a social constructivist research based framework. In investigating this instruction with ELLs, this study focused…

AIDS Education and Citizenship Development in a University/K-12 Partnership.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mitchell, James M.

The move toward standards-based instruction calls for greater student involvement in the learning process. Cooperative learning is widely used as many standards-based school departments advocate greater employment of constructivist classrooms as the most appropriate vehicle of instruction. During academic year 2002-03, 42 students from California…

The Influence of Teachers' Conceptions of Teaching and Learning on Their Technology Acceptance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teo, Timothy; Zhou, Mingming

2017-01-01

Prior research has attempted to incorporate different personal variables within extant theories of technology acceptance models (TAMs). This study further extends TAM by incorporating teachers' conceptions of teaching and learning (CoTL) in two forms: constructivist and traditional conceptions. The moderating effects of teachers' demographic…

Technology Integration: Mobile Devices (iPods), Constructivist Pedagogy, and Student Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keengwe, Jared; Pearson, Donna; Smart, Kathy

2009-01-01

Although mobile technology is still evolving with most mobile devices supporting numerous communications and technology standards, there are currently very few applications of these devices to support teaching and learning activities. Integrated appropriately, mobile devices could help students acquire the skills needed to survive in a complex,…

Using Appreciative Inquiry to Discover and Deliver Change for Surgical Technology Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cabai, Katherine A.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine efficacious teaching-learning strategies that community college stakeholders employ that enhance surgical technology student outcomes. Knowles's adult learning theory, constructivist theory, and appreciative inquiry served as the theoretical foundation for this study. Discovering effective aspects and…

Electronic Information Resources in Undergraduate Education: An Exploratory Study of Opportunities for Student Learning and Independence.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDowell, Liz

2002-01-01

This qualitative interview-based study examines lecturer perspectives on the roles of electronic information resources in undergraduate education. Highlights include electronic academic libraries; changes toward more constructivist approaches to learning; information quality on the Web; plagiarism; information use; information literacy; and…

Moving from Structured to Open Inquiry: Challenges and Limits

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zion, Michal; Mendelovici, Ruthy

2012-01-01

The article provides science educators with definitions of inquiry and its levels, relating them to real-world scientific processes. Such an educational shift entails a fundamental cultural change in the epistemology of science learning in schools, shifting it from "instructionism" to social constructivist learning. The highest level of…

"The Theory behind How Students Learn": Applying Developmental Theory to Research on Children's Historical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dulberg, Nancy

2005-01-01

Recent research on children's historical thinking has produced rich descriptions of instruction. However, the research literature is largely lacking a theoretical model of learning. This article asserts that developmental constructivist theory informs research design and interpretation, provides explanatory power, and promises more useful…

Elementary Teachers' Perceptions of Professional Learning Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gamez, Octavio

2012-01-01

This study presents the results of a social constructivist mixed methods investigation into the perceptions and experiences of elementary teachers participating in professional learning communities (PLCs). In order to better understand the dynamics involved in PLCs, this research used a team development model from human resources literature. Of…