Using Illustrations to Depict Preservice Science Teachers' Self-Efficacy: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greco, Robert Del; Bernadowski, Carianne; Parker, Susan

2018-01-01

This qualitative case study conducted at a small private university in the U.S. found that preservice teacher self-efficacy increased over the course of four semesters when taught inquiry-based instruction from a Social Constructivist Theoretical framework. This study utilized "A Draw a Science Teacher Test Checklist (DASTT-C)" created…

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…

Trying to Include but Supporting Exclusion Instead? Constructing the Roma in Slovak Educational Policies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miškolci, Jozef; Kovácová, Lucia; Kubánová, Martina

2017-01-01

Based on a social constructivist theoretical framework, this research study examines how the design of proinclusive educational policies and the general public construct the Roma students and parents in Slovakia. For this purpose, data from two selected educational policies and five focus groups conducted in five regions in Slovakia were analyzed.…

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

Managing Mobile Relationships: Children's Perceptions of the Impact of the Mobile Phone on Relationships in Their Everyday Lives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bond, Emma

2010-01-01

This article explores English children's use of mobile phones in managing and maintaining friendships and relationships in their everyday lives. Based on the accounts of 30 young people aged between 11 and 17, this research adopts a social constructivist perspective to offer a theoretical framework which explores how children themselves actually…

Coming to Grips with Radical Social Constructivisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phillips, D. C.

This essay distinguishes two broad groups - psychological constructivists and social constructivists - but focusses upon the second of these, although it is stressed that there is great within group variation. More than half of the paper is devoted to general clearing of the ground, during which the reasons for the growing acrimony in the debates between social constructivists and their opponents are assessed, an important consequence of these debates for education is discussed, and an examination is carried out of the radical social constructivist tendency to make strong and exciting but untenable claims which are then backed away from (a tendency which is documented by a close reading of the early pages in Bloors classic book). The last portion of the essay focuses upon social constructivist accounts of the causes of belief in science - the more radical of which denegrate the role of warranting reasons, and which give an exalted place to quasi-anthropological or sociological studies of scientific communities.

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…

Learners' Metaphorical Images about Classroom Management in a Social Constructivist Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akar, Hanife; Yildirim, Ali

2006-01-01

The purpose of this study was to understand the conceptual change teacher candidates went through in the process of a constructivist-learning environment in Classroom Management Course. Teacher candidates' metaphorical images about classroom management were obtained before and after a social constructivist curriculum implementation. Prior to the…

Knowledge Construction in Wikipedia: A Systemic-Constructivist Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oeberst, Aileen; Halatchliyski, Iassen; Kimmerle, Joachim; Cress, Ulrike

2014-01-01

We propose a systemic-constructivist perspective for analyzing knowledge construction. In contrast to theories that focus on individuals as actors, the systemic-constructivist approach emphasizes the relevance of social systems and regards the construction of knowledge as a self-referential process that takes place in social systems. We propose…

Reconstructing Mathematics Pedagogy from a Constructivist Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simon, Martin A.

1995-01-01

Begins with an overview of the constructivist perspective and the pedagogical theory development upon which a constructivist teaching experiment with 20 prospective elementary teachers was based. Derives a theoretical framework for mathematics pedagogy with a focus on decisions about content and mathematical tasks. (49 references) (Author/DDD)

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…

"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…

Teachers' Concerns about Adopting Constructivist Online Game-Based Learning in Formal Curriculum Teaching: The VISOLE Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jong, Morris S. Y.

2016-01-01

Our work is set against the backdrop of the pervasive discussion of harnessing online games to provide students with new constructivist learning opportunities. Upon the theoretical foundation, we have developed Virtual Interactive Student-Oriented Learning Environment (VISOLE), a teaching framework for implementing constructivist online game-based…

A constructivist grounded theory of generalist health professionals and their mental health work.

PubMed

Brunero, Scott; Ramjan, Lucie M; Salamonson, Yenna; Nicholls, Daniel

2018-05-30

Generalist health professionals, often without formal mental health training, provide treatment and care to people with serious mental illness who present with physical health problems in general hospital settings. This article will present findings from a constructivist grounded theory study of the work delivered by generalist health staff to consumers with mental illness on the general medical/surgical wards of two metropolitan hospitals in Sydney, Australia. The results analysed included three participant observations, two focus groups, and 21 interviews and hospital policy and protocol documents. A substantive theory of mental health work in general hospital settings is illustrated which conceptualizes the following categories: (i) the experience: conflicting realities and ideals; (ii) The Context: facilitating social distancing; and (iii) the social processes: invisibility affecting confidence. The categories are understood through the theoretical lens of symbolic interactionism with the theory providing insights into how the generalist health professionals understand their sense of self or identity. © 2018 Australian College of Mental Health Nurses Inc.

Praxis and reflexivity for interprofessional education: towards an inclusive theoretical framework for learning.

PubMed

Hutchings, Maggie; Scammell, Janet; Quinney, Anne

2013-09-01

While there is growing evidence of theoretical perspectives adopted in interprofessional education, learning theories tend to foreground the individual, focusing on psycho-social aspects of individual differences and professional identity to the detriment of considering social-structural factors at work in social practices. Conversely socially situated practice is criticised for being context-specific, making it difficult to draw generalisable conclusions for improving interprofessional education. This article builds on a theoretical framework derived from earlier research, drawing on the dynamics of Dewey's experiential learning theory and Archer's critical realist social theory, to make a case for a meta-theoretical framework enabling social-constructivist and situated learning theories to be interlinked and integrated through praxis and reflexivity. Our current analysis is grounded in an interprofessional curriculum initiative mediated by a virtual community peopled by health and social care users. Student perceptions, captured through quantitative and qualitative data, suggest three major disruptive themes, creating opportunities for congruence and disjuncture and generating a model of zones of interlinked praxis associated with professional differences and identity, pedagogic strategies and technology-mediated approaches. This model contributes to a framework for understanding the complexity of interprofessional learning and offers bridges between individual and structural factors for engaging with the enablements and constraints at work in communities of practice and networks for interprofessional education.

Defining, Designing for, and Measuring "Social Constructivist Digital Literacy" Development in Learners: A Proposed Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reynolds, Rebecca

2016-01-01

This paper offers a newly conceptualized modular framework for digital literacy that defines this concept as a task-driven "social constructivist digital literacy," comprising 6 practice domains grounded in Constructionism and social constructivism: Create, Manage, Publish, Socialize, Research, Surf. The framework articulates possible…

How do small groups make decisions? : A theoretical framework to inform the implementation and study of clinical competency committees.

PubMed

Chahine, Saad; Cristancho, Sayra; Padgett, Jessica; Lingard, Lorelei

2017-06-01

In the competency-based medical education (CBME) approach, clinical competency committees are responsible for making decisions about trainees' competence. However, we currently lack a theoretical model for group decision-making to inform this emerging assessment phenomenon. This paper proposes an organizing framework to study and guide the decision-making processes of clinical competency committees.This is an explanatory, non-exhaustive review, tailored to identify relevant theoretical and evidence-based papers related to small group decision-making. The search was conducted using Google Scholar, Web of Science, MEDLINE, ERIC, and PsycINFO for relevant literature. Using a thematic analysis, two researchers (SC & JP) met four times between April-June 2016 to consolidate the literature included in this review.Three theoretical orientations towards group decision-making emerged from the review: schema, constructivist, and social influence. Schema orientations focus on how groups use algorithms for decision-making. Constructivist orientations focus on how groups construct their shared understanding. Social influence orientations focus on how individual members influence the group's perspective on a decision. Moderators of decision-making relevant to all orientations include: guidelines, stressors, authority, and leadership.Clinical competency committees are the mechanisms by which groups of clinicians will be in charge of interpreting multiple assessment data points and coming to a shared decision about trainee competence. The way in which these committees make decisions can have huge implications for trainee progression and, ultimately, patient care. Therefore, there is a pressing need to build the science of how such group decision-making works in practice. This synthesis suggests a preliminary organizing framework that can be used in the implementation and study of clinical competency committees.

Risk in Science Instruction. The Realist and Constructivist Paradigms of Risk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansen, Julia; Hammann, Marcus

2017-11-01

Risk is always present in people's lives: diseases, new technologies, socio-scientific issues (SSIs) such as climate change, and advances in medicine—to name just a few examples—all carry risks. To be able to navigate risks in everyday life, as well as to participate in social debate on risk-related issues, students need to develop risk competence. Science education can be a powerful tool in supporting students' risk competence, which is an important component of scientific literacy. As there are different definitions of risk within the scientific community, the aims of this article are (1) to review the literature on two major theoretical frameworks for conceptualising risk, the realist, and the constructivist paradigms of risk and (2) to connect both in order to suggest a working definition of what can be understood as risk competence in science instruction.

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.

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…

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…

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…

Representation of People's Decisions in Health Information Systems. A Complementary Approach for Understanding Health Care Systems and Population Health.

PubMed

Gonzalez Bernaldo de Quiros, Fernan; Dawidowski, Adriana R; Figar, Silvana

2017-02-01

In this study, we aimed: 1) to conceptualize the theoretical challenges facing health information systems (HIS) to represent patients' decisions about health and medical treatments in everyday life; 2) to suggest approaches for modeling these processes. The conceptualization of the theoretical and methodological challenges was discussed in 2015 during a series of interdisciplinary meetings attended by health informatics staff, epidemiologists and health professionals working in quality management and primary and secondary prevention of chronic diseases of the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, together with sociologists, anthropologists and e-health stakeholders. HIS are facing the need and challenge to represent social human processes based on constructivist and complexity theories, which are the current frameworks of human sciences for understanding human learning and socio-cultural changes. Computer systems based on these theories can model processes of social construction of concrete and subjective entities and the interrelationships between them. These theories could be implemented, among other ways, through the mapping of health assets, analysis of social impact through community trials and modeling of complexity with system simulation tools. This analysis suggested the need to complement the traditional linear causal explanations of disease onset (and treatments) that are the bases for models of analysis of HIS with constructivist and complexity frameworks. Both may enlighten the complex interrelationships among patients, health services and the health system. The aim of this strategy is to clarify people's decision making processes to improve the efficiency, quality and equity of the health services and the health system.

Uses and Meanings of "Context" in Studies on Children's Knowledge: A Viewpoint from Anthropology and Constructivist Psychology.

PubMed

García Palacios, Mariana; Shabel, Paula; Horn, Axel; Castorina, José Antonio

2018-06-01

Though context has yet to receive an unequivocal definition, it is a concept that frequently appears in research in children's knowledge and its construction. This article examines the scope and meaning of context in genetic psychology and social anthropology in order to better understand the relationship between children's construction of knowledge and the context in which it occurs. Meta-theoretical, theoretical and methodological complexities arise when the concept is analyzed in the two disciplines, and these will also be addressed herein. The fields of anthropology and constructive psychology are both affected by the relationship between the building of knowledge and the social practices surrounding this process. Finally, based on these empirical examinations, the article explores how research methodologies could incorporate the notion of context in research focused on the construction of knowledge.

Fostering Early Adolescents' Motivation: A Longitudinal Study into the Effectiveness of Social Constructivist, Traditional and Combined Schools for Prevocational Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stroet, Kim; Opdenakker, Marie-Christine; Minnaert, Alexander

2016-01-01

Over the past decades, many schools have adapted towards social constructivism with the aim of enhancing students' motivation. There are a variety of perspectives in educational theory, with social constructivist views standing in contrast to traditional views. Hence, we compared students' motivation (levels and developments) in social…

Teaching Camera Calibration by a Constructivist Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Samper, D.; Santolaria, J.; Pastor, J. J.; Aguilar, J. J.

2010-01-01

This article describes the Metrovisionlab simulation software and practical sessions designed to teach the most important machine vision camera calibration aspects in courses for senior undergraduate students. By following a constructivist methodology, having received introductory theoretical classes, students use the Metrovisionlab application to…

Constructivism and the projective assessment of meaning in Rorschach administration.

PubMed

Raskin, J D

2001-08-01

Constructivist perspectives on the Rorschach are outlined. I discuss ways in which constructivism complements and adds to existing Rorschach methodologies. It is suggested hat the constructivist emphasis on personally and socially constructed meanings is very consistent with many of the ways the Rorschach has been used and resonates with recent emphases on the Rorschach as a representational task. Furthermore, constructivist perspectives on Rorschach also provide an opportunity to supplement Exner's (1993, 1995) efforts to standardize and norm the Rorschach in a way that maintains the instrument's historic and admirable attention to relational elements of assessment and psychotherapy. I present a variety of meaning-based techniques for conducting Rorschach assessment, incorporating both the constructivist and social constructionist perspective.

The Problem of Pseudoscience in Science Education and Implications of Constructivist Pedagogy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mugaloglu, Ebru Z.

2014-04-01

The intrusion of pseudoscience into science classrooms is a problem in science education today. This paper discusses the implications of constructivist pedagogy, which relies on the notions of viability and inter-subjectivity, in a context favourable to the acceptance of pseudoscience. Examples from written statements illustrate how prospective science teachers in Turkey readily accept pseudoscientific explanations of the origin of species. Constructivist pedagogy underestimates, if not ignores, the difficulty of holding rational discussions in the presence of pseudoscientific or absolute beliefs. Moreover, it gives a higher priority to learners' exposure to alternative constructions through social negotiation than to furthering their appreciation of science. Under these circumstances, self-confirmation and social pressure to accept existing pseudoscientific beliefs may be unanticipated consequences of social negotiation. Considering the aim of science education to foster an appreciation of science, the implications of constructivist pedagogy are, or should be, of great concern to science educators.

The effectiveness of constructivist science instructional methods on middle school students' student achievement and motivation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brooks, John

A problem facing science educators is determining the most effective means of science instruction so that students will meet or exceed the new rigorous standards. The theoretical framework for this study was based on reform and research efforts that have informed science teachers that using constructivism is the best method of science instruction. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the constructivist method of science instruction affected student achievement and student motivation in a sixth grade science classroom. The guiding research question involved understanding which method of science instruction would be most effective at improving student achievement in science. Other sub-questions included the factors that contribute to student motivation in science and the method of science instruction students receive that affects motivation to learn science. Quantitative data were collected using a pre-test and post-test single group design. T-test and ANCOVA were used to test quantitative hypotheses. Qualitative data were collected using student reflective journals and classroom discussions. Students' perspectives were transcribed, coded and used to further inform quantitative findings. The findings of this study supported the recommendations made by science reformists that the best method of science instruction was a constructivist method. This study also found that participant comments favored constructivist taught classes. The implications for social change at the local level included potential increases in student achievement in science and possibly increased understanding that can facilitate similar changes at other schools. From a global perspective, constructivist-oriented methods might result in students becoming more interested in majoring in science at the college level and in becoming part of a scientifically literate work force.

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…

Joining the Struggle: White Men as Social Justice Allies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bridges, Christopher Edward; Mather, Peter

2015-01-01

This study explored the experience of White men as they sought to support individuals from oppressed groups and participate in a community with other allies like themselves. This research was conducted from a social constructivist epistemological paradigm and informed by a constructivist grounded theory methodology. The following research…

The Significance of Constructivist Classroom Practice in National Curricular Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Booyse, Celia; Chetty, Rajendra

2016-01-01

Evidence of the value of constructivist theory in the classroom is especially important for educational practice in areas of poverty and social challenge. Research was undertaken in 2010 into the application of constructivist theory on instructional design. The findings of this research are particularly relevant to the current curricular crisis in…

The role of legitimation in the professional socialization of second-year undergraduate athletic training students.

PubMed

Klossner, Joanne

2008-01-01

Professional socialization during formal educational preparation can help students learn professional roles and can lead to improved organizational socialization as students emerge as members of the occupation's culture. Professional socialization research in athletic training is limited. To present the role of legitimation and how it influences the professional socialization of second-year athletic training students. Modified constructivist grounded theory and case study methods were used for this qualitative study. An accredited undergraduate athletic training education program. Twelve second-year students were selected purposively. The primary sample group (n = 4) was selected according to theoretical sampling guidelines. The remaining students made up the cohort sample (n = 8). Theoretically relevant data were gathered from 14 clinical instructors to clarify emergent student data. Data collection included document examination, observations, and interviews during 1 academic semester. Data were collected and analyzed through constant comparative analysis. Data triangulation, member checking, and peer-review strategies were used to ensure trustworthiness. Legitimation from various socializing agents initiated professional socialization. Students viewed trust and team membership as rewards for role fulfillment. My findings are consistent with the socialization literature that shows how learning a social or professional role, using rewards to facilitate role performance, and building trusting relationships with socializing agents are important aspects of legitimation and, ultimately, professional socialization.

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

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…

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…

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…

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…

La complexite de l'implantation de l'approche socio-constructiviste et de l'integration des TIC (The Complexity of Implementing the Socio-constructivist Approach and Integrating ICT).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Viens, Jacques; Renaud, Luc

2001-01-01

The education programs of Quebec have a social constructivist focus characterized by project teaching, learner autonomy, cooperation, and metacognition. However, important technological and pedagogical hurdles must be overcome before these new practices can be implemented. (Author/SV)

Who regulates ethics in the virtual world?

PubMed

Sharma, Seemu; Lomash, Hitashi; Bawa, Seema

2015-02-01

This paper attempts to give an insight into emerging ethical issues due to the increased usage of the Internet in our lives. We discuss three main theoretical approaches relating to the ethics involved in the information technology (IT) era: first, the use of IT as a tool; second, the use of social constructivist methods; and third, the approach of phenomenologists. Certain aspects of ethics and IT have been discussed based on a phenomenological approach and moral development. Further, ethical issues related to social networking sites are discussed. A plausible way to make the virtual world ethically responsive is collective responsibility which proposes that society has the power to influence but not control behavior in the virtual world.

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…

Researcher as Instrument: Understanding "Shifting" Findings in Constructivist Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, Dafina Lazarus

2010-01-01

Two studies investigating the meaning and articulation of multiple identities among Black college students revealed shifts in the findings from the 2001 study to the 2005 study. This theoretical review explores the role of the researcher as instrument within the constructivist research paradigm as a possible explanation for some of these apparent…

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.

Patterns of Instructional Discourse that Promote the Perception of Mastery Goals in a Social Constructivist Mathematics Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morrone, Anastasia Steffen; Harkness, Shelly S.; D'Ambrosio, Beatriz; Caulfield, Richard

2004-01-01

Elementary education students enrolled in an experimental mathematics course participated in this study. The course is taught using a social constructivist approach and is designed to improve students' mathematical problem-solving ability and deepen their understanding of mathematics. The research question for the present study is as follows: In…

Differentiated Function of School in Socio-Culturally Disadvantaged Context: A Constructivist Grounded Theory Study from Turkey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caliskan, Zuhal Zeybekoglu; Simsek, Hasan; Kondakci, Yasar

2017-01-01

This study analyses the functioning of a school as a social system in an atypical context with the purpose of generating propositions to tackle educational problems confronted by socially and economically disadvantaged groups attending these schools. Adopting the constructivist grounded theory, the analysis suggests that there is a kind of…

The Use of Facebook in an Introductory MIS Course: Social Constructivist Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ractham, Peter; Kaewkitipong, Laddawan; Firpo, Daniel

2012-01-01

The major objective of this article is to evaluate via a Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) the implementation of a Social Constructivist learning framework for an introductory Management Information System (MIS) course. Facebook was used as a learning artifact to build and foster a learning environment, and a series of features and…

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…

In the ruins of representation: identity, individuality, subjectification.

PubMed

Papadopoulos, Dimitris

2008-03-01

This paper explores a threefold shift in our understanding of identity formation and self-relationality: from an essentialist understanding of identity, to discursive and constructivist approaches, to, finally, the notion of embodied subjectification. The main target of this paper is to historicize these ideas and to localize them in the current social and political conditions of North-Atlantic societies. The core argument is that these three steps in reformulating the concept of identity correspond to an emerging form of subjectivity, affirmative subjectivity, which is bound to the proliferation of the post-Fordist reorganization of the social and political realm. The three theoretical shifts and their social situatedness will be illustrated through a rereading of some ideas from Lev S. Vygotsky's late theory, Michel Foucault's account of government and Jacques Rancière's political philosophy.

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…

Content Analysis of Suicide Notes as a Test of the Motivational Component of the Existential-Constructivist Model of Suicide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, James R.; Bromley, Jamie L.; McNally, Christopher J.; Lester, David

2007-01-01

A sample of 40 suicide notes were analyzed for motivational content in relation to an existential-constructivist theory of suicide. Results generally supported the 4 theoretical categories of somatic, relational, spiritual, and psychological motivations, with 39 notes having content that could be classified according to the aforementioned…

The Role of Legitimation in the Professional Socialization of Second-Year Undergraduate Athletic Training Students

PubMed Central

Klossner, Joanne

2008-01-01

Context: Professional socialization during formal educational preparation can help students learn professional roles and can lead to improved organizational socialization as students emerge as members of the occupation's culture. Professional socialization research in athletic training is limited. Objective: To present the role of legitimation and how it influences the professional socialization of second-year athletic training students. Design: Modified constructivist grounded theory and case study methods were used for this qualitative study. Setting: An accredited undergraduate athletic training education program. Patients or Other Participants: Twelve second-year students were selected purposively. The primary sample group (n  =  4) was selected according to theoretical sampling guidelines. The remaining students made up the cohort sample (n  =  8). Theoretically relevant data were gathered from 14 clinical instructors to clarify emergent student data. Data Collection and Analysis: Data collection included document examination, observations, and interviews during 1 academic semester. Data were collected and analyzed through constant comparative analysis. Data triangulation, member checking, and peer-review strategies were used to ensure trustworthiness. Results: Legitimation from various socializing agents initiated professional socialization. Students viewed trust and team membership as rewards for role fulfillment. Conclusions: My findings are consistent with the socialization literature that shows how learning a social or professional role, using rewards to facilitate role performance, and building trusting relationships with socializing agents are important aspects of legitimation and, ultimately, professional socialization. PMID:18668171

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…

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…

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…

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…

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.

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…

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.

Development of Constructivist Theory of Mind from Middle Childhood to Early Adulthood and Its Relation to Social Cognition and Behavior

PubMed Central

Weimer, Amy A.; Parault Dowds, Susan J.; Fabricius, William V.; Schwanenflugel, Paula J.; Suh, Go Woon

2016-01-01

Two studies examined the development of constructivist theory of mind (ToM) during late childhood and early adolescence. In Study 1 a new measure was developed to assess participants’ understanding of the interpretive and constructive processes embedded in memory, comprehension, attention, comparison, planning, and inference. Using this measure, Study 2 tested a mediational model in which prosocial reasoning about conflict mediated the relation between constructivist ToM and behavior problems in high school. Results showed that the onset of constructivist ToM occurs between late childhood and early adolescence, and that adolescents who have more advanced constructivist ToM have more prosocial reasoning about conflict, which in turn mediated the relation with fewer serious behavior problems in high school, after controlling for academic performance and sex. In both studies, females showed more advanced constructivist ToM than males in high school. PMID:27821294

Theoretical Grounding: The "Missing Link" in Suicide Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, James R.

2001-01-01

Discusses the strengths and limitations of the current pragmatic focus of research in suicidology and presents an argument for theoretical grounding as a precursor for continued advancement in this area. Presents an existential-constructivist framework of "meaning creation" as a theoretical heuristic for understanding suicide. Outlines general…

Contextualizing Obesity and Diabetes Policy: Exploring a Nested Statistical and Constructivist Approach at the Cross-National and Subnational Government Level in the United States and Brazil

PubMed Central

Gómez, Eduardo J.

2017-01-01

Background: This article conducts a comparative national and subnational government analysis of the political, economic, and ideational constructivist contextual factors facilitating the adoption of obesity and diabetes policy. Methods: We adopt a nested analytical approach to policy analysis, which combines cross-national statistical analysis with subnational case study comparisons to examine theoretical prepositions and discover alternative contextual factors; this was combined with an ideational constructivist approach to policy-making. Results: Contrary to the existing literature, we found that with the exception of cross-national statistical differences in access to healthcare infrastructural resources, the growing burden of obesity and diabetes, rising healthcare costs and increased citizens’ knowledge had no predictive affect on the adoption of obesity and diabetes policy. We then turned to a subnational comparative analysis of the states of Mississippi in the United States and Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil to further assess the importance of infrastructural resources, at two units of analysis: the state governments versus rural municipal governments. Qualitative evidence suggests that differences in subnational healthcare infrastructural resources were insufficient for explaining policy reform processes, highlighting instead other potentially important factors, such as state-civil societal relationships and policy diffusion in Mississippi, federal policy intervention in Rio Grande do Norte, and politicians’ social construction of obesity and the resulting differences in policy roles assigned to the central government. Conclusion: We conclude by underscoring the complexity of subnational policy responses to obesity and diabetes, the importance of combining resource and constructivist analysis for better understanding the context of policy reform, while underscoring the potential lessons that the United States can learn from Brazil. PMID:29179290

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…

Coding, Constant Comparisons, and Core Categories: A Worked Example for Novice Constructivist Grounded Theorists.

PubMed

Giles, Tracey M; de Lacey, Sheryl; Muir-Cochrane, Eimear

2016-01-01

Grounded theory method has been described extensively in the literature. Yet, the varying processes portrayed can be confusing for novice grounded theorists. This article provides a worked example of the data analysis phase of a constructivist grounded theory study that examined family presence during resuscitation in acute health care settings. Core grounded theory methods are exemplified, including initial and focused coding, constant comparative analysis, memo writing, theoretical sampling, and theoretical saturation. The article traces the construction of the core category "Conditional Permission" from initial and focused codes, subcategories, and properties, through to its position in the final substantive grounded theory.

Constructivisms from a genetic point of view: a critical classification of current tendencies.

PubMed

Sánchez, José Carlos; Loredo, José Carlos

2009-12-01

In this paper, we propose a critical classification of contemporary constructivist orientations. Our fundamental theoretical reference is the notion of genesis, understood as the construction of reality in a way that is neither relativist nor positivist-realist. We identify a nucleus of classic, genetic constructivism that revolves around the ideas of Baldwin, Piaget and Vygotsky and discuss two tendencies that distort the spirit of that nucleus: objectivism and subjectivism. Objectivism rules out the psychological, constructive activity of the subject, subordinating (or just reducing) it to objective structures either from nature (like genetic endowment or neural functioning), or from culture (like language or social practices). Subjectivism completely detaches the objectivity of knowledge from its construction on the part of the subject, reducing it to the mere product of individual interest, view, or irrationality. Thus, subjectivism is the non-constructive way to conceive the subject. Then, we attempt to show the dialectics that exists between these two tendencies and the scope of our criteria by analysing a representative (non exhaustive) group of authors who are defined as constructivists or who bring important elements to the debate about constructivism.

Constructivism in Theory and in Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schcolnik, Miriam; Kol, Sara; Abarbanel, Joan

2016-01-01

The article describes the change in teacher training from instructivist to constructivist. The author defines constructivism and discusses its two main approaches: cognitive and social constructivism. The author then compares an instructivist versus a constructivist classroom and focuses on how they are different in terms of the level of…

Walking the Talk: Putting Constructivist Thinking into Practice in Classrooms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riley, Maureen Keohane; And Others

1993-01-01

The constructivist approach of the Teacher as Composer project used analog experiences that replicate thinking and social demands. Classroom constraints, inservice limitations, and teacher mindsets impeded its application. Personal narratives and principles of children's thinking helped bridge the gap between theory and practice. (SK)

Relationships among Constructivist Learning Environment Perceptions, Motivational Beliefs, Self-Regulation and Science Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2013-01-01

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…

Development of constructivist theory of mind from middle childhood to early adulthood and its relation to social cognition and behavior.

PubMed

Weimer, Amy A; Parault Dowds, Susan J; Fabricius, William V; Schwanenflugel, Paula J; Suh, Go Woon

2017-02-01

Two studies examined the development of constructivist theory of mind (ToM) during late childhood and early adolescence. In Study 1, a new measure was developed to assess participants' understanding of the interpretive and constructive processes embedded in memory, comprehension, attention, comparison, planning, and inference. Using this measure, Study 2 tested a mediational model in which prosocial reasoning about conflict mediated the relation between constructivist ToM and behavior problems in high school. Results showed that the onset of constructivist ToM occurs between late childhood and early adolescence and that adolescents who have more advanced constructivist ToM have more prosocial reasoning about conflict, which in turn mediated the relation with fewer serious behavior problems in high school, after controlling for academic performance and sex. In both studies, girls showed more advanced constructivist ToM than boys in high school. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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…

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…

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.

"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…

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…

The Role of the Constructivist Learning Theory and Collaborative Learning Environment on Wiki Classroom, and the Relationship between Them

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alzahrani, Ibraheem; Woollard, John

2013-01-01

This paper seeks to discover the relationship between both the social constructivist learning theory and the collaborative learning environment. This relationship can be identified by giving an example of the learning environment. Due to wiki characteristics, Wiki technology is one of the most famous learning environments that can show the…

Perceived discrimination among Latino immigrants in new destinations: The case of Durham, NC1

PubMed Central

Flippen, Chenoa A.; Parrado, Emilio A.

2015-01-01

This paper draws on original survey data to assess the prevalence of perceived discrimination among Latin American immigrants to Durham, NC, a “new immigrant destinations” in the Southeastern United States. Even though discrimination has a wide-ranging impact on social groups, from blocked opportunities, to adverse health outcomes, to highlighting and reifying inter-group boundaries, research among immigrant Latinos is rare, especially in new destinations. Our theoretical framework and empirical analysis expand social constructivist approaches that view ethnic discrimination as emerging from processes of competition and incorporation. We broaden prior discussions by investigating the specific social forces that give rise to perceived discrimination. In particular, we examine the extent to which perceptions of unequal treatment vary by gender, elaborating on the situational conditions than differentiate discrimination experiences for men and women. We also incorporate dimensions unique to the contemporary Latino immigrant experience, such as legal status, family migration dynamics, and transnationalism. PMID:26848208

Transforming School and Society: Examining the Theoretical Foundations of Scholar-Practitioner Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hampton, Keri

2010-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to examine, using the tenets of cultural theory, critical theory, constructivist theory, and transformational theory as a lens, selected theoretical foundations of the scholar-practitioner. These foundations form the framework for understanding the nature of the scholar-practitioner construct and provide insight into…

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.…

Cultural competence: a constructivist definition.

PubMed

Blanchet Garneau, Amélie; Pepin, Jacinthe

2015-01-01

In nursing education, most of the current teaching practices perpetuate an essentialist perspective of culture and make it imperative to refresh the concept of cultural competence in nursing. The purpose of this article is to propose a constructivist definition of cultural competence that stems from the conclusions of an extensive critical review of the literature on the concepts of culture, cultural competence, and cultural safety among nurses and other health professionals. The proposed constructivist definition is situated in the unitary-transformative paradigm in nursing as defined by Newman and colleagues. It makes the connection between the field of competency-based education and the nursing discipline. Cultural competence in a constructivist paradigm that is oriented toward critical, reflective practice can help us develop knowledge about the role of nurses in reducing health inequalities and lead to a comprehensive ethical reflection about the social mandate of health care professionals. © The Author(s) 2014.

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…

Reflecting on Jens Rasmussen's legacy (2) behind and beyond, a 'constructivist turn'.

PubMed

Le Coze, Jean-Christophe

2017-03-01

This article is the second part of a study on the legacy of Jens Rasmussen. The first article, subtitled 'A Strong Program for a Hard Problem', looks back on his 30 years of scientific contribution, from 1969 to 2000. This second article explores and investigates some of the intellectual roots which influenced his thinking, using them as a basis to understand some limits and move forward. Indeed, historically oriented studies such as this one are not only tributes to researchers, but a way to differentiate and contrast our present situation with the past in order to integrate contemporary trends, be they theoretical or empirical, or oriented towards research and new models. In the first section of this article, I offer a synthesis of the background covered in the previous article, but I use a tree here as a graphical complement. Branches of the tree show the many fruitful directions opened by Jens Rasmussen, directions which inspired many researchers. In the second part, I address what I believe to be behind this wealth of engineering legacy: cybernetics. I contend that cybernetics has had a profound influence on his thinking and provided him key principles for his inspiring and successful models. To develop the tree image, one might say that cybernetics is the trunk of the tree. Finally, in the third part, I take the opportunity to explore the relevance of extending and sensitising his program to constructivist discourses. After an introduction to this discourse, identifying four types of constructivisms (cognitive, social, epistemological and anthropological), I characterise this move as a 'constructivist turn'. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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.

Upholding Equality and Social Justice: A Social Constructivist Perspective on Emancipatory Career Guidance Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bassot, Barbara

2012-01-01

After several years of political agendas focused on social inclusion, career guidance practice needs to return to its roots of promoting equality and social justice. This conceptual article argues that for many years there has been an overreliance on theories focused on the individual, and examines the relationship between social structures and…

An Integrative Perspective on Interpersonal Coordination in Interactive Team Sports

PubMed Central

Steiner, Silvan; Macquet, Anne-Claire; Seiler, Roland

2017-01-01

Interpersonal coordination is a key factor in team performance. In interactive team sports, the limited predictability of a constantly changing context makes coordination challenging. Approaches that highlight the support provided by environmental information and theories of shared mental models provide potential explanations of how interpersonal coordination can nonetheless be established. In this article, we first outline the main assumptions of these approaches and consider criticisms that have been raised with regard to each. The aim of this article is to define a theoretical perspective that integrates the coordination mechanisms of the two approaches. In doing so, we borrow from a theoretical outline of group action. According to this outline, group action based on a priori shared mental models is an example of how interpersonal coordination is established from the top down. Interpersonal coordination in reaction to the perception of affordances represents the bottom-up component of group action. Both components are inextricably involved in the coordination of interactive sports teams. We further elaborate on the theoretical outline to integrate a third, constructivist approach. Integrating this third approach helps to explain interpersonal coordination in game situations for which no shared mental models are established and game situations that remain ambiguous in terms of perceived affordances. The article describes how hierarchical, sequential, and complex dimensions of action organization are important aspects of this constructivist perspective and how mental models may be involved. A basketball example is used to illustrate how top-down, bottom-up and constructivist processes may be simultaneously involved in enabling interpersonal coordination. Finally, we present the implications for research and practice. PMID:28894428

Observation of Communication by Physical Education Teachers: Detecting Patterns in Verbal Behavior

PubMed Central

García-Fariña, Abraham; Jiménez-Jiménez, F.; Anguera, M. Teresa

2018-01-01

The aim of this study was to analyze the verbal behavior of primary school physical education teachers in a natural classroom setting in order to investigate patterns in social constructivist communication strategies before and after participation in a training program designed to familiarize teachers with these strategies. The participants were three experienced physical education teachers interacting separately with 65 students over a series of classes. Written informed consent was obtained from all the students' parents or legal guardians. An indirect observation tool (ADDEF) was designed specifically for the study within the theoretical framework, and consisted of a combined field format, with three dimensions, and category systems. Each dimension formed the basis for building a subsequent system of exhaustive and mutually exclusive categories. Twenty-nine sessions, grouped into two separate modules, were coded using the Atlas.ti 7 program, and a total of 1991 units (messages containing constructivist discursive strategies) were recorded. Analysis of intraobserver reliability showed almost perfect agreement. Lag sequential analysis, which is a powerful statistical technique based on the calculation of conditional and unconditional probabilities in prospective and retrospective lags, was performed in GSEQ5 software to search for verbal behavior patterns before and after the training program. At both time points, we detected a pattern formed by requests for information combined with the incorporation of students' contributions into the teachers' discourse and re-elaborations of answers. In the post-training phase, we detected new and stronger patterns in certain sessions, indicating that programs combining theoretical and practical knowledge can effectively increase teachers' repertoire of discursive strategies and ultimately promote active engagement in learning. This has important implications for the evaluation and development of teacher effectiveness in practice and formal education programs. PMID:29615943

Observation of Communication by Physical Education Teachers: Detecting Patterns in Verbal Behavior.

PubMed

García-Fariña, Abraham; Jiménez-Jiménez, F; Anguera, M Teresa

2018-01-01

The aim of this study was to analyze the verbal behavior of primary school physical education teachers in a natural classroom setting in order to investigate patterns in social constructivist communication strategies before and after participation in a training program designed to familiarize teachers with these strategies. The participants were three experienced physical education teachers interacting separately with 65 students over a series of classes. Written informed consent was obtained from all the students' parents or legal guardians. An indirect observation tool (ADDEF) was designed specifically for the study within the theoretical framework, and consisted of a combined field format, with three dimensions, and category systems. Each dimension formed the basis for building a subsequent system of exhaustive and mutually exclusive categories. Twenty-nine sessions, grouped into two separate modules, were coded using the Atlas.ti 7 program, and a total of 1991 units (messages containing constructivist discursive strategies) were recorded. Analysis of intraobserver reliability showed almost perfect agreement. Lag sequential analysis, which is a powerful statistical technique based on the calculation of conditional and unconditional probabilities in prospective and retrospective lags, was performed in GSEQ5 software to search for verbal behavior patterns before and after the training program. At both time points, we detected a pattern formed by requests for information combined with the incorporation of students' contributions into the teachers' discourse and re-elaborations of answers. In the post-training phase, we detected new and stronger patterns in certain sessions, indicating that programs combining theoretical and practical knowledge can effectively increase teachers' repertoire of discursive strategies and ultimately promote active engagement in learning. This has important implications for the evaluation and development of teacher effectiveness in practice and formal education programs.

Constructing Apprenticeship: A Contemporary Interpretation of Medieval Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pannabecker, John R.

1991-01-01

A social constructivist approach is used to study apprenticeship in the textile industry in medieval Paris. Issues of inertia, the dynamics of change, diversity, access to corporations, and the effect of social interactions and conflict on solving problems are examined. (SK)

Shifting contours of boundaries: an exploration of inter-agency integration between hospital and community interprofessional diabetes programs.

PubMed

Wong, Rene; Breiner, Petra; Mylopoulos, Maria

2014-09-01

This article reports on research into the relationships that emerged between hospital-based and community-based interprofessional diabetes programs involved in inter-agency care. Using constructivist grounded theory methodology we interviewed a purposive theoretical sample of 21 clinicians and administrators from both types of programs. Emergent themes were identified through a process of constant comparative analysis. Initial boundaries were constructed based on contrasts in beliefs, practices and expertise. In response to bureaucratic and social pressures, boundaries were redefined in a way that created role uncertainty and disempowered community programs, ultimately preventing collaboration. We illustrate the dynamic and multi-dimensional nature of social and symbolic boundaries in inter-agency diabetes care and the tacit ways in which hospitals can maintain a power position at the expense of other actors in the field. As efforts continue in Canada and elsewhere to move knowledge and resources into community sectors, we highlight the importance of hospitals seeing beyond their own interests and adopting more altruistic models of inter-agency integration.

Children's Working Theories: Invoking Disequilibrium

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lovatt, Daniel; Hedges, Helen

2015-01-01

One of the outcomes of the New Zealand early childhood curriculum, "Te Whariki", is "working theories". Prior research on this concept has primarily utilised sociocultural theoretical underpinnings and neglected Piagetian constructivist theories. This paper explores ways the Piagetian concepts of equilibrium and disequilibrium…

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…

Extremely Ego-Oriented Preservice Teachers' Perspectives on Teaching Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Todorovich, John R.

2009-01-01

Social constructivists posit that learning involves social interactions among individuals in a given place and time. Since teachers play a significant role in how social interactions are developed and determined in the school classroom, it is important to learn how teachers make decisions about their teaching behaviors and interactions with their…

How to Structure Group Work? Conditions of Efficacy and Methodological Considerations in Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lafont, Lucile; Rivière, Camille; Darnis, Florence; Legrain, Pascal

2017-01-01

This article is grounded in social constructivist perspectives of learning: its purpose is to provide an overview of the "Interactions Sociales et Acquisition" (ISA) [Social Interactions and Acquisition] French group's research that examines how a peer-assisted learning (PAL) group context facilitates students' acquisition of motor and…

The Construction of Moral Rationality.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moshman, D.

1995-01-01

Offers a theoretical account of moral rationality within a rational constructivist paradigm examining the nature and relationship of rationality and reasoning. Suggests progressive changes through developmental levels of moral rationality. Proposes a developmental moral epistemology that accommodates moral pluralism to a greater degree than does…

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.…

From Monologue to Dialogue: Interpreting Social Constructivism with a Bakhtinian Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mishra, Rishabh Kumar

2015-01-01

At present it is a well-established idea that the construction of knowledge is a process of co-construction of meanings through participation in socially negotiated and discursive activity. The pedagogic translation of this idea owes its root to a social constructivist perspective of development and learning. It envisages teaching-learning as a…

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…

Adult Student Identity in an Intergenerational Community College Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kasworm, Carol

2005-01-01

What is the nature of an adult student identity? Based in social constructivist theory, this study explored coconstructed understandings of culturally and socially mediated student identities through a select group of adult undergraduates in intergenerational community college classroom contexts. Key findings elaborated the coconstruction of two…

Exploring the Impacts of Social Networking Sites on Academic Relations in the University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rambe, Patient

2011-01-01

Social networking sites (SNS) affordances for persistent interaction, collective generation of knowledge, and formation of peer-based clusters for knowledge sharing render them useful for developing constructivist knowledge environments. However, notwithstanding their academic value, these environments are not necessarily insulated from the…

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.

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,…

Cognitive and Social Constructivism: Developing Tools for an Effective Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powell, Katherine C.; Kalina, Cody J.

2009-01-01

An effective classroom, where teachers and students are communicating optimally, is dependent on using constructivist strategies, tools and practices. There are two major types of constructivism in the classroom: (1) Cognitive or individual constructivism depending on Piaget's theory, and (2) Social constructivism depending on Vygotsky's theory.…

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,…

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…

Constructivist and Intersectional Interpretations of a Lesbian College Student's Multiple Social Identities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abes, Elisa S.

2012-01-01

Constructivism and intersectionality are used to explore one lesbian college student's multiple identities. These frameworks reveal how meaning-making contributes to power's influence on identity, while power shapes meaning-making. For this student, lesbian identity is a product of social class, dominant and subordinate norms, and interactions…

Strengthening Career Human Agency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Charles P.

2006-01-01

Rooted in A. Bandura's (1982, 2001b) social cognitive theory, the notion of human agency has received considerable attention in vocational and career psychology for the last 2 decades, especially with the recent emergence of social constructivist thinking in the field. This article continues in the same direction. In reviewing the notion of human…

The Inclusion of Children with Special Educational Needs in an Intensive French as a Second-Language Program: From Theory to Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joy, Rhonda; Murphy, Elizabeth

2012-01-01

This paper portrays the activity system of eight classes of Grade 6 children with special educational needs in an Intensive French as a second-language education program. Classroom norms and tools reflected a social-interactionist and social-constructivist approach with scaffolding, social interaction, multiple modes of representing, holistic,…

'Intensive care unit survivorship' - a constructivist grounded theory of surviving critical illness.

PubMed

Kean, Susanne; Salisbury, Lisa G; Rattray, Janice; Walsh, Timothy S; Huby, Guro; Ramsay, Pamela

2017-10-01

To theorise intensive care unit survivorship after a critical illness based on longitudinal qualitative data. Increasingly, patients survive episodes of critical illness. However, the short- and long-term impact of critical illness includes physical, psychological, social and economic challenges long after hospital discharge. An appreciation is emerging that care needs to extend beyond critical illness to enable patients to reclaim their lives postdischarge with the term 'survivorship' being increasingly used in this context. What constitutes critical illness survivorship has, to date, not been theoretically explored. Longitudinal qualitative and constructivist grounded theory. Interviews (n = 46) with 17 participants were conducted at four time points: (1) before discharge from hospital, (2) four to six weeks postdischarge, (3) six months and (4) 12 months postdischarge across two adult intensive care unit setting. Individual face-to-face interviews. Data analysis followed the principles of Charmaz's constructivist grounded theory. 'Intensive care unit survivorship' emerged as the core category and was theorised using concepts such as status passages, liminality and temporality to understand the various transitions participants made postcritical illness. Intensive care unit survivorship describes the unscheduled status passage of falling critically ill and being taken to the threshold of life and the journey to a life postcritical illness. Surviving critical illness goes beyond recovery; surviving means 'moving on' to life postcritical illness. 'Moving on' incorporates a redefinition of self that incorporates any lingering intensive care unit legacies and being in control of one's life again. For healthcare professionals and policymakers, it is important to realise that recovery and transitioning through to survivorship happen within an individual's time frame, not a schedule imposed by the healthcare system. Currently, there are no care pathways or policies in place for critical illness survivors that would support intensive care unit survivors and their families in the transitions to survivorship. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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…

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…

Listening to Narratives: An Experimental Examination of Storytelling in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glonek, Katie L.; King, Paul E.

2014-01-01

In an age of PowerPoint, much everyday public communication is semantically organized as an expository presentation. This contrasts with traditional approaches such as storytelling that are episodically organized and presented as narratives. The constructivist theory of narrative comprehension, along with other theoretical perspectives, suggests…

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…

"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…

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…

A Study of Students on the Autism Spectrum Transformation in a High School Transition Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore-Gumora, Courteny

2014-01-01

This study brings together the theoretical and empirical practices of traditional informative education, radical transformative education, and sustainable education reform. An analysis of learning disability and constructivist learning are used to elucidate the socio-complexity of historic academic constructs concerning educational leadership for…

Fostering Critical Thinking Practices at Primary Science Classrooms in Nepal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Acharya, Kamal Prasad

2016-01-01

This article examines the socio-cultural activities that have direct and indirect impacts on critical thinking practices in primary science classrooms and what kinds of teachers' activities help to foster the development of critical thinking practices in children. Meanwhile, the constructivist and the socio-cultural theoretical dimensions have…

Communication, Constructivism, and Transfer of Knowledge in the Education of Bilingual Learners.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olivares, Rafael A.

2002-01-01

Discusses a theoretical framework to educate bilingual learners that links the communicative approach and the constructivist approach to learning with the transfer of knowledge from one language to another. The framework is illustrated in the communication, constructivism, and transference of knowledge (CCT) model where bilingual students use…

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…

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.

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…

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…

Gender Gaps in Group Listening and Speaking: Issues in Social Constructivist Approaches to Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunter, Darryl; Gambell, Trevor; Randhawa, Bikkar

2005-01-01

Because of its centrality to school success, social status, and workplace effectiveness, oral and aural skills development has been increasingly emphasized in Canadian curricula, classrooms and, very recently, large-scale assessment. The corresponding emphasis on group processes and collaborative learning has aimed to address equity issues in…

Critical Race Theory-Social Constructivist Bricolage: A Health-Promoting Schools Research Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nyika, Lawrence; Murray-Orr, Anne

2017-01-01

While the current literature recognises the capacity of diverse methodologies to provide informative understandings of health-promoting schools (HPS), there is a paucity of examples to show how different research strategies can be used. We address this knowledge gap by examining the significance of a critical race theory-social constructivist…

On the Making of Hard Times and Good Times: The Social Construction of Resource Stress.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neumann, Anna

1995-01-01

A study of two colleges examined how the president's communicative behavior affects organizational life, viewed from a social constructivist perspective. It is concluded that the president can inadvertently create hard times even in good financial circumstances and abate them during serious financial decline. (Author/MSE)

Patterns of Non-Verbal Social Interactions within Intensive Mathematics Intervention Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Jonathan Norris; Harkness, Shelly Sheats

2016-01-01

This study examined the non-verbal patterns of interaction within an intensive mathematics intervention context. Specifically, the authors draw on social constructivist worldview to examine a teacher's use of gesture in this setting. The teacher conducted a series of longitudinal teaching experiments with a small number of young, school-age…

Co-Regulation of Student Motivation and Emergent Identity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCaslin, Mary

2009-01-01

In this article I outline a co-regulation model of identity that is based on an emergent interaction perspective derived from Vygotskian theory. I use this model to suggest the role of motivation in identity development. The co-regulation approach is one of many modern attempts (e.g., social cognitive, social constructivist, sociocultural) to…

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…

The Reporting of the September 11th Terrorist Attacks in American Social Studies Textbooks: A Muslim Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saleem, Mohammed M.; Thomas, Michael K.

2011-01-01

This study analyzes the reporting of the September 11th terrorist attacks in social studies textbooks from a Muslim perspective and reports on findings from a study of the responses of American Muslim children to the treatment of the events of September 11th in social studies textbooks. Constructivist grounded theory was used to centralize the…

Complementary medicines in medicine: Conceptualising terminology among Australian medical students using a constructivist grounded theory approach.

PubMed

Templeman, Kate; Robinson, Anske; McKenna, Lisa

2015-02-01

Terminology around the use of complementary medicines (CM) within medical discourse is ambiguous. Clear collective discourse within the medical context is required. This study reports the findings of a Constructivist Grounded Theory Method study used to explore medical students' conceptualisation of terminology and associated value components around CMs as evidenced within their discourse community. The results show that terminology surrounding CMs within medicine is politically charged and fraught with value judgements. Terms used to describe CMs were considered, many of which were deemed problematic. Categorisation of specific medicines was also deemed inappropriate in certain contexts. Conceptualisation of CM terminology, categorisation and value implications, discriminated between levels of evidence for CMs and provided insights into the social change of medicine towards emergence of an evidence-based integrative approach. The results show that terminology surrounding CM is a social construct consistent with fluid conceptualisation and operationalisation in different social contexts. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Thinking through every step: how people with spinal cord injuries relearn to walk.

PubMed

Jordan, Meggan M; Berkowitz, Dana; Hannold, Elizabeth; Velozo, Craig A; Behrman, Andrea L

2013-08-01

In this article we explore how people with incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI) create meaning out of their changing bodies as they undergo a therapeutic intervention called locomotor training (LT). Therapeutic interventions like LT are used to promote the recovery of walking ability among individuals with iSCI. The chronological nature of this study--interviews at three points throughout the 12-week intervention--enhances understanding of the recovering self after spinal cord injury. Drawing on a constructivist theoretical framework, we organize data according to three narrative frames. Participants interpreted LT as (a) a physical change that was meaningful because of its social significance, (b) a coping strategy for dealing with the uncertainty of long-term recovery, and (c) a moral strategy to reconstitute the self. We offer findings that lay the conceptual groundwork for generating new knowledge about what is important to people with iSCI as they relearn how to walk.

Administrative Perceptions on the Role of the School Library Media Specialist

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Page, Kayla

2013-01-01

Despite the efforts of local school library media specialists to promote their programming, many administrators do not understand the roles and responsibilities of the school library media specialist. Using a constructivist theoretical framework, this study was designed to examine the local school administrators' perceptions of the role of the…

Constructivist Pedagogy and Symbolism: Vico, Cassirer, Piaget, Bateson

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Thomas Erling

2012-01-01

Constructivism is at the heart of a pedagogical philosophy going back to Vico, whose view of the interrelationship of the arts and sciences sought to reconstitute the classical "paideia". The Vichian idea that human beings can only know the truth of what they themselves have made has theoretical and practical consequences for Vico's pedagogy and…

What Are We Looking For?--Pro Critical Realism in Text Interpretation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siljander, Pauli

2011-01-01

A visible role in the theoretical discourses on education has been played in the last couple of decades by the constructivist epistemologies, which have questioned the basic assumptions of realist epistemologies. The increased popularity of interpretative approaches especially has put the realist epistemologies on the defensive. Basing itself on…

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…

Leading though Language Learning and Teaching: The Case of Gandhi

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eaton, Sarah Elaine

2010-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to link the notions of language learning and leadership, using Gandhi as a case study. Theoretical Framework: This work is studied through a constructivist lens, and is further influenced by Educational Leadership thinkers such as Michael Fullan (2006). Methodology: Choosing a broad general theme of interest…

Constructing Mathematical Knowledge: Epistemology and Mathematics Education. Studies in Mathematics Education Series: 4.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ernest, Paul, Ed.

This book illustrates the breadth of theoretical and philosophical perspectives that can be brought to bear on mathematics and education. Part 1, "Constructivism and the Learning of Mathematics," contains the following chapters: (1) "A Radical Constructivist View of Basic Mathematical Concepts" (E. von Glasersfeld); (2) "Interaction and Children's…

A Constructivist Computational Platform to Support Mathematics Education in Elementary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garcia, I.; Pacheco, C.

2013-01-01

Many courses for elementary school are based upon teacher presentation and explanation of basic topics, rather than allowing students to develop their own knowledge. This traditional model may turn elementary-level lessons into an extremely theoretical, boring and non-effective process. In this context, research in mathematics elementary education…

Rethinking the Elementary Science Methods Course: A Case for Content, Pedagogy, and Informal Science Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Janet

2000-01-01

Indicates the importance of preparing prospective teachers who will be elementary science teachers with different methods. Presents the theoretical and practical rationale for developing a constructivist-based elementary science methods course. Discusses the impact student knowledge and understanding of science and student attitudes has on…

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…

On the Role of Mathematics in Physics: A Constructivist Epistemic Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quale, Andreas

2011-01-01

The association between the observable physical world and the mathematical models used in theoretical physics to describe this world is examined. Such models will frequently exhibit solutions that are "unexpected," in the sense that they describe physical situations which are different from that which the physicist may initially have had in mind…

A Comparison of Behavioral and Constructivist Interventions for Increasing Math-Fact Fluency in a Second-Grade Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poncy, Brian C.; McCallum, Elizabeth; Schmitt, Ara J.

2010-01-01

Although basic math skill deficits are commonly encountered across elementary and secondary school students, few empirically validated, group-administered interventions are available for educators attempting to prevent or remedy such problems. This study compared the effectiveness of two theoretically distinct interventions for improving the…

Teachers' tendencies to promote student-led science projects: Associations with their views about science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bencze, J. Lawrence; Bowen, G. Michael; Alsop, Steve

2006-05-01

School science students can benefit greatly from participation in student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry projects. For various possible reasons, however, students tend not to be engaged in such inquiries. Among factors that may limit their opportunities to engage in open-ended inquiries of their design are teachers' conceptions about science. To explore possible relationships between teachers' conceptions about science and the types of inquiry activities in which they engage students, instrumental case studies of five secondary science teachers were developed, using field notes, repertory grids, samples of lesson plans and student activities, and semistructured interviews. Based on constructivist grounded theory analysis, participating teachers' tendencies to promote student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry projects seemed to correspond with positions about the nature of science to which they indicated adherence. A tendency to encourage and enable students to carry out student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry projects appeared to be associated with adherence to social constructivist views about science. Teachers who opposed social constructivist views tended to prefer tight control of student knowledge building procedures and conclusions. We suggest that these results can be explained with reference to human psychological factors, including those associated with teachers' self-esteem and their relationships with knowledge-building processes in the discipline of their teaching.

Evaluation of an Educational Computer Programme as a Change Agent in Science Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muwanga-Zake, Johnnie Wycliffe Frank

2007-01-01

I report on benefits from 26 teacher-participant evaluators of a computer game designed to motivate learning and to ease conceptual understanding of biology in South Africa. Using a developmental, social constructivist and interpretative model, the recommendation is to include the value systems and needs of end-users (through social dialogue);…

Stroking the Net Whale: A Constructivist Grounded Theory of Self-Regulated Learning in Virtual Social Spaces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kasperiuniene, Judita; Zydziunaite, Vilma; Eriksson, Malin

2017-01-01

This qualitative study explored the self-regulated learning (SRL) of teachers and their students in virtual social spaces. The processes of SRL were analyzed from 24 semi-structured individual interviews with professors, instructors and their students from five Lithuanian universities. A core category stroking the net whale showed the process of…

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…

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…

"This Bird Can't Do It 'Cause This Bird Doesn't Swim in Water": Sibling Teaching during Naturalistic Home Observations in Early Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howe, Nina; Della Porta, Sandra; Recchia, Holly; Funamoto, Allyson; Ross, Hildy

2015-01-01

Social-constructivist models of learning highlight that cognitive development is embedded within the context of social relationships characterized by closeness and intimacy (Vygotsky, 1978). Therefore, in contrast to prior research employing semistructured paradigms, naturalistic sibling-directed teaching was examined during ongoing interactions…

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…

Scholars and Their Inquiry Paradigms: Exploring a Conceptual Framework for Classifying Inquiry and Inquirers Based upon Paradigmatic Assumptions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Toma, J. Douglas

This paper examines whether the social science-based typology of Yvonne Lincoln and Egon Guba (1994), in which social science scholars are divided into positivist, postpositivist, critical, and constructivist paradigms based on ontological, epistemological, and methodological assumptions in the discipline, can be adapted to the academic discipline…

A constructivist theoretical proposition of cultural competence development in nursing.

PubMed

Blanchet Garneau, Amélie; Pepin, Jacinthe

2015-11-01

Cultural competence development in healthcare professions is considered an essential condition to promote quality and equity in healthcare. Even if cultural competence has been recognized as continuous, evolutionary, dynamic, and developmental by most researchers, current models of cultural competence fail to present developmental levels of this competence. These models have also been criticized for their essentialist perspective of culture and their limited application to competency-based approach programs. To our knowledge, there have been no published studies, from a constructivist perspective, of the processes involved in the development of cultural competence among nurses and undergraduate student nurses. The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical proposition of cultural competence development in nursing from a constructivist perspective. We used a grounded theory design to study cultural competence development among nurses and student nurses in a healthcare center located in a culturally diverse urban area. Data collection involved participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 24 participants (13 nurses and 11 students) working in three community health settings. The core category, 'learning to bring the different realities together to provide effective care in a culturally diverse context', was constructed using inductive qualitative data analysis. This core category encompasses three dimensions of cultural competence: 'building a relationship with the other', 'working outside the usual practice framework', and 'reinventing practice in action.' The resulting model describes the concurrent evolution of these three dimensions at three different levels of cultural competence development. This study reveals that clinical experience and interactions between students or nurses and their environment both contribute significantly to cultural competence development. The resulting theoretical proposition of cultural competence development could be used not only to guide initial and continuing nursing education, but also to help redefine quality of care in a culturally diverse context. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Do scientific theories affect men's evaluations of sex crimes?

PubMed

Dar-Nimrod, Ilan; Heine, Steven J; Cheung, Benjamin Y; Schaller, Mark

2011-01-01

Evolutionary psychology accounts of gender differences in sexual behaviors in general and men's sexual aggression, in particular, has been criticized for legitimizing males' sexual misconduct. To empirically assess such critiques, two studies examined how men's judgments of male sex crimes (solicitation of sex from a prostitute; rape) are influenced by exposure to (a) evolutionary psychological theories and (b) social-constructivist theories. Across two studies, a consistent pattern emerged compared with a control condition (a) exposure to evolutionary psychology theories had no observable impact on male judgments of men's criminal sexual behavior, whereas (b) exposure to social-constructivist theories did affect judgments, leading men to evaluate sex crimes more harshly. Additional results (from Study 2) indicate that this effect is mediated by perceptions of male control over sexual urges. These results have implications for journalists, educators, and scientists. Aggr. Behav. 37:440-449, 2011. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Do scientific theories affect men’s evaluations of sex crimes?

PubMed Central

DAR-NIMROD, ILAN; HEINE, STEVEN J.; CHEUNG, BENJAMIN Y.; SCHALLER, MARK

2012-01-01

Evolutionary Psychology accounts of gender differences in sexual behaviors in general and men’s sexual aggression in particular, have been criticized for legitimizing males’ sexual misconduct. To empirically assess such critiques, two studies examined how men’s judgments of male sex crimes (solicitation of sex from a prostitute; rape) are influenced by exposure to (a) evolutionary psychological theories, and (b) social-constructivist theories. Across two studies a consistent pattern emerged: compared to a control condition, (a) exposure to evolutionary psychology theories had no observable impact on male judgments of men’s criminal sexual behavior, whereas (b) exposure to social-constructivist theories did affect judgments, leading men to evaluate sex crimes more harshly. Additional results (from Study 2) indicate that this effect is mediated by perceptions of male control over sexual urges. These results have implications, for journalists, educators, and scientists. PMID:21678431

Using a Systematic Approach and Theoretical Framework to Design a Curriculum for the Shaping Healthy Choices Program.

PubMed

Linnell, Jessica D; Zidenberg-Cherr, Sheri; Briggs, Marilyn; Scherr, Rachel E; Brian, Kelley M; Hillhouse, Carol; Smith, Martin H

2016-01-01

To examine the use of a systematic approach and theoretical framework to develop an inquiry-based, garden-enhanced nutrition curriculum for the Shaping Healthy Choices Program. Curriculum development occurred in 3 steps: identification of learning objectives, determination of evidence of learning, and activity development. Curriculum activities were further refined through pilot-testing, which was conducted in 2 phases. Formative data collected during pilot-testing resulted in improvements to activities. Using a systematic, iterative process resulted in a curriculum called Discovering Healthy Choices, which has a strong foundation in Social Cognitive Theory and constructivist learning theory. Furthermore, the Backward Design method provided the design team with a systematic approach to ensure activities addressed targeted learning objectives and overall Shaping Healthy Choices Program goals. The process by which a nutrition curriculum is developed may have a direct effect on student outcomes. Processes by which nutrition curricula are designed and learning objectives are selected, and how theory and pedagogy are applied should be further investigated so that effective approaches to developing garden-enhanced nutrition interventions can be determined and replicated. Copyright © 2016 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Rap Music Literacy: A Case Study of Millennial Audience Reception to Rap Lyrics Depicting Independent Women

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moody-Ramirez, Mia; Scott, Lakia M.

2015-01-01

Using a feminist lens and a constructivist approach as the theoretical framework, we used rap lyrics and videos to help college students explore mass media's representation of the "independent" Black woman and the concept of "independence" in general. Students must be able to formulate their own concept of independence to…

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…

How Female Professionals Successfully Process and Negotiate Involuntary Job Loss at Faith-Based Colleges and Universities: A Grounded Theory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cunningham, Debra Jayne

2015-01-01

Using a constructivist grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006), this qualitative study examined how eight female senior-level professionals employed at faith-based colleges and universities processed and navigated the experience of involuntary job loss and successfully transitioned to another position. The theoretical framework of psychological…

Meaning-Making Dynamics of Emancipated Foster Care Youth Transitioning into Higher Education: A Constructivist-Grounded Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Okumu, Jacob O.

2014-01-01

This study explored college transition meaning-making dynamics of emancipated foster care youth and the role campus environments play in that process. It adds to the college student development theoretical base by acknowledging the needs, goals, and values of disenfranchised college students transitioning into higher education. Emancipated foster…

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…

Promise and Possibility for Aspiring Principals: An Emerging Leadership Identity through Learning to Do Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Batagiannis, Stella C.

2011-01-01

This case study explored the promise and possibility of doing action research both for aspiring principals engaged in such research and for professors using it as pedagogy for teaching educational leadership. The study of a class of graduate students aspiring to be principals had a constructivist theoretical framework. The research design…

Text Talk, Body Talk, Table Talk: A Design of Ratio and Proportion as Classroom Parallel Events

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abrahamson, Dor

2003-01-01

The paper describes the rationale and 10-day implementation in a 5th-grade classroom (n=19) of an experimental ratio-and-proportion instructional design. In this constructivist-phenomenological design, coming from our theoretical perspective, design research, and domain analysis, students: (1) link "real-world" and "mathematical" objects…

Towards a Person-Centered Model of Instruction: Can An Emphasis on the Personal Enhance Instruction in Cyberspace?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Christopher; Mazur, Joan M.

2001-01-01

A person-centered instructional design model was developed for virtual, Web-based environments, based on the work of Carl Rogers. This model attempts to address several issues raised in the literature. A person-centered instructional model is described and contrasted with instructionalist and constructivist approaches. Theoretical and practical…

Double-Checking the Race Box: Examining Inconsistency between Survey Measures of Observed and Self-Reported Race

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saperstein, Aliya

2006-01-01

Social constructivist theories of race suggest no two measures of race will capture the same information, but the degree of "error" this creates for quantitative research on inequality is unclear. Using unique data from the General Social Survey, I find observed and self-reported measures of race yield substantively different results when used to…

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 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…

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…

Epistemological Anarchy and the Many Forms of Constructivism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geelan, David R.

Constructivism has become an important referent for research and practice in science education. A variety of more or less divergent forms of constructivism have developed: discussion between these is occasionally heated. Six such forms are briefly described in order to provide an overview of the field of constructivist theory. A scheme for characterising constructivist writing on the basis of its relative emphasis on (a) personal versus social construction of knowledge and (b) objectivist versus relativist views of the nature of science is suggested. Issues of theory creation and reflexivity, central to constructivist practice, are discussed. It is suggested that debate about the "best" form of constructivism is counterproductive. A more powerful approach to epistemology is that described by Feyerabend, the holding in dialectical tension of a variety of incompatible perspectives: The following essay is written in the conviction that anarchism, while perhaps not the most attractive political philosophy, is certainly excellent medicine for epistemology, and for the philosophy of science (Feyerabend, 1975, 17, italics in original).

Chest drainage teaching and training for medical students. Use of a surgical ex vivo pig model.

PubMed

Tube, Milton Ignacio Carvalho; Netto, Fernando Antonio Campelo Spencer; Costa, Elaine; Lafayette, Daniell de Siqueira Araújo; Lima, George Augusto da Fonseca Carvalho Antunes; Menezes, Jamile Isabela Santos de; Aires, Vinicius Gueiros Buenos; Ferraz, Álvaro Antônio Bandeira; Campos, Josemberg Marins; Moraes, Fernando Ribeiro de

2016-05-01

Implement a constructivist approach in thoracic drainage training in surgical ex vivo pig models, to compare the acquisition of homogeneous surgical skills between medical students. Experimental study, prospective, transversal, analytical, controlled, three steps. Selection, training, evaluation. a) students without training in thoracic drainage; b) without exposure to constructivist methodology. 2) EXCLUSION CRITERIA: a) students developed surgical skills; b) a history of allergy. (N = 312). Two groups participated in the study: A and B. Lecture equal for both groups. Differentiated teaching: group A, descriptive and informative method; group B, learning method based on problems. A surgical ex vivo pig model for training the chest drain was created. Were applied pre and post-test, test goal-discursive and OSATS scale. Theoretical averages: Group A = 9.5 ± 0.5; Group B = 8.8 ± 1.1 (p = 0.006). Medium Practices: Group A = 22.8 ± 1.8; Group B = 23.0 ± 2.8 (p <0.001). Through the constructivist methodology implemented in the thoracic drainage training in surgical ex vivo pig models, has proven the acquisition of surgical skills homogeneous compared among medical students.

Teacher Perceptions of Issues Related to Implementation of Response to Intervention in the Regular Education Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bissell, Erica K.

2012-01-01

Although several school districts in a southern US state use a three-tiered Response to Intervention (RtI) model to supplemental core reading instruction and positively impact student achievement, the model appears to have had nominal impact. The theoretical foundation for this study is anchored in a constructivist approach to education. Three…

Using Different Conceptual Change Methods Embedded within 5E Model: A Sample Teaching of Endothermic-Exothermic Reactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turk, Fatma; Calik, Muammer

2008-01-01

Since Widodo, Duit and Muller (2002) addressed that there is a gap between teacher's theoretical knowledge and their practical classroom constructivist behavior, we presented a sample teaching activity about Endothermic-Exothermic Reactions for teacher usage. Therein, the aim of this study is to design a 5E model to include students' alternative…

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…

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…

Formal logic rewrite system bachelor in teaching mathematical informatics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Habiballa, Hashim; Jendryscik, Radek

2017-07-01

The article presents capabilities of the formal rewrite logic system - Bachelor - for teaching theoretical computer science (mathematical informatics). The system Bachelor enables constructivist approach to teaching and therefore it may enhance the learning process in hard informatics essential disciplines. It brings not only detailed description of formal rewrite process but also it can demonstrate algorithmical principles for logic formulae manipulations.

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…

Adaptation and innovation: a grounded theory study of procedural variation in the academic surgical workplace.

PubMed

Apramian, Tavis; Watling, Christopher; Lingard, Lorelei; Cristancho, Sayra

2015-10-01

Surgical research struggles to describe the relationship between procedural variations in daily practice and traditional conceptualizations of evidence. The problem has resisted simple solutions, in part, because we lack a solid understanding of how surgeons conceptualize and interact around variation, adaptation, innovation, and evidence in daily practice. This grounded theory study aims to describe the social processes that influence how procedural variation is conceptualized in the surgical workplace. Using the constructivist grounded theory methodology, semi-structured interviews with surgeons (n = 19) from four North American academic centres were collected and analysed. Purposive sampling targeted surgeons with experiential knowledge of the role of variations in the workplace. Theoretical sampling was conducted until a theoretical framework representing key processes was conceptually saturated. Surgical procedural variation was influenced by three key processes. Seeking improvement was shaped by having unsolved procedural problems, adapting in the moment, and pursuing personal opportunities. Orienting self and others to variations consisted of sharing stories of variations with others, taking stock of how a variation promoted personal interests, and placing trust in peers. Acting under cultural and material conditions was characterized by being wary, positioning personal image, showing the logic of a variation, and making use of academic resources to do so. Our findings include social processes that influence how adaptations are incubated in surgical practice and mature into innovations. This study offers a language for conceptualizing the sociocultural influences on procedural variations in surgery. Interventions to change how surgeons interact with variations on a day-to-day basis should consider these social processes in their design. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Passion in the performing arts: clarifying active occupational participation.

PubMed

Mullen, Rachel; Davis, Jane A; Polatajko, Helene J

2012-01-01

Active participation in daily occupations is a vital part of everyday life, social participation and healthy life long human development; however, enablers of active participation are not well understood. Passion, a strong tendency towards an activity that a person finds meaningful and spends a lot of time doing, is a potential enabler. Accordingly, it is important to understand how an individual's passion for a specific occupation plays out across the occupational life course. To explore the experience of passion across the life course of older adults involved in the performing arts. Seven older adults involved in, or retired from, the performing arts, who consider themselves passionate about their occupation. A constructivist grounded theory approach was used to explore, through interviews with older adults, passion for performing arts across the life course. Emerging themes supported development of an initial theoretical framework explicating active participation and passion. It centers on passion as an enabler of occupational participation through different modes, and suggests barriers to that enablement process. Findings suggest that passion has an important role in continued active participation in an occupation; however, barriers, such as social and financial, can derail the pursuit of a passionate occupation.

Skepticism, truth as coherence, and constructivist epistemology: grounds for resolving the discord between science and religion?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Staver, John R.

2010-03-01

Science and religion exhibit multiple relationships as ways of knowing. These connections have been characterized as cousinly, mutually respectful, non-overlapping, competitive, proximate-ultimate, dominant-subordinate, and opposing-conflicting. Some of these ties create stress, and tension between science and religion represents a significant chapter in humans' cultural heritage before and since the Enlightenment. Truth, knowledge, and their relation are central to science and religion as ways of knowing, as social institutions, and to their interaction. In religion, truth is revealed through God's word. In science, truth is sought after via empirical methods. Discord can be viewed as a competition for social legitimization between two social institutions whose goals are explaining the world and how it works. Under this view, the root of the discord is truth as correspondence. In this concept of truth, knowledge corresponds to the facts of reality, and conflict is inevitable for many because humans want to ask which one—science or religion—gets the facts correct. But, the root paradox, also known as the problem of the criterion, suggests that seeking to know nature as it is represents a fruitless endeavor. The discord can be set on new ground and resolved by taking a moderately skeptical line of thought, one which employs truth as coherence and a moderate form of constructivist epistemology. Quantum mechanics and evolution as scientific theories and scientific research on human consciousness and vision provide support for this line of argument. Within a constructivist perspective, scientists would relinquish only the pursuit of knowing reality as it is. Scientists would retain everything else. Believers who hold that religion explains reality would come to understand that God never revealed His truth of nature; rather, He revealed His truth in how we are to conduct our lives.

Exploring arts-based knowledge translation: sharing research findings through performing the patterns, rehearsing the results, staging the synthesis.

PubMed

Rieger, Kendra; Schultz, Annette S H

2014-04-01

Cultivation of knowledge translation (KT) strategies that actively engage health professionals in critical reflection of their practice and research-based evidence are imperative to address the research-practice gap. While research-based evidence is exponentially growing, our ability to facilitate uptake by nurses and other health professionals has not kept pace. Innovative approaches that extend epistemological bias beyond a singular standpoint of postpositivism, such as the utilization of arts-based methods, expand the possibility to address the complexities of context, engage audience members, promote dissemination within communities of practice, and foster new audiences interested in research findings. In this paper, we address the importance of adopting a social constructivist epistemological stance to facilitate knowledge translation to diverse audiences, explore various arts-based knowledge translation (ABKT) strategies, and open a dialogue concerning evaluative tenets of ABKT. ABKT utilizes various art forms to disseminate research knowledge to diverse audiences and promote evidence-informed practice. ABKT initiatives translate knowledge not based upon a linear model, which views knowledge as an objective entity, but rather operate from the premise that knowledge is socially situated, which demands acknowledging and engaging the learner within their context. Theatre, dance, photography, and poetry are art forms that are commonly used to communicate research findings to diverse audiences. Given the emerging interest and importance of utilizing this KT strategy situated within a social constructivist epistemology, potential challenges and plausible evaluative criteria specific to ABKT are presented. ABKT is an emerging KT strategy that is grounded in social constructivist epistemological tenets, and holds potential for meaningfully sharing new research knowledge with diverse audiences. ABKT is an innovative and synergistic approach to traditional dissemination strategies. This creative KT approach is emerging as potent transformational learning tools that are congruent with the relational nature of nursing practice. ABKT facilitates learning about new research findings in an engaging and critical reflective manner that promotes learning within communities of practice. © 2014 Sigma Theta Tau International.

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,…

Foundations of Responsibility for Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dillen, Annemie

2008-01-01

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

Teaching Literature to Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beach, Richard W.; Appleman, Deborah; Hynds, Susan; Wilhelm, Jeffrey

2006-01-01

This text for pre-service and in-service English education courses presents current methods of teaching literature to middle and high school students. The methods are based on social constructivist/socio-cultural theories of literacy learning, and incorporate research on literary response conducted by the authors. "Teaching Literature to…

Cognitive Apprenticeship as an Instructional Strategy for Solving Corporate Training Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chan, Peter; Miller, Ronald; Monroe, Eula

2009-01-01

Cognitive apprenticeship is a teaching approach proponed by social constructivist educators that scaffolds upon students' "zones of proximal development" in authentic situations. It is an effective approach used by teachers of instructional technology when teaching student practitioners. Nevertheless, implementation of instructional design…

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…

Concept maps: A tool for knowledge management and synthesis in web-based conversational learning.

PubMed

Joshi, Ankur; Singh, Satendra; Jaswal, Shivani; Badyal, Dinesh Kumar; Singh, Tejinder

2016-01-01

Web-based conversational learning provides an opportunity for shared knowledge base creation through collaboration and collective wisdom extraction. Usually, the amount of generated information in such forums is very huge, multidimensional (in alignment with the desirable preconditions for constructivist knowledge creation), and sometimes, the nature of expected new information may not be anticipated in advance. Thus, concept maps (crafted from constructed data) as "process summary" tools may be a solution to improve critical thinking and learning by making connections between the facts or knowledge shared by the participants during online discussion This exploratory paper begins with the description of this innovation tried on a web-based interacting platform (email list management software), FAIMER-Listserv, and generated qualitative evidence through peer-feedback. This process description is further supported by a theoretical construct which shows how social constructivism (inclusive of autonomy and complexity) affects the conversational learning. The paper rationalizes the use of concept map as mid-summary tool for extracting information and further sense making out of this apparent intricacy.

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.

Pedagogy 2.0 in Pre-Service Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seifert, Tami

2017-01-01

The article reviews the use of Web 2.0 environment in teacher education, emphasizing the constructivist social pedagogy approach. Pedagogical abilities of Web 2.0 tools are discussed, demonstrating their applications in teaching various subjects, especially to assist collaborative and creative learner-oriented teaching. Contributions of these…

Communication Competence and Social Interaction Skills in Australian Business Organizations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Irwin, Harry

Within Australian contexts, and within a dialogic, constructivist framework, this paper reports the development of an instrument (COMCOMP) designed to measure perceptions of communication competence among others at the interpersonal-organizational interface and the use of COMCOMP to identify personal characteristics and skills associated with…

Historic Preservation and Elementary Student Extracurricular Community Service

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, Ronald V.

2016-01-01

Elementary students survey buildings in an extracurricular community service project to learn social studies and historic preservation. From these experiences students formed values and dispositions by engaging in a constructivist process of creating knowledge by examining their community. They gathered data, transformed it into information, and…

Internet and Computer Technology Hazards: Perspectives for Family Counselling.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oravec, Jo Ann

2000-01-01

Explores the social construction of the various computer hazards that households are encountering, such as computer addiction and children's access to on-line pornography. Discusses these issues in terms of constructivist counseling perspectives that are sensitive to cultural and environmental contexts. Outlines specific strategies for countering…

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…

Rural self-reliance: the impact on health experiences of people living with type II diabetes in rural Queensland, Australia.

PubMed

Page-Carruth, Althea; Windsor, Carol; Clark, Michele

2014-01-01

The objective of the study was to explore whether and how rural culture influences type II diabetes management and to better understand the social processes that rural people construct in coping with diabetes and its complications. In particular, the study aimed to analyse the interface and interactions between rural people with type II diabetes and the Australian health care system, and to develop a theoretical understanding that reflects constructs that may be more broadly applicable. The study applied constructivist grounded theory methods within an interpretive interactionist framework. Data from 39 semi-structured interviews with rural and urban type II diabetes patients and a mix of rural health care providers were analysed to develop a theoretical understanding of the social processes that define diabetes management in that context. The analysis suggests that although type II diabetes imposes limitations that require adjustment and adaptation, these processes are actively negotiated by rural people within the environmental context to fit the salient social understandings of autonomy and self-reliance. Thus, people normalized self-reliant diabetes management behaviours because this was congruent with the rural culture. Factors that informed the actions of normalization were relationships between participants and health care professionals, support, and access to individual resources. The findings point to ways in which rural self-reliance is conceived as the primary strategy of diabetes management. People face the paradox of engaging with a health care system that at the same time maximizes individual responsibility for health and minimizes the social support by which individuals manage the condition. The emphasis on self-reliance gives some legitimacy to a lack of prevention and chronic care services. Success of diabetes management behaviours is, however, contingent on relative resources. Where there is good primary care, there develops a number of downstream effects including a sense of empowerment to manage difficult rural environmental circumstances. This has particular bearing on health outcomes for people with fewer resources.

Rural self-reliance: the impact on health experiences of people living with type II diabetes in rural Queensland, Australia

PubMed Central

Page-Carruth, Althea; Windsor, Carol; Clark, Michele

2014-01-01

Objective The objective of the study was to explore whether and how rural culture influences type II diabetes management and to better understand the social processes that rural people construct in coping with diabetes and its complications. In particular, the study aimed to analyse the interface and interactions between rural people with type II diabetes and the Australian health care system, and to develop a theoretical understanding that reflects constructs that may be more broadly applicable. Methods The study applied constructivist grounded theory methods within an interpretive interactionist framework. Data from 39 semi-structured interviews with rural and urban type II diabetes patients and a mix of rural health care providers were analysed to develop a theoretical understanding of the social processes that define diabetes management in that context. Results The analysis suggests that although type II diabetes imposes limitations that require adjustment and adaptation, these processes are actively negotiated by rural people within the environmental context to fit the salient social understandings of autonomy and self-reliance. Thus, people normalized self-reliant diabetes management behaviours because this was congruent with the rural culture. Factors that informed the actions of normalization were relationships between participants and health care professionals, support, and access to individual resources. Conclusions The findings point to ways in which rural self-reliance is conceived as the primary strategy of diabetes management. People face the paradox of engaging with a health care system that at the same time maximizes individual responsibility for health and minimizes the social support by which individuals manage the condition. The emphasis on self-reliance gives some legitimacy to a lack of prevention and chronic care services. Success of diabetes management behaviours is, however, contingent on relative resources. Where there is good primary care, there develops a number of downstream effects including a sense of empowerment to manage difficult rural environmental circumstances. This has particular bearing on health outcomes for people with fewer resources. PMID:24964859

The Views of the Teachers about the Mind Mapping Technique in the Elementary Life Science and Social Studies Lessons Based on the Constructivist Method

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seyihoglu, Aysegul; Kartal, Ayca

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study is to reveal the opinions of teachers on using the mind mapping technique in Life Science and Social Studies lessons. The participants of the study are 20 primary education teachers. In this study, a semi-structured interview technique was used. For content analysis, the themes and codes were defined, based on the views…

"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…

Boys' and Girls' Gendered Voices in EFL Debates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cabezas Galicia, Luis Leonardo; Camacho Posada, María Fernanda; Florez Fernández, Leidy Milena

2012-01-01

This article reports a case study conducted at a school in Bogotá. It was based on constructivist and poststructuralist frameworks that viewed gender positioning as a social construction in foreign language learning contexts (Baxter, 2003; Sunderland, 1992; Tannen, 1996). Aiming to understand how ninth grade gender positioning is constructed, and…

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…

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…

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)

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…

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…

Strategies for Career-Long Teacher Education. Teacher Education Yearbook VI.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIntyre, D. John, Ed.; Byrd, David M., Ed.

This collection of papers examines the current standard practice of confining teacher preparation to 4 years of coursework, discussing the growing interest in career-spanning teacher education. Section 1, "Teacher Cognition, Constructivist Teacher Education, and the Ethical and Social Implications of Schooling: Overview and Framework"…

A Frame-Reflective Discourse Analysis of Serious Games

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mayer, Igor; Warmelink, Harald; Zhou, Qiqi

2016-01-01

The authors explore how framing theory and the method of frame-reflective discourse analysis provide foundations for the emerging discipline of serious games (SGs) research. Starting with Wittgenstein's language game and Berger and Luckmann's social constructivist view on science, the authors demonstrate why a definitional or taxonomic approach to…

Dialogue as a Tool for Meaning Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bruni, Angela Suzanne Dudley

2013-01-01

In order to empower citizens to analyze the effects, risk, and value of science, a knowledge of scientific concepts is necessary (Mejlgaard, 2009). The formal educational system plays a role in this endeavor (Gil-Perez & Vilches, 2005). One proposed constructivist practice is the use of social learning activities using verbalized, shared…

Constructivist Foundations of Intercultural Education: Implications for Research and Teacher Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leutwyler, Bruno; Petrovic, Danijela S.; Mantel, Carola

2012-01-01

Research uncovering different images of Intercultural Education seems to be relevant in various contexts. This paper describes and compares two, the Swiss and the Serbian contexts; two countries with very different histories and with very different political and social constellations. For the Swiss context, migration flows have changed…

The Translation of Teachers' Understanding of Gifted Students into Instructional Strategies for Teaching Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Soonhye; Oliver, J. Steve

2009-01-01

This study examined how instructional challenges presented by gifted students shaped teachers' instructional strategies. This study is a qualitative research grounded in a social constructivist framework. The participants were three high school science teachers who were teaching identified gifted students in both heterogeneously- and…

Safe Space Oddity: Revisiting Critical Pedagogy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Redmond, Melissa

2010-01-01

Inspired by an incident in a social work graduate classroom in which she was a teaching assistant, the author reflects on her commitment to constructivist teaching methods, critical theory, and critical pedagogy. Exploring the educational utility of notions such as public space and safe space, the author employs this personal experience to examine…

Silenced by Religion: Reflections on Situations from College English

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Margaret E.

2008-01-01

The social constructivist and cultural studies bent of so many writing and rhetoric classes emphasizes inclusivity, encouraging students to share their ideas and to broaden their understanding of a range of cultural concerns. Most often, the students professors strive to include are those from ethnic subcultures that have been historically…

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…

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…

A Hockey Night in Canada: An Imagined Conversation between Theorists

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fogel, Curtis

2010-01-01

In this paper, various methodological issues surrounding the sociological study of sport are explored. Through an imagined dialogue between two graduate students at a hockey game, this work brings together three divergent approaches to social enquiry: Positivist Grounded Theory, Constructivist Grounded Theory, and Actor-Network Theory. This paper…

Bridging the Chasm: Emerging Model of Leadership in Intercollegiate Athletics Governance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chandler, John C., III

2011-01-01

This dissertation examined how the executive leadership model influenced the leadership and governance of intercollegiate athletics. The focus centered on understanding the role of Athletic Directors who concurrently serve as institutional Vice Presidents using the Social Constructivist framework. Qualitative analysis was utilized to achieve the…

Using Queer Theory to Explore Lesbian College Students' Multiple Dimensions of Identity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abes, Elisa S.; Kasch, David

2007-01-01

By introducing queer theory to Abes and Jones's (2004) constructivist narrative inquiry of lesbian college students' perceptions of their multiple identities, we retell the developmental narrative of one participant's negotiation of her sexuality, religion, gender, and social class. This queer retelling of a developmental story shows how…

Perceptions of Community College Students and Faculty on Persistence in Developmental Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aofrate, Lisa H.

2016-01-01

Attrition for entry-level, non-traditional college students taking developmental reading courses is a concern for higher education institutions. Students need to complete basic developmental reading courses in order to progress in their vocational or collegiate studies. This phenomenological study followed a social constructivist approach to…

What Does the Mean Mean?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watier, Nicholas N.; Lamontagne, Claude; Chartier, Sylvain

2011-01-01

The arithmetic mean is a fundamental statistical concept. Unfortunately, social science students rarely develop an intuitive understanding of the mean and rely on the formula to describe or define it. According to constructivist pedagogy, educators that have access to a variety of conceptualizations of a particular concept are better equipped to…

Investigating Science Collaboratively: A Case Study of Group Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zinicola, Debra A.

2009-01-01

Discussions of one urban middle school group of students who were investigating scientific phenomena were analyzed; this study was conducted to discern if and how peer interaction contributes to learning. Through a social constructivist lens, case study methodology, we examined conceptual change among group members. Data about science talk was…

Western Science and Islamic Learners: When Disciplines and Culture Intersect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robottom, Ian; Norhaidah, Sharifah

2008-01-01

This article reports on two research projects (one in Malaysia and one in Australia) that studied the experiences of Islamic background learners studying western science. Conceptually, this research program is conducted within a socially constructivist discourse and employs both quantitative and qualitative forms of data collection. The article…

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…

Threshold Concepts in Entrepreneurship--The Entrepreneurs' Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hatt, Lucy

2018-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present research into the entrepreneurs' perspective of concepts critical to thinking as an entrepreneur, in order to inform enterprise and entrepreneurship course design in higher education. Design/methodology/approach: Taking a social constructivist approach, using a Delphi-style method, semi-structured…

Comparative Analysis of Palm and Wearable Computers for Participatory Simulations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klopfer, Eric; Yoon, Susan; Rivas, Luz

2004-01-01

Recent educational computer-based technologies have offered promising lines of research that promote social constructivist learning goals, develop skills required to operate in a knowledge-based economy (Roschelle et al. 2000), and enable more authentic science-like problem-solving. In our research programme, we have been interested in combining…

Scientific literacy for decisionmaking and the social construction of scientific knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bingle, Wade H.; Gaskell, P. James

Citizens are often required to make decisions about socioscientific issues in a climate characterized by conflict within both the scientific community and the larger society. Central to the process of decisionmaking is a critical examination of the relevant scientific knowledge involved. Individuals capable of performing this task can be considered scientifically literate in a decisionmaking sense. In this article we explore two ways of critically examining scientific knowledge in the context of a current socioscientific dispute: NASA's Galileo Mission to Jupiter. The two approaches we outline, termed the positivist and social constructivist positions, are examined in terms of their inherent views concerning the nature of scientific knowledge, in particular their use of constitutive and contextual values when evaluating knowledge claims. Because the social constructivist position acknowledges the importance of contextual values, it provides citizens with accessible standards for evaluating scientific knowledge claims. The positivist position, on the other hand, relies on constitutive values which we show are normally inaccessible to ordinary citizens. The positivist position, however, is most closely associated with the predominant social issues approach to science-technology-society (STS) education. Implications little consensus about which statements are fact (i.e., will remain stable when challenged) and which opinion, (i.e., will be modified when challenged). All knowledge is potentially unreliable when one is dealing with a socioscientific dispute.The adoption of a social constructivist view of scientific knowledge and its inherent way of evaluating knowledge claims clearly has implications for future approaches to STS education. Although one approach might be to offer a course in the history, philosophy, and sociology of science, this would not be useful without reference to the way in which such knowledge can help students to understand the context of a conflict within the society of scientists and the larger society. As Rosenthal (1989) argues, a synthesis is needed in which social issues are seen as a vehicle for studying the social studies of science and the social issues are seen as a way of making sense of social aspects of science. However, this way of teaching STS may be difficult to implement. In British Columbia, for example, science teachers have resisted efforts to include the social context of science within a traditional university-oriented physics course (Gaskell, 1992) and to teach a grade 11 social issues oriented sicence and technology course (Gaskell, 1989). This may be because the current social issues approach is most compatible with traditional science content as it is now taught: it simply shows the relevance of textbook knowledge (ready-made science) to contemporary probles. The shift to the approach suggested above will require a more drastic reorganization of the curriculum, one that may be resisted by the current stakeholders in science education (Duschl, 1988; Gaskell, 1989).

Basic life support skills training in a first year medical curriculum: six years' experience with two cognitive-constructivist designs.

PubMed

Durak, Halil Ibrahim; Certuğ, Agah; Calişkan, Ayhan; van Dalen, Jan

2006-03-01

Although the Basic Life Support (BLS) ability of a medical student is a crucial competence, poor BLS training programs have been documented worldwide. Better training designs are needed. This study aims to share detailed descriptions and the test results of two cognitive-constructivist training models for the BLS skills in the first year of medical curriculum. A BLS skills training module was implemented in the first year curriculum in the course of 6 years (1997-2003). The content was derived from the European Resuscitation Council Guidelines. Initially, a competence-based model was used and was upgraded to a cognitive apprenticeship model in 2000. The main performance-content type that was expected at the end of the course was: competent application of BLS procedures on manikins and peers at an OSCE as well as 60% achievement in a test consisting of 25 MCQ items. A retrospective cohort survey design using exam results and a self-completed anonymous student ratings' questionnaire were used in order to test models. Training time for individual students varied from 21 to 29 hours. One thousand seven hundred and sixty students were trained. Fail rates were very low (1.0-2.2%). The students were highly satisfied with the module during the 6 years. In the first year of the medical curriculum, a competence-based or cognitive apprenticeship model using cognitive-constructivist designs of skills training with 9 hours theoretical and 12-20 hours long practical sessions took place in groups of 12-17 students; medical students reached a degree of competence to sufficiently perform BLS skills on the manikins and their peers. The cognitive-constructivist designs for skills training are associated with high student satisfaction. However, the lack of controls limits the extrapolation of this conclusion.

A Longitudinal View of the Liberal Arts Curriculum a Decade after Merger: A Multiple Case Study of Community Colleges in Connecticut, Kentucky, and Louisiana

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norton, Ann; Wilson, Kristin

2015-01-01

This study is an examination of the state of the liberal arts curriculum in community colleges in three geographic regions of the United States. From a constructivist paradigm and using globalization theory as a theoretical framework, this multiple case study examined faculty work life and administrative processes related to curriculum change in…

Pendula, Models, Constructivism and Reality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nola, Robert

It is argued that Galileo made an important breakthrough in the methodology of science by considering idealized models of phenomena such as free fall, swinging pendula and the like, which can conflict with experience. Theidealized models are constructs largely by our reasoning processes applied to the theoretical situation at hand. Onthis view, scientific knowledge is not a construction out of experience, as many constructivists claim about both the methods of science and about the learning of science. In fact Galileo's models can, depending on their degree of idealization or concretization, be at variance with experience. This paper considers what is meant by idealization and concretization of both the objects and properties that makeup theoretical models, and the ideal laws that govern them. It also provides brief illustrations of ideal laws and how they may be made more concrete, and briefly considers how theories and models might be tested against what we observe.Finally some difficulties are raised for a radical constructivist approach to both science and learning in the light of Galileo's methodological approach. The upshot is that both the dialogue structure of Galileo's writings and his method of model building provide a rich resource for science education that rivals that of the standard varieties of constructivism, and at the same time gives a much better picture of the actual procedures of science itself.

Dialogue as a tool for meaning making

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bruni, Angela Suzanne Dudley

In order to empower citizens to analyze the effects, risk, and value of science, a knowledge of scientific concepts is necessary (Mejlgaard, 2009). The formal educational system plays a role in this endeavor (Gil-Perez & Vilches, 2005). One proposed constructivist practice is the use of social learning activities using verbalized, shared cognition among learners. In an effort to investigate the effects of verbally shared cognition, this project sought to determine if social learning opportunities affect the mastery of content in gateway biology courses and to identify the types of dialogue students engage in during cognitive collaboration. Fifty-seven students enrolled in a small southern community college were randomly assigned into treatment groups for each of nine units of instruction. The treatment variable was participation in verbalized social learning activities. Treatment differences based on a pretest/posttest design were analyzed using various statistical methods and recorded student discussions were analyzed for characteristics of talk based on a model developed by Mercer. Findings support the use of social learning activities as a way to improve content knowledge. Students in the treatment group had higher posttest and gain scores than those in the control group, with statistical significance reached in some cases. Types of talk were examined to support the constructivist method of learning. Findings support the use of non-confrontational talk as the vector of meaning making within the classroom.

Indonesian teachers' epistemological beliefs and inclusive education.

PubMed

Sheehy, Kieron; Budiyanto; Kaye, Helen; Rofiah, Khofidotur

2017-01-01

A growing number of children with intellectual disabilities attend inclusive schools in Indonesia. Previous research has suggested that teachers' type of school and experience influences their beliefs about inclusive education. This research collected questionnaire data from 267 Indonesian teachers and compared the responses from those working in inclusive, special and regular schools regarding their epistemological and pedagogical beliefs. The results showed that teachers in inclusive schools expressed stronger social constructivist beliefs than those in other schools. However, it was teachers' epistemological beliefs, rather than their type of school or experience, which were the significant predictor of their beliefs about inclusive education. The findings suggest that international epistemological research needs to have a more nuanced view of constructivist models of learning to better understand and inform how inclusive pedagogy is being enacted in different contexts.

Creating an Articulate Classroom: Examining Pre-Service Teachers' Experiences of Talk

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Annie Therese

2011-01-01

This paper examines the continuing "issue" of developing classrooms where talk is used as means of building concepts and understanding. As curriculum guidance increasingly refers to "exploratory talk" and "dialogic talk", it questions why practice seems resistant to change, despite the promotion of social constructivist approaches to learning in…

Smartphones Give You Wings: Pedagogical Affordances of Mobile Web 2.0

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cochrane, Thomas; Bateman, Roger

2010-01-01

Built on the foundation of four years of research and implementation of mobile learning projects (m-learning), this paper provides an overview of the potential of the integration of mobile Web 2.0 tools (based around smartphones) to facilitate social constructivist pedagogies and engage students in tertiary education. Pedagogical affordances of…

The Personal Struggles of "National" Educators Working in "International" Schools: An Intercultural Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Savva, Maria

2017-01-01

This paper looks at how personal struggles associated with the overseas setting caused changes in the intercultural perspective of 30 Anglophone educators working in international schools. Situated within a social constructivist framework, interview methods were utilised to build a collective narrative shared by educators. Findings reveal that…

"Setting up for the Next Big Thing": Undergraduate Women Engineering Students' Postbaccalaureate Career Decisions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Kathleen N.; Gayles, Joy Gaston

2017-01-01

Using social cognitive career theory and the cognitive information processing model as frameworks, in this constructivist case study we examined the career-related experiences and decisions of 10 women engineering undergraduate seniors who accepted full-time positions. From the data analysis 3 major themes emerged: critical undergraduate…

Radical Conversations: Part Two--Cultivating Social-Constructivist Learning Methods in ABE Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muth, Bill; Kiser, Madeline

2008-01-01

In many U.S. prisons an overuse of individualized instruction silences literacy learners and reinforces oppressive notions about what knowledge is and whose knowledge counts. In these classrooms, methods that invite learners to tap their background knowledge, reflect on their worlds, and dialogue with others to construct meaning--commonplace in…

Waking Up to Difference: Teachers, Color-Blindness, and the Effects on Students of Color

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Castro Atwater, Sheri A.

2008-01-01

Color-blindness, the ideology that "race should not matter" in how individuals are treated, is often confused with "race does not matter" (Neville, 2000). The historical, social, and political origins of color-blind racial attitudes are outlined here. Developmental and constructivist theories are used to illustrate how…

Counselling Sexual-Violence Survivors: The Evolution of Female Counsellors' Critical Political Consciousness and the Effects on Their Intimate Relationships

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garrity, Mary Kate

2011-01-01

This social constructivist/constructionist research explores changes in female therapists' intimate relationships after they began working with survivors of female sexual violence. Discourse analysis found that working with survivors shifted participants' initially naive understanding of female sexual violence, as they developed a critical…

Modeling Pedagogy for Teachers Transitioning to the Virtual Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Canuel, Michael J.; White, Beverley J.

2014-01-01

This study is a review of the creation and evolution of a professional development program modeled on social constructivist principles and designed for online educators in a virtual high school who transitioned from the conventional classroom to the virtual educational environment. The narrative inquiry focuses on the critical events within the…

Inclusive Education in Guyana: A Call for Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ajodhia-Andrews, Amanda; Frankel, Elaine

2010-01-01

This study examines inclusive education within Guyana for children with special needs (zero to eight years), from the perspectives of policy makers, teachers, and parents (n = 22). The study is framed within a social-constructivist perspective, and uses grounded theory for the collection and analysis of data. Four themes emerged from the data as…

Social Networking, Workplace, and Entertainment Literacies: The Out-of-School Literate Lives of Newcomer Adolescent Immigrants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, Mary Amanda

2014-01-01

Using a New Literacy Studies perspective that recognizes multiple literacies that are meaningful within their sociocultural traditions, this collective case study investigated the range, form, and purpose of the out-of-school literacies of four Latina/o adolescent English learners. The qualitative methodology employed constructivist interviews,…

Constructing a Language Assessment Knowledge Base: A Focus on Language Assessment Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Inbar-Lourie, Ofra

2008-01-01

The competencies required for conducting assessment in the educational context have recently been reformulated in view of social constructivist perspectives and the acknowledgement of the role of classroom assessment in promoting learning. These changes have impacted the knowledge base language assessors need to obtain, and hence the contents of…

A Social Constructivist Approach to Introducing Skills for Employment to Foundation Degree Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rutt, L.; Gray, C.; Turner, R.; Swain, J.; Hulme, S.; Pomeroy, R.

2013-01-01

Expectations for higher education providers to produce graduates ready for the workplace have shaped provision, with the introduction of the Foundation Degree, and expectations of an employability component within higher education programmes. This paper reports on an intervention for three groups of foundation degree students, which introduces…

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…

Environmental Education: From the Perspective of Scientific Knowledge for Constructivist Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giron, Graciela; Vasquez-Martinez, Claudio-Rafael; López, Juan Sánchez; Bañuelos, Antonio Ayón

2012-01-01

Environmental education is not merely a modern form for the didactics of natural science, but is, on the contrary, an educational process that integrates ecological knowledge, philosophy, politics, economics and sociology, among others. This is because its purpose is to change the relationships of production, social structures of economics and…

Pre-Service Primary Teachers Negotiating Physical Education Identities during the Practicum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fletcher, Tim; Kosnik, Clare

2016-01-01

This research examined the ways in which pre-service primary teachers' experiences of physical education during the practicum influenced the development of their identities as teachers of physical education. Guided by a social constructivist view of identity, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 pre-service teachers over one academic…

Dialogue and Connectivism: A New Approach to Understanding and Promoting Dialogue-Rich Networked Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ravenscroft, Andrew

2011-01-01

Connectivism offers a theory of learning for the digital age that is usually understood as contrasting with traditional behaviourist, cognitivist, and constructivist approaches. This article will provide an original and significant development of this theory through arguing and demonstrating how it can benefit from social constructivist…

Transforming Traditional Lectures into Problem-Based Blended Learning: Challenges and Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dalsgaard, Christian; Godsk, Mikkel

2007-01-01

This paper presents our experiences and the challenges identified in transforming traditional lecture-based modules at a university into problem-based blended learning within a social constructivist approach. Our experiment was, among other factors, motivated by an urgent need to meet new curriculum requirements by reducing the lecturing time in a…

Epistemological Beliefs and Knowledge Sharing in Work Teams: A New Model and Research Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weinberg, Frankie J.

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a knowledge-sharing model that explains individual members' motivation to share knowledge (knowledge donation and knowledge collection). Design/methodology/approach: The model is based on social-constructivist theories of epistemological beliefs, learning and distributed cognition, and is organized…

Are You an Online Team Player? A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rawlings, Melody

2014-01-01

The purpose of this pilot case study was to answer the following research questions: How do previous experiences affect students' attitudes toward online teamwork? When do students' attitudes toward online teamwork first develop and why? Using a social constructivist framework, a qualitative case study design was utilized to conduct an online…

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…

The Implementation of an Intercultural Competence Syllabus to Prepare Study-Abroad Students for Global Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kural, Faruk; Bayyurt, Yasemin

2016-01-01

This study presents the outcome of the implementation of a process-oriented model of an intercultural competence (IC) and English as a lingua franca (ELF)-awareness development syllabus to prepare government-sponsored Turkish international sojourners for global communication in English L1 countries. Based on social constructivist research…

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…

The Language of Collaboration: Dialogue and Identity in Teacher Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crafton, Linda; Kaiser, Eileen

2011-01-01

This article explores several professional development models currently being used in the US and in other countries to support teacher learning, including coaching, mentoring and communities of practice. While in some contexts the activities of the participants are informed by social constructivist views of learning, the authors argue that…

"Managing by Not Managing": How Gay Engineering Students Manage Sexual Orientation Identity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hughes, Bryce E.

2017-01-01

From a social constructivist paradigm I explored the experiences of 7 openly gay engineering students to understand how, if at all, they made sense of the intersections between their engineering and sexual orientation identities. By eliciting stories through individual and focus group interviews, a narrative approach allowed me to capture the…

An Educational Historical Narrative Study of Visualization in the Progressive Art Pedagogy of Lowenfeld

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cromarty, Edward

2017-01-01

This study utilizes an educational historical narrative research method to understand the unique viewpoint of Lowenfeld toward visualization as a holistic concept in progressive art education. Employing a social constructivist framework, it explores the problem that the emphasis in education on the surface elements of standardized subject-based…

Perceptions of the Environment for Eating and Exercise in a Rural Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maley, Mary Maly; Warren, Barbour S.; Devine, Carol M.

2010-01-01

Objective: To understand how members of a rural community perceive the effect of the built, natural, and social environments on their food choice and physical activity behaviors. Methods: A constructivist community environmental assessment was conducted including 17 individual qualitative interviews, 2 focus groups, and photo elicitation (n = 27)…

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.…

Organizational Climate and Emotional Intelligence: An Appreciative Inquiry into a "Leaderful" Community College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoder, Debra Marie

2005-01-01

In an era of unprecedented challenges and rapid change, community colleges need effective leadership that brings out the best in people, organizations, and communities. This qualitative study was based on interpretive research using appreciative inquiry (AI). AI is based on social constructivist theory and is a collaborative and highly…

Constructivist Pedagogies for Olympism Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Culpan, Ian; McBain, Sue

2012-01-01

Olympism as a philosophical concept has been highly contested and challenged for its relevancy in a contemporary world. Some scholars argue that Olympism is simply a relic of the modern age and has little educative and/or social legitimacy. Others argue that despite the criticism and its contested nature it remains one of the most coherent and…

Literacy Teaching Aids from High/Scope Educational Research Foundation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Science Activities: Classroom Projects and Curriculum Ideas, 2005

2005-01-01

High/Scope's approach to education is a blend of Jean Piaget's constructivist theory of child development and the best of traditional teacher experience. The High/Scope approach is about helping students gain knowledge and skills in important content areas, such as language and literacy, initiative and social relations, movement, music, and…

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'…

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…

Designing Effective Spaces, Tasks and Metrics for Communication in Second Life within the Context of Programming LEGO NXT Mindstorms™ Robots

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vallance, Michael; Martin, Stewart; Wiz, Charles; van Schaik, Paul

2010-01-01

Science education is concerned with the meaningful pursuit of comprehension, knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes. In Vygotskian social constructivist learning, personal interpretation, decision-making and community cooperation fosters long-term understanding and transference of learned concepts. The construction of…

Inclusive Education and the "No Child Left Behind Act": Resisting Entrenchment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hulgin, Kathleen Maria; Drake, Bob M.

2011-01-01

This article examines inclusive education in view of the current US policy climate. The "No Child Left Behind Act" provides the opportunity to examine dominant social forces and the underlying theories of mechanism and positivism that run counter to a constructivist approach to inclusive education. The incompatibility of these theories…

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)…

Beyond Social Constructivist Perspectives on Assessment: The Centring of Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shay, Suellen

2008-01-01

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

Doing and Seeing Things Differently: A 25-Year Retrospective of Mathematics Education Research on Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kieran, Carolyn

1994-01-01

Contains two parts: (1) excerpts from interviews with Thomas Kieren and Thomas Romberg, and (2) a discussion of the evolution of views of mathematical learning and understanding, including constructivist interpretations, situated cognition, innovative perspectives on classroom research, and the inclusion of a social-interactionist Vygotskian…

Know Your Role: Black College Students, Racial Identity, and Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, Dafina-Lazarus

2015-01-01

This article is a report of a critical constructivist study of racial identity and performance among 13 Black, traditional-age students enrolled at three different colleges, two historically Black and one predominantly White. The study's approach understood identity to be socially constructed and reliant upon community affirmation and validation.…

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…

Criteria for Assessing Good Theory in Human Resource Development and Other Applied Disciplines from an Interpretive Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lincoln, Yvonna S.; Lynham, Susan A.

2007-01-01

Utilizing Patterson's (1983) eight criteria for assessing theory in applied fields from a conventional (empirical-analytical) perspective, these criteria are evaluated and where applicable reconstructed from an interpretive (social constructivist) perspective of theory building research and assessment. Four additional criteria are proposed and…

The Effect of Classroom Teachers' Attitudes toward Constructivist Approach on Their Level of Establishing a Constructivist Learning Environment: A Case of Mersin

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Uredi, Lutfi

2013-01-01

This study aims to determine the attitudes of classroom teachers towards constructivist approach and to analyze the effect of their attitudes towards constructivist approach on their level of creating a constructivist learning environment. For that purpose, relational screening model was used in the research. The research sample included 504…

Consensus, contracts, and committees.

PubMed

Moreno, J D

1991-08-01

Following a brief account of the puzzle that ethics committees present for the Western Philosophical tradition, I will examine the possibility that social contract theory can contribute to a philosophical account of these committees. Passing through classical as well as contemporary theories, particularly Rawls' recent constructivist approach, I will argue that social contract theory places severe constraints on the authority that may legitimately be granted to ethics committees. This, I conclude, speaks more about the suitability of the theory to this level of analysis than about the ethics committee phenomenon itself.

The effect of constructivist teaching strategies on science test scores of middle school students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vaca, James L., Jr.

International studies show that the United States is lagging behind other industrialized countries in science proficiency. The studies revealed how American students showed little significant gain on standardized tests in science between 1995 and 2005. Little information is available regarding how reform in American teaching strategies in science could improve student performance on standardized testing. The purpose of this quasi-experimental quantitative study using a pretest/posttest control group design was to examine how the use of a hands-on, constructivist teaching approach with low achieving eighth grade science students affected student achievement on the 2007 Ohio Eighth Grade Science Achievement Test posttest (N = 76). The research question asked how using constructivist teaching strategies in the science classroom affected student performance on standardized tests. Two independent samples of 38 students each consisting of low achieving science students as identified by seventh grade science scores and scores on the Ohio Eighth Grade Science Half-Length Practice Test pretest were used. Four comparisons were made between the control group receiving traditional classroom instruction and the experimental group receiving constructivist instruction including: (a) pretest/posttest standard comparison, (b) comparison of the number of students who passed the posttest, (c) comparison of the six standards covered on the posttest, (d) posttest's sample means comparison. A Mann-Whitney U Test revealed that there was no significant difference between the independent sample distributions for the control group and the experimental group. These findings contribute to positive social change by investigating science teaching strategies that could be used in eighth grade science classes to improve student achievement in science.

The CLER model: thinking through change. Configurations of social relationships. Linkages to carry communications. Environment(s) inside and around systems. Resources for enabling implementation for incorporating change.

PubMed

Bhola, H S

1994-05-01

The CLER model is presented to nursing professionals as a model for planning and implementing change in interpersonal, institutional and cultural settings. It is useful for generating other models by modeling reality as actually encountered by change agents and adopters. The CLER model is related philosophically to systems thinking (that there is interdependence among social entities), dialectical thinking (that there is mutual shaping among social processes) and constructivist thinking (that human beings take part in creating their own reality).

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.

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.

Using Wiki in Teacher Education: Impact on Knowledge Management Processes and Student Satisfaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Biasutti, Michele; EL-Deghaidy, Heba

2012-01-01

The current study reports on the use of Wiki as an online didactic tool to develop knowledge management (KM) processes in higher education. This study integrates social constructivist principles to learning where learners are pro-active and collaborative through higher order cognitive processes. The study was administered in two countries, namely…

Exploring Student Practices, Teacher Perspectives, and Complex Learning with Web 2.0 Technologies: A Socio-Constructivist Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fahser-Herro, Danielle C.

2010-01-01

The increasing gap between students at-home and in-school use of the Internet has been widely documented by researchers across many disciplines. After reviewing literature suggesting (1) students' online practices outside of school are significantly social, meaningful, and markedly different than opportunities afforded in school, and (2) research…

Impact of Structured Group Activities on Pre-Service Teachers' Beliefs about Classroom Motivation: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mansfield, Caroline F.; Volet, Simone E.

2014-01-01

Pre-service teachers' beliefs about classroom motivation, and how these beliefs may be developed during initial teacher preparation, is a relatively new aspect of enquiry in the fields of motivation and teacher education. An empirical study, grounded in a social constructivist perspective, was designed to examine the impact of providing…

Transforming Undergraduate Science Teaching: Social Constructivist Perspectives. Counterpoints: Studies in the Postmodern Theory of Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Peter C., Ed.; Gilmer, Penny J., Ed.; Tobin, Kenneth, Ed.

This book comes at a time when epistemological reform is sweeping through the global community of science education. Since the 1970s, the theories of knowing embodied in the teaching activities of school science teachers have been undergoing a major transformation toward more learner-sensitive standpoints. Undergraduate science teaching however,…

Subjective Experience and the Preparation of Activist Teachers: Confronting the Mean Old Snapping Turtle and the Great Big Bear.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kugelmass, Judy W.

2000-01-01

Describes the use of autobiographical storytelling, personal myths, and visual imagery in preparing elementary and special educators for activist roles in creating effective, inclusive schools. Graduate students were presented with a social-constructivist perspective toward the content and process of schooling. Examples of materials produced by…

My Journey of Learning and Teaching Mathematics from Traditionalism to Constructivism: A Portrayal of Pedagogic Metamorphosis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Belbase, Shashidhar

2006-01-01

This dissertation depicts my paradigmatic shift from traditionalist approach to constructivist approach of teaching and learning of mathematics. I have used autoethnography as the genre of writing and research that connects the personal to the cultural placing the self within a social context (Reed-Danahay, 1997). Employing autoethnography, I have…

What to Teach and How to Teach It: Elementary Teachers' Views on Teaching Inquiry-Based, Interdisciplinary Science and Social Studies in Urban Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Santau, Alexandra O.; Ritter, Jason K.

2013-01-01

Inquiry-based and interdisciplinary teaching practices exemplify constructivist approaches to education capable of facilitating authentic student learning; however, their implementation has proven particularly challenging within certain contexts in the United States. This qualitative study considers one such context via an investigation of…

Learner-Content, Learner-Instructor, and Learner-Learner Interaction in a Web-Enhanced, Internet Videoconference AP Calculus Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Einfeld, Dana Hobbs

2014-01-01

The purpose of this action research was to investigate how the use of technology promotes interaction to foster high school students' mathematical understanding. This mixed method study is guided by social-constructivist theory (Vygotsky, 1978) and framed within Moore's (1989) model of learner-content, learner-instructor, and learner-learner…

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…

Reflective Journal Writing as a Tool to Teach Aspects of Social Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-karasneh, Samih M.

2014-01-01

This article analyses the impact of a constructivist approach to learning in Jordan, where a traditional context of passive/receptive philosophy of teaching prevails. Student teachers were introduced to journal writing. It was expected that their experiences with journal writing would afford them a better understanding of how it would affect their…

The Impact of Cooperative Learning Methods on Elementary Preservice Education Teachers' Mathematics Achievement and Anxiety

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swift, Elijah Raford, Jr.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to address the gap in research regarding the use of cooperative learning instructional methods in college mathematics courses to prepare future teachers. Bruner's constructivist theory and social interdependence theory guided this study. The research questions focused on the effects of the use of cooperative learning…

Tutor Feedback on Draft Essays: Developing Students' Academic Writing and Subject Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Court, Krista

2014-01-01

Providing feedback on draft essays is an accepted means of enacting a social-constructivist approach to assessment, aligning with current views on the value of formative feedback and assessment for learning (AFL). However, the use of this process as a means of improving not only content but also students' academic writing skills has not been…

ICT-Mediated Science Inquiry: The Remote Access Microscopy Project (RAMP)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunt, John

2007-01-01

The calls for the transformation of how science is taught (and what is taught) are numerous and show no sign of abating. Common amongst these calls is the need to shift from the traditional teaching and learning towards a model that represents the social constructivist epistemology. These calls have coincided with the Internet revolution. Through…

The Importance of School Leaders' Engagement in Socialising Newly Qualified Teachers into the Teaching Profession

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Engvik, Gunnar; Emstad, Anne Berit

2017-01-01

This article focuses on the importance of school leaders' commitment to socialising newly qualified teachers (NQTs) into the teaching profession. Framed by a social constructivist perspective, the article is based on four challenges novice teachers face as described by four school leaders. The aim is to illuminate how school leaders have…

"Dicks are for Chicks": Latino Boys, Masculinity, and the Abjection of Homosexuality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mora, Richard

2013-01-01

Employing social constructivist theories and the concept of abjection from gender studies, this article examines how and why a group of low-income, USA-born Dominican and Puerto Rican middle-school boys constructed masculine identities by invoking and repudiating homosexuality. Ethnographic data from a 2.5-year study indicate that the abjection of…

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…

Snakes or Ladders? An Examination of the Experiences of Two Teacher Leaders Returning to Classroom Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Munroe, Elizabeth

2014-01-01

Teachers who have held leadership roles at the school, district, or provincial level have the potential to contribute to student and school success when they return to classroom teaching. The contrasting experiences of two teacher leaders who returned voluntarily to classroom teaching are analyzed using Owens's (2004) social constructivist theory…

Two Viewpoints on the Challenges of ICT in Education: Knowledge-Building Theory vs. a Pragmatist Conception of Learning in Social Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kivinen, Osmo; Piiroinen, Tero; Saikkonen, Loretta

2016-01-01

The paper contrasts two different approaches to the educational challenges of the ubiquitous, rapidly developing information and communication technologies (ICT). The first is the constructivist "knowledge building" theory spearheaded by Carl Bereiter and Marlene Scardamalia and recently further developed by Kai Hakkarainen and Sami…

Flying, Feathery and Beaked Objects: Children's Mental Models about Birds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ahi, Berat

2016-01-01

Purpose of this research is to state preschool students' mental model about birds by analyzing their drawing. This is a hermeneutical phenomenology research that is based on social constructivist philosophy. Typical case sampling method has used in order to form working group of this research. Working group consisting of 325 children who are in…

Algebra I Achievement of Eighth Grade Mexican American Students Using Cooperative Learning versus Traditional Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bunrasi, John Bosco Tuptip

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine constructivist-based algebra lessons and a cooperative construct to address the achievement gap between White (non-Hispanic) and Mexican American 8th grade students at a southern California middle school. The lessons were designed to facilitate social interdependence which promoted peer-to-peer interaction…

Investigating the Activity Design and Development Skills of Geography Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meydan, Ali

2017-01-01

As geography program has been discussed with the constructivist approach, it has become necessary to enhance the lessons with activities. Geography teachers implement the activities in course books, on the one hand, and also use the activities other teachers prepared or the activities in social network websites, on the other. However, what is more…

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.…

Pilot Study on Kindergarten Teachers' Perception of Linguistic and Musical Challenges in Nursery Rhymes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lefebvre, Pascal; Bolduc, Jonathan; Pirkenne, Christel

2015-01-01

Nursery rhymes provide a unique learning context for preschoolers in regard to their emergent literacy and musical development. According to Vygotsky's social constructivist theory (1978), in order for learning to occur, children must face challenges, and adults must provide support to guide them toward mastery of new skills. The current pilot…

A Storybook Method for Exploring Young Children's Views of Illness Causality in Relation to the Familial Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIntosh, Caroline; Stephens, Christine

2012-01-01

In this paper we describe a method for exploring young children's views of illness causality in social context. Studies of children's conceptualisation of illness have predominantly focused on the nature of children's knowledge rather than locating that knowledge within socio-cultural contexts. Adopting a socio-constructivist perspective we sought…

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…

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…

Embracing Your Inner "Guide on the Side": Using Neuroscience to Shift the Focus from Teaching to Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foster, Mary K.; West, Bettina; Bell-Angus, Barbara

2016-01-01

This article explores the effect of incorporating the precepts of neuroscience in a social constructivist theory of learning on student performance in an introductory course in marketing. The authors delivered the pilot class in a flipped format because it facilitates including the neuroscience considerations of dual coding, working memory,…

Reflections on the Invisible: The Missing Social Context in Therapy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hare-Mustin, Rachel T.

Constructivist approaches to therapy that view the therapist and patient as equal participants in co-creating a new dialogue render aspects of experience invisible. What is missing is an awareness of the dominant structures in society and the dominant ways of thinking and speaking. Three key factors need to be understood: first, the way meanings…

Users' Acceptance and Use of Moodle: The Community Influence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baytiyeh, Hoda

2013-01-01

The open source course management system Moodle, which a great number of organizations worldwide have adopted, is designed to help instructors deliver course materials to their students from a social constructivist perspective. The aim of this research is evaluate the acceptance and use of Moodle as an open source application from the viewpoint of…

Learner-Centeredness and EFL Instruction in Vietnam: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Dang, Hung

2006-01-01

Although learner-centeredness has been widely applied in instruction in the world, this approach has only been cautiously adopted in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching at some institutions in Vietnam. Taking a social constructivist view, this case study explores how a learner-centred perspective is employed in EFL teaching at a teacher…

Learning Morality in Peer Conflict: A Study of Schoolchildren's Narratives about Being Betrayed by a Friend

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singer, Elly; Doornenbal, Jeannette

2006-01-01

This article discusses the narratives of Dutch schoolchildren from varied cultural-ethnic backgrounds discussing experiences of being betrayed by a friend, and the lessons they learned from the experience. In line with earlier social constructivist research in western societies, the authors found that peers and friends acted as highly emotional…

Effects of a Science Education Module on Attitudes towards Modern Biotechnology of Secondary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klop, Tanja; Severiens, Sabine E.; Knippels, Marie-Christine P. J.; van Mil, Marc H. W.; Ten Dam, Geert T. M.

2010-01-01

This article evaluated the impact of a four-lesson science module on the attitudes of secondary school students. This science module (on cancer and modern biotechnology) utilises several design principles, related to a social constructivist perspective on learning. The expectation was that the module would help students become more articulate in…

Truth and Truthfulness in the Sociology of Educational Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Michael; Muller, Johan

2007-01-01

The aim of this article is to reflect on and explore questions of truth and objectivity in the sociology of educational knowledge. It begins by reviewing the problems raised by the social constructivist approaches to knowledge associated with the "new sociology of education" of the I970s. It suggests that they have significant parallels…

Mexican American Women's Adherence to Hemodialysis Treatment: A Social Constructivist Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tijerina, Mary S.

2009-01-01

Mexican Americans have as much as a six-times greater risk of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) than non-Hispanic white Americans, and women show a faster rate of decline in diabetic renal functioning. The leading treatment for ESRD is hemodialysis, an intensive, complex treatment regimen associated with high levels of patient nonadherence. Previous…

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…

Raising Student Achievement: A Closer Look into Magnet Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanchez, Octavio

2010-01-01

The need to address social and economic changes has focused greater attention on our public education system and the need to better equip students with the skills needed for a global society. This quantitative study was grounded in the principles of the constructivist learning theory. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the added…

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…

A Whole Community Approach toward Child and Youth Resilience Promotion: A Review of Resilience Literature.

PubMed

Khanlou, Nazilla; Wray, Ron

2014-01-01

A literature review of child and youth resilience with a focus on: definitions and factors of resilience; relationships between resilience, mental health and social outcomes; evidence for resilience promoting interventions; and implications for reducing health inequities. To conduct the review, the first two following steps were conducted iteratively and informed the third step: 1) Review of published peer-review literature since 2000; and 2) Review of grey literature; and 3) Quasi-realist synthesis of evidence. Evidence from three perspectives were examined: i) whether interventions can improve 'resilience' for vulnerable children and youth; ii) whether there is a differential effect among different populations; and, iii) whether there is evidence that resilience interventions 'close the gap' on health and social outcome measures. Definitions of resilience vary as do perspectives on it. We argue for a hybrid approach that recognizes the value of combining multiple theoretical perspectives, epistemologies (positivistic and constructivist/interpretive/critical) in studying resilience. Resilience is: a) a process (rather than a single event), b) a continuum (rather than a binary outcome), and c) likely a global concept with specific dimensions. Individual, family and social environmental factors influence resilience. A social determinants perspective on resilience and mental health is emphasized. Programs and interventions to promoting resilience should be complimentary to public health measures addressing the social determinants of health. A whole community approach to resilience is suggested as a step toward closing the public health policy gap. Local initiatives that stimulate a local transformation process are needed. Recognition of each child's or youth's intersections of gender, lifestage, family resources within the context of their identity markers fits with a localized approach to resilience promotion and, at the same time, requires recognition of the broader determinants of population health.

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,…

Exploring the Meaning and Use of Science Content Integration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garner, Jason L.

Science content integration, or the simultaneous teaching of science with other subjects during learning activities, has been explored by multiple studies. However, due to a lack of consensus on its definition, it was difficult for educators in a local school district to discuss and evaluate the effectiveness of this instructional technique. This qualitative collective case study, based on a constructivist theoretical foundation, centered on the questions of how teachers defined and used science content integration, and perceptions of impediments to its use. Participants were five teachers in a suburban elementary school. The sources of data for this study were interviews, audio recordings of lessons, and teacher documents in the form of lesson plans. Data analysis was conducted through multiple coding procedures, allowing the emergence of themes. Data analysis showed that participants' beliefs and practices differed according to age levels and developmental needs of their students. Implications for positive social change include building from this study to provide content integration-based professional development, common planning time, and suitable materials to improve teachers' capacity to integrate science content into instruction.

Butching it up: an analysis of same-sex female masculinity in Sri Lanka.

PubMed

Kuru-Utumpala, Jayanthi

2013-01-01

This paper seeks to examine the embodiment of female masculinity as experienced by 12 gender-non-conforming lesbians in Sri Lanka. By drawing on western feminist and queer theories, it critiques western theories in relation to a non-western subjectivity, attempting to unravel the seemingly empowering, albeit problematic, category of female masculinity. Data gathered through qualitative interviews address one key research question: how do gender-non-conforming lesbians in Sri Lankan embody female masculinity? As the discussion unfolds, this paper analyses the ways they view themselves, the extent to which their actions and behaviours fit within a masculine framework and the ways in which notions of desire are felt and understood in relation to their understanding of gender. In terms of theory, the analysis is located in social constructivist theory, while drawing on a postmodernist approach. Theoretically, the concept of female masculinity allows a woman embodying masculinity to dislodge men and maleness from it. The reality within a Sri Lankan experience, however, can at times be different, as this paper reveals.

Reconstructing constructivism: causal models, Bayesian learning mechanisms, and the theory theory.

PubMed

Gopnik, Alison; Wellman, Henry M

2012-11-01

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 theories. We outline the new theoretical ideas, explain the computational framework in an intuitive and nontechnical way, and review an extensive but relatively recent body of empirical results that supports these ideas. These include new studies of the mechanisms of learning. Children infer causal structure from statistical information, through their own actions on the world and through observations of the actions of others. Studies demonstrate these learning mechanisms in children from 16 months to 4 years old and include research on causal statistical learning, informal experimentation through play, and imitation and informal pedagogy. They also include studies of the variability and progressive character of intuitive theory change, particularly theory of mind. These studies investigate both the physical and the psychological and social domains. We conclude with suggestions for further collaborative projects between developmental and computational cognitive scientists.

Grounded theory: a methodological spiral from positivism to postmodernism.

PubMed

Mills, Jane; Chapman, Ysanne; Bonner, Ann; Francis, Karen

2007-04-01

Our aim in this paper is to explain a methodological/methods package devised to incorporate situational and social world mapping with frame analysis, based on a grounded theory study of Australian rural nurses' experiences of mentoring. Situational analysis, as conceived by Adele Clarke, shifts the research methodology of grounded theory from being located within a postpositivist paradigm to a postmodern paradigm. Clarke uses three types of maps during this process: situational, social world and positional, in combination with discourse analysis. During our grounded theory study, the process of concurrent interview data generation and analysis incorporated situational and social world mapping techniques. An outcome of this was our increased awareness of how outside actors influenced participants in their constructions of mentoring. In our attempts to use Clarke's methodological package, however, it became apparent that our constructivist beliefs about human agency could not be reconciled with the postmodern project of discourse analysis. We then turned to the literature on symbolic interactionism and adopted frame analysis as a method to examine the literature on rural nursing and mentoring as secondary form of data. While we found situational and social world mapping very useful, we were less successful in using positional maps. In retrospect, we would argue that collective action framing provides an alternative to analysing such positions in the literature. This is particularly so for researchers who locate themselves within a constructivist paradigm, and who are therefore unwilling to reject the notion of human agency and the ability of individuals to shape their world in some way. Our example of using this package of situational and social worlds mapping with frame analysis is intended to assist other researchers to locate participants more transparently in the social worlds that they negotiate in their everyday practice.

The Roles of Teacher Efficacy in Instructional Innovation: Its Predictive Relations to Constructivist and Didactic Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nie, Youyan; Tan, Gim Hoon; Liau, Albert Kienfie; Lau, Shun; Chua, Bee Leng

2013-01-01

Constructivist instruction has been implemented in the current instructional innovation in Singapore. Large scale survey study was conducted to examine the roles of teacher efficacy in implementing the innovative constructivist instruction. The results showed that the positive correlation between teacher efficacy and constructivist instruction was…

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…

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…

The Social Mediation of a Moral Dilemma: Appropriating the Moral Tools of Others

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turner, Val D.; Chambers, Elisha A.

2006-01-01

Much effort, on a philosophical and a research basis, has been applied to the subject of moral development framed within a constructivist, Piagetian stage-type format. These efforts have focused on the process of the individual's construction of a moral base and the individual's corresponding level of moral development. At this point in time,…

Mass Media and Global Warming: A Public Arenas Model of the Greenhouse Effect's Scientific Roots.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neuzil, Mark

1995-01-01

Uses the Public Arenas model to examine the historical roots of the greenhouse effect issue as communicated in scientific literature from the early 1800s to modern times. Utilizes a constructivist approach to discuss several possible explanations for the rise and fall of global warming as a social problem in the scientific arena. (PA)

The Effects of Integrating LEGO Robotics into a Mathematics Curriculum to Promote the Development of Proportional Reasoning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Casler-Failing, Shelli L.

2017-01-01

This mixed methods, action research case study sought to investigate the effects of incorporating LEGO robotics into a seventh grade mathematics curriculum focused on the development of proportional reasoning through the lens of Social Constructivist Theory. Quantitative data was collected via pre- and post-tests from the mathematics class of six…

Does Space Matter? Impact of Classroom Space on Student Learning in an Organic-First Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muthyala, Rajeev S.; Wei, Wei

2013-01-01

A number of studies have reported on the positive impact of social constructivist approaches on learning in introductory chemistry courses. However, the widespread use of such approaches is being hampered to a certain degree by uncertainty as to whether one needs a special type of classroom. In this study, we investigated student learning in two…

Promoting Social-Constructivist Pedagogy through Using Webquests in Teaching EFL Pre-Service Teachers in Macedonia: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zlatkovska, Emilija

2012-01-01

Using critical ethnography (Carspecken, 1996), by employing classroom observations, interviews, and survey data collection, this study explored the process of introducing a WebQuest lesson, i.e. specific web-supported and inquiry-based lessons as part of the teacher training curriculum at a Macedonian university and the potential impact of the…

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barak, Miri

2017-01-01

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…

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…

Seventh Grade Students' Conceptual Understanding about Citizenship: Does a Constructivist Social Studies Program Make a Difference?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sabanci, Osman; Kurnaz, Sefika; Yürük, Nejla

2016-01-01

Many studies have shown that students at different age levels come into classrooms with a variety of alternative conceptions. Commonly held alternative conceptions are the main source of the difficulties that students and teachers face in learning and teaching. The aim of this study was to compare the conceptual understanding of students who were…

Dyads versus Groups: Using Different Social Structures in Peer Review to Enhance Online Collaborative Learning Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pozzi, Francesca; Ceregini, Andrea; Ferlino, Lucia; Persico, Donatella

2016-01-01

The Peer Review (PR) is a very popular technique to support socio-constructivist and connectivist learning processes, online or face-to-face, at all educational levels, in both formal and informal contexts. The idea behind this technique is that sharing views and opinions with others by discussing with peers and receiving and providing formative…

Social Constructivist Approach to Web-Based EFL Learning: Collaboration, Motivation, and Perception on the Use of Google Docs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Sarah Hsueh-Jui; Lan, Yu-Ju

2016-01-01

This study reports on the differences in motivation, vocabulary gain, and perceptions on using or the Google Docs between individual and collaborative learning at a tertiary level. Two classes of English-as-a-Foreign Language (EFL) students were recruited and each class was randomly assigned into one of the two groups--individuals or…

Risk in Science Instruction: The Realist and Constructivist Paradigms of Risk

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hansen, Julia; Hammann, Marcus

2017-01-01

Risk is always present in people's lives: diseases, new technologies, socio-scientific issues (SSIs) such as climate change, and advances in medicine--to name just a few examples--all carry risks. To be able to navigate risks in everyday life, as well as to participate in social debate on risk-related issues, students need to develop risk…

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…

The Taboo and "Noa" of Teaching Science-Technology-Society (STS): A Constructivist Approach to Understanding the Rules of Conduct Teachers Live By.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGinnis, J. Randy

This study qualitatively investigates the taboo and "noa" topics of Science-Technology-Society (STS) taught in two local cultures. Taboos are beliefs that constrain behavior by making those behaviors perceived as threatening by the members of the social group forbidden and improper for discussion. "Noa" is the Polynesian word…

The Effect of Constructivist Science Teaching on 4th Grade Students' Understanding of Matter

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cakici, Yilmaz; Yavuz, Gulben

2010-01-01

In the last three decades, the constructivist approach has been the dominant ideology in the field of educational research. The aim of this study is to explore the effect of constructivist science teaching on the students' understanding about matter, and to compare the effectiveness of a constructivist approach over traditional teaching methods.…

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.

The development and assessment of constructivist-based curriculum changes in a university general biology laboratory course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herron, Sherry Shelton

1999-11-01

This study describes the processes involved in transforming the curriculum of the second semester general biology laboratory course for science majors, BSC 111L, at the University of Southern Mississippi from one based on the behaviorist model of teaching and learning to one based on the constructivist model. The study encompasses pilot and research phases. During the pilot phase conducted fall semester of 1997, the researcher presented to graduate teaching assistants an overview of the need for curriculum reform and some of the theoretical underpinnings for the movement. The researcher worked with all of the general biology teaching assistants to determine factors they considered supportive of the effort, identified specific goals and exercises, and developed a mission statement. The researcher then worked with two of the teaching assistants to write the new curriculum materials and pilot them in a designated laboratory section each week. During the research phase, the researcher facilitated the use of constructivist teaching methods and interviewed the teaching assistants during weekly group meetings. The researcher videotaped and observed the laboratories at various times throughout spring semester of 1998. Student responses to survey questions about the laboratories were collected during the observation sessions. Data derived from self-assessments on teaching beliefs completed by the teaching assistants, interview transcripts, videotaped laboratory sessions, and student surveys were used to assess the effectiveness of the new curriculum and the intervention program. It was observed that despite being given the same instructions, curriculum, and materials, each teaching assistant conducted his laboratory section in a unique way and rarely conducted the complete laboratory in the intended manner. It was also observed that one TA in particular needed more training in interpersonal skill development and content than was provided during the weekly intervention sessions. However, it was evident that constructivist teaching methods were being learned and that constructivist goals were being realized. Strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum materials were identified and extensive revisions were made by the researcher prior to the next semester. Finally, recommendations pertinent to the student survey used in this study (the Student Outcome Assessment Rubric) were made, and the need for more pedagogical instruction for teaching assistants and a mechanism to integrate lecture materials to the laboratory experience was described.

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.

Love, madness and social order: love melancholy in France and England in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

PubMed

Altbauer-Rudnik, Michal

2006-01-01

The concept of "illness's social course" can be approached from two stand-points. We can trace both the way the social world shapes the course of an illness and the way an illness' symptoms shape the social world. The purpose of this study is to locate the specific illness of love melancholy in a specific historical and social context, namely that of France and England in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, in order to explain the intense discussion on the disorder during that period. This attempt is done with respect to the two dimensions of the concept of "illness' social course" and in the light of constructivist commentary on psychological disorders, which regards them as local stress idioms shaped by a specific social and cultural context.

Disclosing victimisation to healthcare professionals in Sweden: a constructivist grounded theory study of experiences among men exposed to interpersonal violence

PubMed Central

Brüggemann, Adrianus Jelmer; Swahnberg, Katarina

2016-01-01

Objective To develop a theoretical model concerning male victims' processes of disclosing experiences of victimisation to healthcare professionals in Sweden. Design Qualitative interview study. Setting Informants were recruited from the general population and a primary healthcare centre in Sweden. Participants Informants were recruited by means of theoretical sampling among respondents in a previous quantitative study. Eligible for this study were men reporting sexual, physical and/or emotional violence victimisation by any perpetrator and reporting that they either had talked to a healthcare provider about their victimisation or had wanted to do so. Method Constructivist grounded theory. 12 interviews were performed and saturation was reached after 9. Results Several factors influencing the process of disclosing victimisation can be recognised from previous studies concerning female victims, including shame, fear of negative consequences of disclosing, specifics of the patient–provider relationship and time constraints within the healthcare system. However, this study extends previous knowledge by identifying strong negative effects of adherence to masculinity norms for victimised men and healthcare professionals on the process of disclosing. It is also emphasised that the process of disclosing cannot be separated from other, even seemingly unrelated, circumstances in the men's lives. Conclusions The process of disclosing victimisation to healthcare professionals was a complex process involving the men's experiences of victimisation, adherence to gender norms, their life circumstances and the dynamics of the actual healthcare encounter. PMID:27324711

Portraiture of constructivist parental involvement: A model to develop a community of practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dignam, Christopher Anthony

This qualitative research study addressed the problem of the lack of parental involvement in secondary school science. Increasing parental involvement is vital in supporting student academic achievement and social growth. The purpose of this emergent phenomenological study was to identify conditions required to successfully construct a supportive learning environment to form partnerships between students, parents, and educators. The overall research question in this study investigated the conditions necessary to successfully enlist parental participation with students during science inquiry investigations at the secondary school level. One hundred thirteen pairs of parents and students engaged in a 6-week scientific inquiry activity and recorded attitudinal data in dialogue journals, questionnaires, open-ended surveys, and during one-one-one interviews conducted by the researcher between individual parents and students. Comparisons and cross-interpretations of inter-rater, codified, triangulated data were utilized for identifying emergent themes. Data analysis revealed the active involvement of parents in researching with their child during inquiry investigations, engaging in journaling, and assessing student performance fostered partnerships among students, parents, and educators and supported students' social skills development. The resulting model, employing constructivist leadership and enlisting parent involvement, provides conditions and strategies required to develop a community of practice that can help effect social change. The active involvement of parents fostered improved efficacy and a holistic mindset to develop in parents, students, and teachers. Based on these findings, the interactive collaboration of parents in science learning activities can proactively facilitate a community of practice that will assist educators in facilitating social change.

Iranian EFL Teachers' Perception, Familiarity and Use of Web 2.0 Tools in TEFL

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shahrokni, Seyed Abdollah; Sadeqjoola, Leila

2015-01-01

Following social-constructivist approaches in education, there has been a growing interest in employing Web 2.0 technologies in language classes. While the effectiveness of these digital teaching crafts has been corroborated in many studies (see Crook et al., 2008, for a survey), there is always doubt if they have reached a normalized state in L2…

The Constructivist Approach? I Have Heard about It but I Have Never Seen It: "An Example of Exploratory Sequential Mixed Design Study"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polat, Ahmet; Dogan, Soner; Demir, Selçuk Besir

2016-01-01

The present study was undertaken to investigate the quality of education based on the views of the students attending social studies education departments at the Faculties of Education and to determine the existing problems and present suggestions for their solutions. The study was conducted according to exploratory sequential mixed method. In…

The Constructivist Approach? I Have Heard about It but I Have Never Seen It "An Example of Exploratory Sequential Mixed Design Study"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polat, Ahmet; Dogan, Soner; Demir, Selçuk Besir

2016-01-01

The present study was undertaken to investigate the quality of education based on the views of the students attending social studies education departments at the Faculties of Education and to determine the existing problems and present suggestions for their solutions. The study was conducted according to exploratory sequential mixed method. In…

Expanding Learning and Social Interaction through Intelligent Systems Design: Implementing a Reputation and Recommender System for the Claremont Conversation Online

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thoms, Brian

2009-01-01

In this dissertation I examine the design, construction and implementation of an online blog ratings and user recommender system for the Claremont Conversation Online (CCO). In line with constructivist learning models and practical information systems (IS) design, I implemented a blog ratings system (a system that can be extended to allow for…

A Grounded Theory Study of the Re-Entry Process of Teen Parents' Return to School after Dropping Out

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Melton, Brenda L.

2013-01-01

Without the rich stories of the experiences of teen parents who drop out of school and then re-enter, we do not have a total picture of the dropout phenomenon and how best to address the issues for this marginalized group. Using the research strategies of Charmaz' social constructivist grounded theory, Melton has gathered detailed stories about…

Using Pupil Perspective Research to Inform Teacher Pedagogy: What Caribbean Pupils with Dyslexia Say about Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blackman, Stacey

2011-01-01

The transformative potential of pupils' voices is well documented in past research by Pedder and McIntyre; and Cooper and McIntyre. In this qualitative research, I utilise a social constructivist framework by Vygotsky to ask pupils with dyslexia about the kinds of teacher strategies that they find helpful to their learning at secondary school in…

From Language Learner to Language User in English-Medium Higher Education: Language Development Brokers outside the Language Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blaj-Ward, Lia

2017-01-01

This article explores, from within the social constructivist paradigm and drawing on data from twenty-one semi-structured interviews with international postgraduate university students approaching the end of a one-year full-time taught Masters degree in the UK, the range of language development brokers that have had an impact on these students'…

Valuing the gap: a dialectic between theory and practice in graduate nursing education from a constructive educational approach.

PubMed

Moss, Cheryle; Grealish, Laurie; Lake, Sarah

2010-05-01

Within nursing education, graduate pedagogies are relatively unexplored, with research commonly focused upon undergraduate and continuing education. In order to address the increasingly complex organisational challenges in the workplace, mid-career nurses and midwives are turning to graduate education. In one graduate course on cultures of learning in the workplace, a constructivist approach to learning was adopted. Post-course analysis of data, from the feedback on the course from students, student choice of assignment topics, and reflections of the course facilitators, revealed three pedagogies unique to graduate education. The pedagogies were labelled 'keeping the space open', 'theoretical concepts as tools', and 'resonance and action as praxis'. The intended outcome of the course is revealed in a fourth theme, 'developing practice in the workplace'. This evaluation suggests that constructivist pedagogies used with graduate students may be different to those pedagogies used with undergraduate and continuing education students. We argue that graduate pedagogies move nursing education beyond strategies that seek integration of theory and practice, towards a dialectic between theory and practice. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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.

Rethinking presence: a grounded theory of nurses and teleconsultation.

PubMed

Barrett, David

2017-10-01

To develop a theory that offered an evidence-based insight into the use of teleconsultation by nurses. Teleconsultation is the use of video to facilitate real-time, remote interaction between healthcare practitioners and patients. Although its popularity is growing, there is little understanding of how teleconsultation impacts on the role of nurses. The study adopted a constructivist grounded theory method, supplemented by the use of Straussian analytical approaches. Using selective and theoretical approaches, registered nurses with experience of using video in health care were sampled. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews exploring experiences, knowledge and feelings surrounding teleconsultation. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and subjected to three-stage, nonlinear manual analysis (open, axial and selective coding). Theoretical saturation occurred after 17 interviews. The core category identified from the data was 'nursing presence' Four subcategories of nursing presence were identified: operational, clinical, therapeutic and social. The degree to which presence could be achieved was dependent upon three influencing factors - enablers, constraints and compensation. Nurses provide different types of presence during teleconsultation, with the degree of presence dependent on specific characteristics of video-mediated communication. Where the use of video constrains the delivery of presence, nurses use a range of compensatory mechanisms to enhance patient care. Teleconsultation provides an innovative approach to enhancing the delivery of health care. This study provides nurses with insight into the impact of teleconsultation on their professional role, and an understanding of how best to use video-mediated communication to support patient care. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Supporting the Uptake of Nursing Guidelines: what you really need to know to move nursing guidelines into practice.

PubMed

Matthew-Maich, Nancy; Ploeg, Jenny; Dobbins, Maureen; Jack, Susan

2013-05-01

There is a current push to use best practice guidelines (BPGs) in health care to enhance client care and outcomes. Even though intensive resources have been invested internationally to develop BPGs, a gap in knowledge exists about how to consistently and efficiently move them into practice. Constructivist grounded theory was used to explore the complex processes of a breastfeeding BPG implementation and uptake in three acute care hospitals. Interviews (n = 120) with 112 participants representing clients, nurses, lactation consultants, midwives, physicians, managers, administrators, and nurse educators as well as document and field note analysis informed this study. Data were analyzed using constant comparison and coding steps outlined by Charmaz: initial coding, selective (focused) coding, then theoretical coding. Triangulation of data types and sources were used as well as theoretical sampling. Data were collected from 2009 to 2010. Two sites showed BPG uptake while one did not. Factors present in the uptake sites included, ongoing passionate frontline leaders, the use of multifaceted strategies, and processes that occurred at organizational, leadership, individual and social levels. Particularly noteworthy was the transformation of individual nurses to believing in and using the BPG. Impacts occurred at client, nurse, unit, inter-professional, organizational and system levels. A conceptual framework: Supporting the Uptake of Nursing Guidelines, was developed that reveals essential processes used to facilitate BPG uptake into nursing practice and a process of nurse transformation to believing in and using the BPG. © Sigma Theta Tau International.

Virtual school teacher's science efficacy beliefs: The effects of community of practice on science-teaching efficacy beliefs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uzoff, Phuong Pham

The purpose of this study was to examine how much K-12 science teachers working in a virtual school experience a community of practice and how that experience affects personal science-teaching efficacy and science-teaching outcome expectancy. The study was rooted in theoretical frameworks from Lave and Wenger's (1991) community of practice and Bandura's (1977) self-efficacy beliefs. The researcher used three surveys to examine schoolteachers' experiences of a community of practice and science-teaching efficacy beliefs. The instrument combined Mangieri's (2008) virtual teacher demographic survey, Riggs and Enochs (1990) Science-teaching efficacy Beliefs Instrument-A (STEBI-A), and Cadiz, Sawyer, and Griffith's (2009) Experienced Community of Practice (eCoP) instrument. The results showed a significant linear statistical relationship between the science teachers' experiences of community of practice and personal science-teaching efficacy. In addition, the study found that there was also a significant linear statistical relationship between teachers' community of practice experiences and science-teaching outcome expectancy. The results from this study were in line with numerous studies that have found teachers who are involved in a community of practice report higher science-teaching efficacy beliefs (Akerson, Cullen, & Hanson, 2009; Fazio, 2009; Lakshmanan, Heath, Perlmutter, & Elder, 2011; Liu, Lee, & Lin, 2010; Sinclair, Naizer, & Ledbetter, 2010). The researcher concluded that school leaders, policymakers, and researchers should increase professional learning opportunities that are grounded in social constructivist theoretical frameworks in order to increase teachers' science efficacy.

[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.

The Listening Partners program: an initiative toward feminist community psychology in action.

PubMed

Bond, L A; Belenky, M F; Weinstock, J S

2000-10-01

The Listening Partners intervention is described and analyzed as a synthesis of feminism and community psychology, within a developmental framework. Working from an empowerment perspective, this social action, peer group intervention supported a community of poor, rural, isolated, young, White mothers to gain a greater voice, claim the powers of their minds, and collaborate in developmental leadership--creating settings that promote their own development and that of their families, peers, and communities. High quality dialogue, individual and group narrative, and collaborative problem-solving were emphasized, in a feminist context affirming diversity, inclusiveness, strengths, social-contextual analyses, and social constructivist perspectives. The power of enacting a synergy of feminism and community psychology is highlighted.

A new paradigm for nursing: the potential of realism.

PubMed

Wainwright, S P

1997-12-01

Realism has been the dominant approach in the philosophy of science for the last 20 years. Realist philosophy has also been widely employed across a range of social sciences. Unfortunately, these powerful intellectual currents have not reached the shores of nursing which appears trapped in a time-warped debate about 'qualitative' (constructivist) and 'quantitative' (positivist) approaches. This paper argues that both positivism and constructionism are seriously flawed as philosophies of social and natural science. This is in marked contrast with realism which is a philosophy of both the natural and social sciences. I therefore propose that realism should be adopted as a radically different new paradigm for a unified biopsychosocial nursing.

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.

Evaluation of an Educational Computer Programme as a Change Agent in Science Classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muwanga-Zake, Johnnie Wycliffe Frank

2007-12-01

I report on benefits from 26 teacher-participant evaluators of a computer game designed to motivate learning and to ease conceptual understanding of biology in South Africa. Using a developmental, social constructivist and interpretative model, the recommendation is to include the value systems and needs of end-users (through social dialogue); curriculum issues (learning theories in the ECP and those the education authorities recommend, as well as ECP-curriculum integration); the nature of the subject the ECP presents (e.g., Nature of Science); and the compatibility of the ECP with school computers.

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 Experiences and Personal Religious Beliefs of Egyptian Science Teachers as a Framework for Understanding the Shaping and Reshaping of Their Beliefs and Practices about Science-Technology-Society (STS)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mansour, Nasser

2008-01-01

This research investigates the role of experience in relation to teachers' beliefs and practices. The study adopted a social-cultural constructivist perspective using an interpretive approach. The research was guided by teachers' interpretations of their experiences related to teaching science through Science-Technology-Society (STS) issues. These…

A Social-Constructivist Approach in Physical Education: Influence of Dyadic Interactions on Tactical Choices in an Instructional Team Sport Setting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Damis-Paraboschi, Florence; Lafont, Lucile; Menaut, Andre

2005-01-01

The purpose of this study was to analyze the role of dyadic verbal peer interactions in a team sport such as handball. Participants, 20 boys and 20 girls aged between 11 and 12, were assigned to two learning condition groups. The task was an instructional setting in team handball (2 attackers against 1 defender in each half court). The…

Teaching Controversial Topics in the Humanities and Social Sciences in Ireland: Using Structured Academic Controversy to Develop Multi-Perspectivity in the Learner

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bruen, Jennifer; Crosbie, Veronica; Kelly, Niamh; Loftus, Maria; Maillot, Agnès; McGillicuddy, Áine; Péchenart, Juliette

2016-01-01

Purpose: This study had two main objectives: The first was to explore the extent to which a group of University lecturers feel that they are prepared to deal with controversial issues in their classrooms. The second was to elicit their views on a didactic approach known as Structured Academic Controversy (SAC). SAC is a constructivist teaching…

Competing Constructivisms: The Negotiation of PTSD and Related Stigma Among Post-9/11 Veterans in New York City.

PubMed

Elliott, Luther; Bennett, Alexander S; Szott, Kelly; Golub, Andrew

2018-05-23

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) stands as a form of psychopathology that straddles moral and psychiatric domains. Grounded in discrete instances of trauma, PTSD represents an etiological outlier in an era of increased attention to the genetics of mental illness and a prime location for social constructivist analyses of mental illness. This examination of PTSD narratives-as voiced in qualitative interviews and focus groups with 50 veterans of the recent Iraq and Afghanistan wars living in New York City-attends to the processes through which veterans conceive and navigate PTSD symptoms and diagnoses. In so doing we highlight the social constructivist positions undertaken by veterans themselves as they varyingly challenge and internalize symptomology in dialogue with psychiatric definitions and the stigma associated with PTSD. Findings demonstrate the rejection of classic psychopathological etiology-in brain disease, for example-by many veterans as well as the complex balancing of benefit and stigma that veterans undertake when making decisions about presenting to psychiatric clinicians. Drawing on veterans' accounts, we argue for greater cultural specificity in characterizing the diagnosis-seeking behavior of trauma survivors and a greater appreciation for the contradictions and compromise related to both acceptance and rejection of a mental health diagnosis.

Photovoicing the neighbourhood: Understanding the situated meaning of intangible places for ageing-in-place.

PubMed

van Hees, Susan; Horstman, Klasien; Jansen, Maria; Ruwaard, Dirk

2017-11-01

Ageing-in-place is considered important for the health of older adults. In this paper, inspired by a constructivist approach to ageing-in-place, we unravel professionals' and older adults' constructions of ageing-in-place. Their perspectives are studied in relation to a policy that aims to develop so-called 'lifecycle-robust neighbourhoods' in the southern part of the Netherlands. We conducted a photovoice study in which 18 older adults (70-85 years) living independently and 14 professionals (social workers, housing consultants, neighbourhood managers and community workers) were asked to photograph and discuss the places they consider important for ageing-in-place. Based on a theoretically informed analysis of the data, we found that professionals primarily consider objective characteristics of neighbourhoods such as access to amenities, mobility and meeting places as important enablers for older adults to remain living independently. Analysis of older adults' photographs and stories show that they associate ageing-in-place with specific lived experiences and attachments to specific, intangible and memory-laden public places. We conclude that exploring these experiences helps to increase current knowledge about place attachment in old age. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The nature and impact of stigma towards injured workers.

PubMed

Kirsh, Bonnie; Slack, Tesha; King, Carole Anne

2012-06-01

Many injured workers experience high levels of stigma and discrimination, which compound their physical injuries and cause social and psychological harm. Despite a growing awareness of the prevalence of such stigma, there is little research that focuses on the sources, nature and consequences of stigma with respect to the lives of injured workers. The purpose of this paper is to advance knowledge related to stigma towards injured workers, specifically to explain the nature and processes of stigma and their influence on injured workers' lives. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, data from focus groups (n = 28 participants) and individual interviews (n = 18) were analyzed to discern how stigma is exhibited and perpetuated, and its impact on the lives of injured workers. The study culminated in a preliminary theoretical framework that delineates the key components of the manifestations and impacts of stigma that includes stereotypes, unethical practices and maltreatment negatively affecting work, relationships and the mental health of injured workers. The development of sound conceptualizations in this area can advance our understanding of stigma processes and provide a framework for anti-stigma efforts. The findings have implications for public education, workplace interventions and services for injured workers.

Reconstructing constructivism: Causal models, Bayesian learning mechanisms and the theory theory

PubMed Central

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 theories. We outline the new theoretical ideas, explain the computational framework in an intuitive and non-technical way, and review an extensive but relatively recent body of empirical results that supports these ideas. These include new studies of the mechanisms of learning. Children infer causal structure from statistical information, through their own actions on the world and through observations of the actions of others. Studies demonstrate these learning mechanisms in children from 16 months to 4 years old and include research on causal statistical learning, informal experimentation through play, and imitation and informal pedagogy. They also include studies of the variability and progressive character of intuitive theory change, particularly theory of mind. These studies investigate both the physical and psychological and social domains. We conclude with suggestions for further collaborative projects between developmental and computational cognitive scientists. PMID:22582739

Narrative research in psychotherapy: a critical review.

PubMed

Avdi, Evrinomy; Georgaca, Eugenie

2007-09-01

This paper is a review of studies which utilise the notion of narrative to analyse psychotherapy. Its purpose is to systematically present this diverse field of research, to highlight common themes and divergences between different strands and to further the development and integration of narrative research in psychotherapy. The paper reviews studies which employ an applied textual analysis of narratives produced in the context of psychotherapy. Criteria for inclusion of studies are, firstly, the analysis of therapeutic and therapy-related texts and, secondly, the adoption of a narrative psychological perspective. The studies were examined on the basis of the notion of narrative they employ and the aspects of client narratives they focus on, and were grouped accordingly in the review. The majority of the studies reviewed assume a constructivist approach to narrative, adopt a representational view of language, focus primarily on client micro-narratives and relate to cognitive-constructivist and process-experiential psychotherapeutic approaches. A smaller group of studies assume a social constructionist approach to narrative and a functional view of language, focus on micro-narratives, highlight the interactional and wider social aspects of narrative and relate to postmodern trends in psychotherapy. The range of conceptualisations of narrative in the studies reviewed, from a representational psychological view to a constructionist social view, reflects tensions within narrative psychology itself. Moreover, two trends can be discerned in the field reviewed, narrative analysis of therapy, which draws from narrative theory and utilises the analytic approaches of narrative research to study psychotherapy, and analyses of narrative in therapy, which study client narratives using non-narrative qualitative methods. Finally, the paper highlights the need for integration of this diverse field of research and urges for the development of narrative studies of psychotherapy which employ a broader social understanding of narrative production and transformation.

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,…

Disclosing victimisation to healthcare professionals in Sweden: a constructivist grounded theory study of experiences among men exposed to interpersonal violence.

PubMed

Simmons, Johanna; Brüggemann, Adrianus Jelmer; Swahnberg, Katarina

2016-06-20

To develop a theoretical model concerning male victims' processes of disclosing experiences of victimisation to healthcare professionals in Sweden. Qualitative interview study. Informants were recruited from the general population and a primary healthcare centre in Sweden. Informants were recruited by means of theoretical sampling among respondents in a previous quantitative study. Eligible for this study were men reporting sexual, physical and/or emotional violence victimisation by any perpetrator and reporting that they either had talked to a healthcare provider about their victimisation or had wanted to do so. Constructivist grounded theory. 12 interviews were performed and saturation was reached after 9. Several factors influencing the process of disclosing victimisation can be recognised from previous studies concerning female victims, including shame, fear of negative consequences of disclosing, specifics of the patient-provider relationship and time constraints within the healthcare system. However, this study extends previous knowledge by identifying strong negative effects of adherence to masculinity norms for victimised men and healthcare professionals on the process of disclosing. It is also emphasised that the process of disclosing cannot be separated from other, even seemingly unrelated, circumstances in the men's lives. The process of disclosing victimisation to healthcare professionals was a complex process involving the men's experiences of victimisation, adherence to gender norms, their life circumstances and the dynamics of the actual healthcare encounter. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

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…

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 Meta-Practices: When Students Design Activities, Lead Others, and Assess Peers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bright, David S.; Caza, Arran; Turesky, Elizabeth Fisher; Putzel, Roger; Nelson, Eric; Luechtefeld, Ray

2016-01-01

New educators may feel overwhelmed by the options available for engaging students through classroom participation. However, it may be helpful to recognize that participatory pedagogical systems often have constructivist roots. Adopting a constructivist perspective, our paper considers three meta-practices that encourage student participation:…

Constructivist Learning Environment among Palestinian Science Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zeidan, Afif

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the constructivist learning environment among Palestinian science students. The study also aimed to investigate the effects of gender and learning level of these students on their perceptions of the constructivist learning environment. Data were collected from 125 male and 101 female students from the…

Science Teachers' Perceptions of Implementing Constructivist Principles into Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saunders, Saundra M.

2009-01-01

The purpose of this research study was to examine the differences in beliefs and perceptions about the implementation of constructivist principles into instruction, in support of the National Science Education Standards, for science teachers who adopt constructivist principles and those who do not. The study also examined correlations between a…

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…

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…

Millennial Expectations and Constructivist Methodologies: Their Corresponding Characteristics and Alignment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carter, Timothy L.

2008-01-01

In recent years, much emphasis has been placed on constructivist methodologies and their potential benefit for learners of various ages (Brandt & Perkins, 2000; Brooks, 1990). Although certain aspects of the constructivist paradigm have replaced several aspects of the behaviorist paradigm for a large contingency of stakeholders (particularly,…

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…

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…

The Relationship between Pre-Service Science Teachers' Epistemological Beliefs and Preferences for Creating a Constructivist Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saylan, Asli; Armagan, Fulya Öner; Bektas, Oktay

2016-01-01

The present study investigated the relationship between pre-service science teachers' epistemological beliefs and perceptions of a constructivist learning environment. The Turkish version of Constructivist Learning Environment Survey and Schommer's Epistemological Belief Questionnaire were administered to 531 pre-service science teachers attending…

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…

Children, Objects, and Relations: Constructivist Foundations in the Reggio Emilia Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swann, Annette C.

2008-01-01

This article examines how children's construction of relationships in exploring materials helps to explain the constructivist foundations of the Reggio Emilia approach. A quasi-naturalistic study of 12 preschool children, ages 3 and 4 years, individually exploring different kinds of collage papers reveals a range of constructivist categories…

Analyzing and Critiquing the Concepts of Professional Autonomy and Accountability through the Prisms of Decentralization and Constructivist Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shapiro, Arthur; Koren, Andrej

2012-01-01

This analysis and synthesis explores constructs of professional autonomy and accountability using constructivist theory and practice to examine the organizational dynamics of centralization/decentralization, particularly as applied to educational organizations. Major schools of constructivist thought are explored to shed light on…

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…

An exploration of the relationship between teacher beliefs and practices: Lessons from a self-study of a fourth- and fifth-grade science teacher

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Connell, Shelley Sha'ron

2007-12-01

This study was an investigation of the relationship between teacher beliefs and teaching practices. The relationship was explored to address reported inconsistencies among teacher beliefs, teaching practices and reform goals reported over the past 30 years. A self-study methodology was employed to collect data in a fourth-grade (n = 12) and a fifth-grade (n = 7) class at a private elementary school. Data were collected using a reflective journal and the Traditional Versus Inquiry-Based Classroom Behaviors instrument. Self-data were triangulated with critical judgment data from focus groups and interviews with students, parents, and a peer teacher observer. Data were collected and analyzed in four segments: (a) teacher beliefs, (b) teaching practices, (c) congruency between teacher beliefs and teaching practices, and (d) factors that influence congruency. Teacher beliefs were listed at the start of the school year and analyzed in narrative format. Teaching practices were recorded in the journal and analyzed through coding. The relationship between beliefs and practices was explored on two levels, following Haney & McArthur's (2002) modified theory of planned behavior. First, congruency between beliefs and practices was determined, yielding beliefs that were either central (congruent with practices) or peripheral (incongruent with practices) to the author's belief system. Second, congruency between central beliefs and two categories of teaching principles was determined, yielding three subdivisions: constructivist core (congruent with constructivist principles), emerging core (congruent with general principles) and conflict core (incongruent with constructivist principles) beliefs. Data analysis showed 16 central beliefs (those congruent with practice) in operation. The study finding was that teacher beliefs and practices were largely congruent for this one teacher. This contrasted most published reports. Coupling application of the TPB and modified TPB, congruence appeared to be largely influenced by teacher reflection on classroom experiences and student outcomes, as well as three belief factors about teaching by constructivist principles: (a) beliefs about positive or negative outcomes (b) beliefs about social pressure and (c) beliefs about external factors that impact one's ability. Implications for future professional development include categorizing beliefs, pairing with mentors identified as having constructivist core beliefs and the use of reflective practice during field experiences.

Between negative stigma (cultural deprivation) and positive stigma (learning disability): the historical development of two special education tracks.

PubMed

Katchergin, Ofer

2012-12-01

This article posits an updated, broader perspective on the concept of learning disabilities (LDs) than that accepted in the local Israeli literature, revealing how it is immersed in class, ethnicity, and culture. This is shown through historical description, accreditation, and contrasting of the two special education discourses: the "cultural deprivation" discourse and the "LDs" discourse. There are three sections. Part One presents the theoretical, conceptual, and methodological background of the sociological and discursive debate about LDs. The social-constructivist model used in an analysis of the two categories is proposed as an alternative to the clinical-medical model. The definitions of LDs and cultural deprivation accepted in the Israeli discourse are presented in Part Two. The metamorphoses in the discourse about the category of LDs are uncovered through reference to their conceptual and historical antecedents. This part discusses the various understandings and constructions of learning difficulties. Part Three examines the textual representation of parents of children with disabilities in both cases, exploring the meanings of guilt, responsibility, and agency in each discourse. The conclusion clarifies the social and political significance of the distinct textual and rhetorical representations. It becomes evident that the discourse on LDs and the discourse on cultural deprivation are two special education tracks directed at different target audiences: the culturally enriched audience, well-off and educated on the one hand, and the Mizrahi audience of limited means and education on the other hand.

Validity in work-based assessment: expanding our horizons.

PubMed

Govaerts, Marjan; van der Vleuten, Cees P M

2013-12-01

Although work-based assessments (WBA) may come closest to assessing habitual performance, their use for summative purposes is not undisputed. Most criticism of WBA stems from approaches to validity consistent with the quantitative psychometric framework. However, there is increasing research evidence that indicates that the assumptions underlying the predictive, deterministic framework of psychometrics may no longer hold. In this discussion paper we argue that meaningfulness and appropriateness of current validity evidence can be called into question and that we need alternative strategies to assessment and validity inquiry that build on current theories of learning and performance in complex and dynamic workplace settings. Drawing from research in various professional fields we outline key issues within the mechanisms of learning, competence and performance in the context of complex social environments and illustrate their relevance to WBA. In reviewing recent socio-cultural learning theory and research on performance and performance interpretations in work settings, we demonstrate that learning, competence (as inferred from performance) as well as performance interpretations are to be seen as inherently contextualised, and can only be under-stood 'in situ'. Assessment in the context of work settings may, therefore, be more usefully viewed as a socially situated interpretive act. We propose constructivist-interpretivist approaches towards WBA in order to capture and understand contextualised learning and performance in work settings. Theoretical assumptions underlying interpretivist assessment approaches call for a validity theory that provides the theoretical framework and conceptual tools to guide the validation process in the qualitative assessment inquiry. Basic principles of rigour specific to qualitative research have been established, and they can and should be used to determine validity in interpretivist assessment approaches. If used properly, these strategies generate trustworthy evidence that is needed to develop the validity argument in WBA, allowing for in-depth and meaningful information about professional competence. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Tailoring a response to youth binge drinking in an Aboriginal Australian community: a grounded theory study.

PubMed

McCalman, Janya; Tsey, Komla; Bainbridge, Roxanne; Shakeshaft, Anthony; Singleton, Michele; Doran, Christopher

2013-08-07

While Aboriginal Australian health providers prioritise identification of local community health needs and strategies, they do not always have the opportunity to access or interpret evidence-based literature to inform health improvement innovations. Research partnerships are therefore important when designing or modifying Aboriginal Australian health improvement initiatives and their evaluation. However, there are few models that outline the pragmatic steps by which research partners negotiate to develop, implement and evaluate community-based initiatives. The objective of this paper is to provide a theoretical model of the tailoring of health improvement initiatives by Aboriginal community-based service providers and partner university researchers. It draws from the case of the Beat da Binge community-initiated youth binge drinking harm reduction project in Yarrabah. A theoretical model was developed using the constructivist grounded theory methods of concurrent sampling, data collection and analysis. Data was obtained from the recordings of reflective Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) processes with Aboriginal community partners and young people, and university researchers. CBPR data was supplemented with interviews with theoretically sampled project participants. The transcripts of CBPR recordings and interviews were imported into NVIVO and coded to identify categories and theoretical constructs. The identified categories were then developed into higher order concepts and the relationships between concepts identified until the central purpose of those involved in the project and the core process that facilitated that purpose were identified. The tailored alcohol harm reduction project resulted in clarification of the underlying local determinants of binge drinking, and a shift in the project design from a social marketing awareness campaign (based on short-term events) to a more robust advocacy for youth mentoring into education, employment and training. The community-based process undertaken by the research partnership to tailor the design, implementation and evaluation of the project was theorised as a model incorporating four overlapping stages of negotiating knowledges and meanings to tailor a community response. The theoretical model can be applied in spaces where local Aboriginal and scientific knowledges meet to support the tailored design, implementation and evaluation of other health improvement projects, particularly those that originate from Aboriginal communities themselves.

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

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…

The Many Faces of Constructivist Discussion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Golding, Clinton

2011-01-01

Although constructivist discussions in the classroom are often treated as if they were all of the same kind, in this paper I argue that there are subtle but important distinctions that need to be made. An analysis of these distinctions shows that there is a continuum of different constructivist discussions. At one extreme are teacher-directed…

An Ever-Changing Meaning: A Career Constructivist Application to Working with African Refugees

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pierce, L. Marinn; Gibbons, Melinda M.

2012-01-01

Refugees are expected to determine how to integrate past experiences into their lives in a new culture. Constructivist approaches to counseling allow refugees opportunities to determine how to integrate these experiences into their future career choices. Refugee experiences throughout the resettlement process and a constructivist career counseling…

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…

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…

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…

Embracing Both a Constructivist Counseling Approach and a Specific Religious Tradition: Is It a Leap of Faith?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watts, Richard E.

2011-01-01

Given that constructivist approaches to counseling and religious faith traditions have divergent views regarding the understanding and perception of reality, the question arises, "Can a counselor embrace both a constructivist counseling approach and a particular religious tradition?" Using a diversity within unity perspective, the author argues…

Reconstructing Christian Ethics: Exploring Constructivist Practices for Teaching Christian Ethics in the Masters of Divinity Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Danaher, William

2009-01-01

This article reflects on an effort to incorporate constructivist pedagogies (learner-centered, inquiry-guided, problem-based models of teaching) into an introductory class on Christian Ethics in an M.Div. curriculum. Although some students preferred more traditional pedagogies, the majority found that constructivist pedagogies better accommodated…

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…

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…

What Is Constructionism in Psychiatry? From Social Causes to Psychiatric Classification.

PubMed

van Riel, Raphael

2016-01-01

It is common to note that social environment and cultural formation shape mental disorders. The details of this claim are, however, not well understood. The paper takes a look at the claim that culture has an impact on psychiatry from the perspective of metaphysics and the philosophy of science. Its aim is to offer, in a general fashion, partial explications of some significant versions of the thesis that culture and social environment shape mental disorders and to highlight some of the consequences social constructionism about psychiatry has for psychiatric explanation. In particular, it will be argued that the alleged dependence of facts about particular mental disorders and about the second order property of being a mental disorder on social facts amounts to a robust form of constructivism, whereas the view that clinician-patient interaction is influenced by cultural facts is perfectly compatible with an anti-constructivist stance.

What Is Constructionism in Psychiatry? From Social Causes to Psychiatric Classification

PubMed Central

van Riel, Raphael

2016-01-01

It is common to note that social environment and cultural formation shape mental disorders. The details of this claim are, however, not well understood. The paper takes a look at the claim that culture has an impact on psychiatry from the perspective of metaphysics and the philosophy of science. Its aim is to offer, in a general fashion, partial explications of some significant versions of the thesis that culture and social environment shape mental disorders and to highlight some of the consequences social constructionism about psychiatry has for psychiatric explanation. In particular, it will be argued that the alleged dependence of facts about particular mental disorders and about the second order property of being a mental disorder on social facts amounts to a robust form of constructivism, whereas the view that clinician–patient interaction is influenced by cultural facts is perfectly compatible with an anti-constructivist stance. PMID:27148086

Preparing healthcare students who participate in interprofessional education for interprofessional collaboration: A constructivist grounded theory study protocol.

PubMed

Bianchi, Monica; Bagnasco, Annamaria; Aleo, Giuseppe; Catania, Gianluca; Zanini, Milko Patrick; Timmins, Fiona; Carnevale, Franco; Sasso, Loredana

2018-05-01

This article presents a qualitative research protocol to explore and understand the interprofessional collaboration (IPC) preparation process implemented by clinical tutors and students of different professions involved in interprofessional education (IPE). Many studies have shown that IPE initiatives improve students' understanding of the roles and responsibilities of other professionals. This improves students' attitudes towards other professions, facilitating mutual respect, and IPC. However, there is limited information about how students are prepared to work collaboratively within interprofessional teams. This is a constructivist grounded theory (GT) study, which will involve data collection through in-depth semi-structured interviews (to 9-15 students and 6-9 clinical tutors), participant observations, and the analysis of documentation. After analysing, coding, integrating, and comparing the data if necessary, a second round of interviews could be conducted to explore any particularly interesting aspects or clarify any issues. This will then be followed by focused and theoretical coding. Qualitative data analysis will be conducted with the support of NVivo 10 software (Victoria, Australia). A better conceptual understanding will help to understand if IPE experiences have contributed to the acquisition of competencies considered important for IPC, and if they have facilitated the development of teamwork attitudes.

An online community of practice to support evidence-based physiotherapy practice in manual therapy.

PubMed

Evans, Cathy; Yeung, Euson; Markoulakis, Roula; Guilcher, Sara

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore how a community of practice promoted the creation and sharing of new knowledge in evidence-based manual therapy using Wenger's constructs of mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and shared repertoire as a theoretical framework. We used a qualitative approach to analyze the discussion board contributions of the 19 physiotherapists who participated in the 10-week online continuing education course in evidence-based practice (EBP) in manual therapy. The course was founded on community of practice, constructivism, social, and situated learning principles. The 1436 postings on 9 active discussion boards revealed that the community of practice was a social learning environment that supported strong participation and mutual engagement. Design features such as consistent facilitation, weekly guiding questions, and collaborative assignments promoted the creation and sharing of knowledge. Participants applied research evidence to the contexts in which they worked through reflective comparison of what they were reading to its applicability in their everyday practice. Participants' shared goals contributed to the common ground established in developing collective knowledge about different study designs, how to answer research questions, and the difficulties of conducting sound research. An online longitudinal community of practice utilized as a continuing education approach to deliver an online course based on constructivist and social learning principles allowed geographically dispersed physiotherapists to be mutually engaged in a joint enterprise in evidence-based manual therapy. Advantages included opportunity for reflection, modeling, and collaboration. Future studies should examine the impact of participation on clinical practice. © 2014 The Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions, the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education, and the Council on Continuing Medical Education, Association for Hospital Medical Education.

A Review and Discussion of Epistemological Commitments, Metacognition, and Critical Thinking with Suggestions on Their Enhancement in Internet-Assisted Chemistry Classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsai, Chin-Chung

2001-07-01

Recently, educators have focused on students' internal control of learning. Epistemological commitments, metacognition, and critical thinking are relevant considerations when addressing this topic. This paper explores the relationships among these domains as a theoretical framework for enhancing chemistry education. The framework shows that these domains share many commonalities. For example, they all focus on learners' self-reflection and they all are rooted in the constructivist theory. This paper further proposes a role for Internet technology in helping students develop appropriate epistemological commitments, metacognitive skills, and critical thinking.

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,…

Analyzing the Classroom Teachers' Levels of Creating a Constructivist Learning Environments in Terms of Various Variables: A Mersin Case

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Üredi, Lütfi

2014-01-01

In this research, it was aimed to analyze the classroom teachers' level of creating a constructivist learning environment in terms of various variables. For that purpose, relational screening model was used in the research. Classroom teachers' level of creating a constructivist learning environment was determined using the "constructivist…

Employing Constructivist Models of Culture Teaching for Enhanced Efficacy in Pre-Departure, Cross-Cultural Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ashby, Wendy

2012-01-01

This article presents a case for adopting a constructivist approach in the teaching of culture to federal, business and civilian personnel. In support of this argument, the author: (1) outlines the history of culture teaching as it progresses from behaviorist through cognitive to constructivist orientations; (2) argues that a constructivist…

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…

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…

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…

Applying the Subject "Cell" through Constructivist Approach during Science Lessons and the Teacher's View

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dogru, Mustafa; Kalender, Suna

2007-01-01

In this study our purpose is to determine how the teachers are applying the constructivist approach in their classes by classifying the teachers according to graduated faculty, department and their years in the duty. Besides understanding the difference of the effects of constructivist approach and traditional education method on student success…

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…

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…

Teaching Science for Social Justice: An Examination of Elementary Preservice Teachers' Beliefs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eslinger, James C.

This qualitative study examines the beliefs and belief changes of eleven elementary preservice teachers about teaching science for social justice. Using constructivist grounded theory, it forwards a new theory of belief change about teaching science for social justice. The theory posits that three teaching and learning conditions may facilitate belief change: preservice teachers need to recognize (1) the relationship between science and society; (2) the relationship between individuals and society; and (3) the importance of taking action on socioscientific issues. This research responds to calls by critical scholars of teacher education who contend that beliefs in relation to equity, diversity, and multiculturalism need to be explored. They have found that many preservice teachers hold beliefs that are antithetical to social justice tenets. Since beliefs are generally considered to be precursors to actions, identifying and promoting change in beliefs are important to teaching science for social justice. Such a move may lead to the advancement of curricular and pedagogical efforts to promote the academic participation and success in elementary science of Aboriginal and racialized minority students. The study was undertaken in a year-long science methods course taught by the researcher. It was centered on the preservice teachers -- their beliefs, their belief changes, and the course pedagogies that they identified as crucial to their changes. However, the course was based on the researcher-instructor's review of the scholarly literature on science education, teacher education, and social justice. It utilized a critical -- cultural theoretical framework, and was aligned to the three dimensions of critical nature of science, critical knowledge and pedagogy, and sociopolitical action. Findings indicate that, at the beginning of the year, preservice teachers held two types of beliefs (liberal and critical) and, by the end of the course, they experienced three kinds of shifts in beliefs (minimal, substantial, and refined). The shifts in beliefs were attributed by preservice teachers to specific pedagogies. Yet their initial beliefs also served as filters to the pedagogies, consequently impacting their degrees of belief change. Therefore, this study reveals elements of unpredictability when engaging in teaching science for social justice.

Learning experiences of science teachers in a computer-mediated communication context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chung, Chia-Jung

The use of computer-mediated-communication (CMC) has been applied increasingly in staff development efforts for teachers. Many teacher education programs are looking to CMC, particularly computer conferencing systems, as an effective and low-cost medium for the delivery of teacher educational programs anytime, anywhere. Based on constructivist learning theories, this study focused on examining the use of an online discussion board in a graduate course as a place where forty-six inservice teachers shared experiences and ideas. Data collection focused on online discussion transcripts of all the messages from three separate weeks, and supplemented by interviews and teacher self-evaluation reports. The nature and development of the discussions were studied over one semester by analyzing teacher online discussions in two domains: critical reflections and social-interpersonal rapport. In effect, this study provided insights into how to employ computer conferencing technology in facilitating inservice teachers' teaching practices and their professional development. Major findings include: (1) Participation: The level of participation varied during the semester but was higher at the beginning of the semester and lower at the end of the semester. (2) Critical Reflection: Teachers' critical reflection developed over time as a result of the online discussion board according to mean critical thinking scores during the three selected weeks. Cognitive presence was found mostly in focused discussion forums and social presence mainly existed in the unfocused discussion forums. (3) Social-Interpersonal Rapport: The number of social cues in the messages increased initially but declined significantly over time. When teachers focused more on on-task discussions or critical reflection, there was less social conversation. (4) Teaching Practices and Professional Development: The researcher, the instructor, and teachers identified some advantages for using computer conferencing for improving teaching practices and for professional development. The results of this study suggest that applying computer-mediated communication in teacher education would impact positively on teachers' growth in critical reflection and social-interpersonal rapport. Furthermore, this study may encourage other researchers to use cognitive and social learning theories as the theoretical backgrounds for developing teacher educational models by applying computer conferencing.

Orientation to Self and Career: Constructivist Theory and Practice in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grier-Reed, Tabitha L.; Conkel-Ziebell, Julia L.

2009-01-01

As the world of work becomes increasingly dynamic and complex, career courses must shift to reflect the growing diversity of those in the beginning stages of career exploration. Constructivist career development has emerged as one way to help young adults meet the challenges of the 21st century. Yet, there is a dearth of constructivist career…

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.

A cross-age study of students' conceptual understanding of interdependency in seed dispersal, pollination, and food chains using a constructivist theoretical framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Shirley Mccraw

2003-06-01

The purpose of this research was to investigate students' understanding of interdependency across grade levels. Interdependency concepts selected for this study included food chains, pollination, and seed dispersal. Children's everyday concepts and scientific concepts across grade levels represented the focus of conceptual understanding. The researcher interviewed a total of 24 students across grade levels, six students each from grades 3, 7, and 10, and 6 college students. Data were collected by means of interviews and card sorts. A constructivist theoretical framework formed the groundwork for presenting the focus of this study and for interpreting the results of the interview data. Results were analyzed on the basis of identifying student responses to interview questions as either everyday concepts or as scientific concepts, along with transition through the zone of proximal development (ZPD) by mediation, as developed by Vygotsky. Results revealed that children across grade levels vary in their everyday and scientific understanding of the three interdependency concepts. Results for seed dispersal showed little evidence of understanding for grade 3, that is, seed dispersal was not within the zone of proximal development (ZPD) for grade 3 students. Students in grades 7 and 10 showed a developing transition within the zone of proximal development from everyday to scientific understanding, and college students demonstrated scientific understanding of seed dispersal. For pollination and food chains, results showed that grades 3, 7, and 10 were in transition from everyday to scientific understanding, and all college students demonstrated scientific understanding. The seed dispersal concept proved more complex than pollination and food chains. The findings of this study have implications for classroom teachers. By understanding the dynamic nature of the ZPD continuum for students, teachers can plan instruction to meet the needs of each student.

A Study of Secondary Science Teacher Efficacy and Level of Constructivist Instructional Practice Implementation in West Virginia Science Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knapp, Amanda Kristen

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of use of selected constructivist instructional practices and level of teacher efficacy in West Virginia secondary science classrooms. The study next sought to determine if a relationship existed between level of use of the constructivist practices and teacher efficacy. In addition the study…

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.

Medical anthropology: toward a third moment in social science?

PubMed

Dressler, W W

2001-12-01

This article about medical anthropology was inspired by the work of Pierre Bourdieu, specifically, his efforts to reconcile the antinomy of a "social structuralist" and a "cultural constructivist" perspective. These perspectives are often opposed in the literature, but, in Bourdieu's view, human life cannot be studied without taking into account both how individuals are situated within and constrained by social structures and how those individuals construct an understanding of and impose meaning on the world around them. I argue that the special subject matter of medical anthropology--human health--demands that a synthetic approach be taken in our theory and research. I illustrate this argument with examples from my own research on social and cultural factors associated with blood pressure, and I point to other examples of this synthesis in medical anthropology. The results of this research hold promise for the continuing refinement of culture theory.

Stories of pain and health by elderly Pakistani women in Norway.

PubMed

Sverre, Beate Lie; Solbrække, Kari Nyheim; Eilertsen, Grethe

2014-11-01

This ethnographic study investigates the stories of elderly Pakistani women living in Norway. Migration studies indicate that elderly migrant women are passive, ill victims caught in a marginalized position due to age, ethnicity and gender, and thus have little access to opposition and agency. To broaden the picture it is necessary to develop an innovative approach to understand what is implicated in the process of migration. The importance of considering life conditions that surrounds potential health promotion behaviors of immigrants is stressed by several researchers. However, up to now limited research guided by this perspective has been done in Norway. Therefore, this study explored how elderly Pakistani women in Norway promote their health and well-being through some distinct social interactions. The intention is to bring awareness to how health, even by so-called disadvantaged social groups, may take place. These practices are important to take into consideration when developing health-promoting policies for elderly immigrants. An ethnographic study of 15 Pakistani women, aged 53-75, was carried out in a multisided fieldwork in Oslo using participant observation and ethnographic interviews. The analytical approach was inspired by the constructivist theoretical framework of narrative ethnography. The elderly Pakistani women in Norway construct stories of living in-between cultures and experiences of acculturative stress caused by being elderly, immigrants and women. However, this analysis also suggests that through distinct social relationships, primarily in the context of a voluntary organization, elderly Pakistani women do health by the way they interact and construct a repertoire of social identities. The healing practices taking place among elderly Pakistani women may counteract the negative health outcomes associated with age, migration and gender implications for immigrant health-promoting policy in Norway may be to increase the establishment and allocate funds to sustain voluntary organizations run by and for immigrants. © 2014 the Nordic Societies of Public Health.

Adopting a constructivist approach to grounded theory: implications for research design.

PubMed

Mills, Jane; Bonner, Ann; Francis, Karen

2006-02-01

Grounded theory is a popular research methodology that is evolving to account for a range of ontological and epistemological underpinnings. Constructivist grounded theory has its foundations in relativism and an appreciation of the multiple truths and realities of subjectivism. Undertaking a constructivist enquiry requires the adoption of a position of mutuality between researcher and participant in the research process, which necessitates a rethinking of the grounded theorist's traditional role of objective observer. Key issues for constructivist grounded theorists to consider in designing their research studies are discussed in relation to developing a partnership with participants that enables a mutual construction of meaning during interviews and a meaningful reconstruction of their stories into a grounded theory model.

The Obstacles for the Teaching of 8th Grade TR History of Revolution and Kemalism Course According to the Constructivist Approach (An Example of Exploratory Sequential Mixed Method Design)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karademir, Yavuz; Demir, Selcuk Besir

2015-01-01

The aim of this study is to ascertain the problems social studies teachers face in the teaching of topics covered in 8th grade TRHRK Course. The study was conducted in line with explanatory sequential mixed method design, which is one of the mixed research method, was used. The study involves three phases. In the first step, exploratory process…

The Practicality of Statistical Physics Handout Based on KKNI and the Constructivist Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sari, S. Y.; Afrizon, R.

2018-04-01

Statistical physics lecture shows that: 1) the performance of lecturers, social climate, students’ competence and soft skills needed at work are in enough category, 2) students feel difficulties in following the lectures of statistical physics because it is abstract, 3) 40.72% of students needs more understanding in the form of repetition, practice questions and structured tasks, and 4) the depth of statistical physics material needs to be improved gradually and structured. This indicates that learning materials in accordance of The Indonesian National Qualification Framework or Kerangka Kualifikasi Nasional Indonesia (KKNI) with the appropriate learning approach are needed to help lecturers and students in lectures. The author has designed statistical physics handouts which have very valid criteria (90.89%) according to expert judgment. In addition, the practical level of handouts designed also needs to be considered in order to be easy to use, interesting and efficient in lectures. The purpose of this research is to know the practical level of statistical physics handout based on KKNI and a constructivist approach. This research is a part of research and development with 4-D model developed by Thiagarajan. This research activity has reached part of development test at Development stage. Data collection took place by using a questionnaire distributed to lecturers and students. Data analysis using descriptive data analysis techniques in the form of percentage. The analysis of the questionnaire shows that the handout of statistical physics has very practical criteria. The conclusion of this study is statistical physics handouts based on the KKNI and constructivist approach have been practically used in lectures.

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.

Discordant indigenous and provider frames explain challenges in improving access to arthritis care: a qualitative study using constructivist grounded theory.

PubMed

Thurston, Wilfreda E; Coupal, Stephanie; Jones, C Allyson; Crowshoe, Lynden F J; Marshall, Deborah A; Homik, Joanne; Barnabe, Cheryl

2014-06-11

Access to health services is a determinant of population health and is known to be reduced for a variety of specialist services for Indigenous populations in Canada. With arthritis being the most common chronic condition experienced by Indigenous populations and causing high levels of disability, it is critical to resolve access disparities through an understanding of barriers and facilitators to care. The objective of this study was to inform future health services reform by investigating health care access from the perspective of Aboriginal people with arthritis and health professionals. Using constructivist grounded theory methodology we investigated Indigenous peoples' experiences in accessing arthritis care through the reports of 16 patients and 15 healthcare providers in Alberta, Canada. Semi-structured interviews were conducted between July 2012 and February 2013 and transcribed verbatim. The patient and provider data were first analyzed separately by two team members then brought together to form a framework. The framework was refined through further analysis following the multidisciplinary research team's discussions. Once the framework was developed, reports on the patient and provider data were shared with each participant group independently and participants were interviewed to assess validity of the summary. In the resulting theoretical framework Indigenous participants framed their experience with arthritis as 'toughing it out' and spoke of racism encountered in the healthcare setting as a deterrent to pursuing care. Healthcare providers were frustrated by high disease severity and missed appointments, and framed Indigenous patients as lacking 'buy-in'. Constraints imposed by complex healthcare systems contributed to tensions between Indigenous peoples and providers. Low specialist care utilization rates among Indigenous people cannot be attributed to cultural and social preferences. Further, the assumptions made by providers lead to stereotyping and racism and reinforce rejection of healthcare by patients. Examples of 'working around' the system were revealed and showed potential for improved utilization of specialist services. This framework has significant implications for health policy and indicates that culturally safe services are a priority in addressing chronic disease management.

Trials, tribulations, and triumphs of insider researchers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McBride, S.; Tilley, E. N.; Becker, J.; Orchiston, C.; Johnston, D. M.

2016-12-01

Is there merit in "insider" research? An insider researcher, in the social science context, is someone who conducts their research and provides their observations and perspectives on a project, sector or disaster setting which they are intimately familiar with. One strength of insider research is the unique insights and awareness that are gained as a consequence of the experience of working within the research setting. This could also be considered the most significant criticism of insider research, one that is fraught with bias and subjectivity. So, given their potential biases, can an insider develop worthwhile research? The trials and tribulations of an insider are many. Given the insider position, traditional observer empirical research is not ideal, so this research necessitates exploring different research theoretical perspectives, including the use of critical theory and constructivism. Constructivism-based research permits the researcher to use their unique perspectives and knowledge to `construct' knowledge through their research. However, using constructivist theoretical perspectives and methods may be a complex and challenging endeavor for those better acquainted with empirical methods. Further, ethical restrictions can create further complexities to insider research. Compounding the complexities of methodologies and theoretical perspective, an insiders' perspective can be difficult to manage, given their embedded viewpoint, and may include professional and emotional risks for the researcher. Given its many challenges, insider research is not a frequent pathway of academic examination, particularly in emergency management and natural hazards research. Triumphs of insider research endeavors become clear once ways to address methodological and ethical issues are resolved. I will explore these solutions in my presentation. Further, insider researchers laid the foundation for the contemporary emergency management discipline but this research has been largely been overlooked in the discourse. The triumph of insider research is how influential they may be to a sector; one historical piece of research assisted in the development of an entire sector. Finally, I explore my research pathway, as an insider, to research the communication lessons from the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence.

The Development of Wisdom: A Social Ecological Approach.

PubMed

Igarashi, Heidi; Levenson, Michael R; Aldwin, Carolyn M

2018-02-07

This study examined the development of wisdom within the context of difficult life events (DLEs), and the importance of individuals and their social environments in this process of growth. Social support has long been studied in adulthood, yet less is known about the ways social transactions can promote wisdom. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with men (n = 14) and women (n = 36), ages 56-91 years (M = 71.71; SD = 8.8) who described a DLE and how they coped with it. The analysis was guided by constructivist grounded theory. DLEs included those from childhood through later life. When personal meaning was disrupted by adversity, the social environment played a key role in facilitating new perspectives that corresponded with aspects of wisdom: self-knowledge, compassion, comfort with uncertainty, and accepting complexity. Wisdom is often studied as an individual characteristic, but this study highlighted the relevance of a social ecological perspective to understanding how wisdom development is also facilitated through social transactions. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

A grounded theory of how social support influences physical activity in adolescent girls

PubMed Central

Fawkner, Samantha

2018-01-01

ABSTRACT Purpose: Adolescent girls are not sufficiently active to achieve health benefits. Social support from friends and family has been positively associated with physical activity in adolescent girls; however it is unclear how social support influences physical activity behaviour. This study aimed to develop a grounded theory of how social support influences physical activity in adolescent girls. Methods: A qualitative, constructivist grounded theory approach was adopted. Individual interviews explored adolescent girls’ perspectives of how significant others’ influenced their physical activity through providing social support, and through modelling physical activity. Results: Participants perceived social support to influence physical activity behaviour through performance improvements, self-efficacy, enjoyment, motivation and by enabling physical activity. Improvements in performance and self-efficacy were also linked to motivation to be active. Girls perceived modelling to influence behaviour through providing opportunities for them to be physically active, and by inspiring them to be active. Conclusion: The grounded theory outlines adolescent girls’ perceptions of how significant others influence their physical activity and provides a framework for future research examining the role of social support on physical activity. PMID:29405881

A grounded theory of how social support influences physical activity in adolescent girls.

PubMed

Laird, Yvonne; Fawkner, Samantha; Niven, Ailsa

2018-12-01

Adolescent girls are not sufficiently active to achieve health benefits. Social support from friends and family has been positively associated with physical activity in adolescent girls; however it is unclear how social support influences physical activity behaviour. This study aimed to develop a grounded theory of how social support influences physical activity in adolescent girls. A qualitative, constructivist grounded theory approach was adopted. Individual interviews explored adolescent girls' perspectives of how significant others' influenced their physical activity through providing social support, and through modelling physical activity. Participants perceived social support to influence physical activity behaviour through performance improvements, self-efficacy, enjoyment, motivation and by enabling physical activity. Improvements in performance and self-efficacy were also linked to motivation to be active. Girls perceived modelling to influence behaviour through providing opportunities for them to be physically active, and by inspiring them to be active. The grounded theory outlines adolescent girls' perceptions of how significant others influence their physical activity and provides a framework for future research examining the role of social support on physical activity.

Science Anxiety, Science Attitudes, and Constructivism: A Binational Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bryant, Fred B.; Kastrup, Helge; Udo, Maria; Hislop, Nelda; Shefner, Rachel; Mallow, Jeffry

2013-08-01

Students' attitudes and anxieties about science were measured by responses to two self-report questionnaires. The cohorts were Danish and American students at the upper secondary- and university-levels. Relationships between and among science attitudes, science anxiety, gender, and nationality were examined. Particular attention was paid to constructivist attitudes about science. These fell into at least three broad conceptual categories: Negativity of Science Toward the Individual, Subjective Construction of Knowledge, and Inherent Bias Against Women. Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses revealed that these dimensions of constructivist attitudes were equally applicable and had the same meaning in both cultures. Gender differences in mean levels of constructivist attitudes were found; these varied across the two cultures. Constructivist beliefs were associated with science anxiety, but in different ways for females and males, and for Danes and Americans. In agreement with earlier studies, females in both the US and Danish cohorts were significantly more science anxious than males, and the gender differences for the Americans were larger than those for the Danes. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for reducing science anxiety by changing constructivist beliefs.

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)

Unweaving misconceptions: Guided learning, simulations, and misconceptions in learning principles of natural selection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weeks, Brian E.

College students often come to the study of evolutionary biology with many misconceptions of how the processes of natural selection and speciation occur. How to relinquish these misconceptions with learners is a question that many educators face in introductory biology courses. Constructivism as a theoretical framework has become an accepted and promoted model within the epistemology of science instruction. However, constructivism is not without its skeptics who see some problems of its application in lacking necessary guidance for novice learners. This study within a quantitative, quasi-experimental format tested whether guided online instruction in a video format of common misconceptions in evolutionary biology produced higher performance on a survey of knowledge of natural selection versus more constructivist style learning in the form of student exploration of computer simulations of the evolutionary process. Performances on surveys were also explored for a combination of constructivist and guided techniques to determine if a consolidation of approaches produced higher test scores. Out of the 94 participants 95% displayed at least one misconception of natural selection in the pre-test while the study treatments produced no statistically significant improvements in post-test scores except within the video (guided learning treatment). These overall results demonstrated the stubbornness of misconceptions involving natural selection for adult learners and the difficulty of helping them overcome them. It also bolsters the idea that some misconceptions of natural selection and evolution may be hardwired in a neurological sense and that new, more long-term teaching techniques may be warranted. Such long-term strategies may not be best implemented with constructivist techniques alone, and it is likely that some level of guidance may be necessary for novice adult learners. A more substantial, nuanced approach for undergraduates is needed that consolidates successful teaching strategies to adult students that is based on current research.

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.

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.

An Objectivist Critique of Relativism in Mathematics Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rowlands, Stuart; Graham, Ted; Berry, John

Many constructivists tag as `absolutist' references to mathematics as an abstract body of knowledge, and stake-out the moral high-ground with the argument that mathematics is not only utilised oppressively but that mathematics is, in-itself, oppressive. With much reference to Ernest's (1991) Philosophy of Mathematics Education this tag has been justified on the grounds that if mathematics is a social-cultural creation that is mutable and fallible then it must be social acceptance that confers the objectivity of mathematics. This paper argues that mathematics, albeit a social-cultural creation that is mutable and fallible, is a body of knowledge the objectivity of which is independent of origin or social acceptance. Recently, Ernest (1998) has attempted to express social constructivism as a philosophy of mathematics and has included the category of logical necessity in his elaboration of the objectivity of mathematics. We argue that this inclusion of logical necessity not only represents a U-turn, but that the way in which Ernest has included this category is an attempt to maintain his earlier position that it is social acceptance that confers the objectivity of mathematics.

Constructivism in Science and Science Education: A Philosophical Critique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nola, Robert

This paper argues that constructivist science education works with an unsatisfactory account of knowledge which affects both its account of the nature of science and of science education. The paper begins with a brief survey of realism and anti-realism in science and the varieties of constructivism that can be found. In the second section the important conception of knowledge and teaching that Plato develops in the Meno is contrasted with constructivism. The section ends with an account of the contribution that Vico (as understood by constructivists), Kant and Piaget have made to constructivist doctrines. Section three is devoted to a critique of the theory of knowledge and the anti-realism of von Glaserfeld. The final section considers the connection, or lack of it, between the constructivist view of science and knowledge and the teaching of science.

Examining the social and scientific roles of invention in science education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Calabrese-Barton, Angela

1998-03-01

I have been drawn to the construct of “invention” and “inventive acts” because in my research involving how homeless children construct science and the self-in-science, an overwhelming theme has been the multiple ways in which self-identity in science has been described by the children through a language of invention. Using post-modern feminism and science and technologies studies, I examine the multiple uses and definitions of “invention” in science in order to develop a theory of invention and inventive acts around the themes: invention as a social act, invention as a recursive and socially linked process, and embodied agency. I use this framework to examine the construct of “invention” in two different case studies involving the science education of urban homeless children. Finally, I link this discussion of invention and inventive acts with current international reform initiatives revolving around constructivist science teaching and learning.

Stigma, Social Structure, and the Biomedical Framework: Exploring the Stigma Experiences of Inpatient Service Users in Two Belgian Psychiatric Hospitals.

PubMed

Sercu, Charlotte; Bracke, Piet

2017-07-01

The study discusses the stigma experiences of service users in mental health care, within the debate on the role of the biomedical framework for mental health care and power relations in society. Interview data of inpatient users ( n = 42) and care providers ( n = 43) from two Belgian psychiatric hospitals were analyzed using a constructivist grounded theory approach: Findings offer insight into how stigma experiences are affected by social structure. Stigma seemed to be related to the relation between care providers and service users their social position. The concept "mental health literacy" is used to frame this finding. In paying attention to the specific cultural and normative context, which influences the relationship between mental health literacy and stigma, it is further possible to cast some light on the meaning of the biomedical model for the construction and maintenance of power relations in mental health care and broader society.

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.

Community centrality and social science research.

PubMed

Allman, Dan

2015-12-01

Community centrality is a growing requirement of social science. The field's research practices are increasingly expected to conform to prescribed relationships with the people studied. Expectations about community centrality influence scholarly activities. These expectations can pressure social scientists to adhere to models of community involvement that are immediate and that include community-based co-investigators, advisory boards, and liaisons. In this context, disregarding community centrality can be interpreted as failure. This paper considers evolving norms about the centrality of community in social science. It problematises community inclusion and discusses concerns about the impact of community centrality on incremental theory development, academic integrity, freedom of speech, and the value of liberal versus communitarian knowledge. Through the application of a constructivist approach, this paper argues that social science in which community is omitted or on the periphery is not failed science, because not all social science requires a community base to make a genuine and valuable contribution. The utility of community centrality is not necessarily universal across all social science pursuits. The practices of knowing within social science disciplines may be difficult to transfer to a community. These practices of knowing require degrees of specialisation and interest that not all communities may want or have.

Community centrality and social science research

PubMed Central

Allman, Dan

2015-01-01

Community centrality is a growing requirement of social science. The field's research practices are increasingly expected to conform to prescribed relationships with the people studied. Expectations about community centrality influence scholarly activities. These expectations can pressure social scientists to adhere to models of community involvement that are immediate and that include community-based co-investigators, advisory boards, and liaisons. In this context, disregarding community centrality can be interpreted as failure. This paper considers evolving norms about the centrality of community in social science. It problematises community inclusion and discusses concerns about the impact of community centrality on incremental theory development, academic integrity, freedom of speech, and the value of liberal versus communitarian knowledge. Through the application of a constructivist approach, this paper argues that social science in which community is omitted or on the periphery is not failed science, because not all social science requires a community base to make a genuine and valuable contribution. The utility of community centrality is not necessarily universal across all social science pursuits. The practices of knowing within social science disciplines may be difficult to transfer to a community. These practices of knowing require degrees of specialisation and interest that not all communities may want or have. PMID:26440071

Constructive Cognition: Cognitive Therapy Coming of Age.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenberg, Leslie S.

1988-01-01

Responds to Mahoney and Lyddon's review in previous article and notes that it clarifies differences between rationalist and constructivist approaches to cognitive theory. Asserts that principles of constructivist therapy are highly consistent with principles of experiential therapy. (NB)

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…

Teacher change and professional development: A case study of teachers engaged in an innovative constructivist science curriculum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akura, Okong'o. Gabriel

This study examined both the changes that elementary school teachers experienced when they implemented a reform-based science curriculum and the impact of professional development on this transformation. The research involved a case study of three purposefully selected teachers implementing the Linking Food and the Environment (LIFE) program during the 2002--2003 school year. The LIFE program is a curriculum designed to enhance science literacy among learners from high poverty urban environments. While the study was grounded in the tradition of critical theory (Carspecken, 1996), the theoretical perspective of hermeneutic phenomenology (van Manen, 1990) guided data collection and analysis. Extensive observations of the teachers were made in order to capture and record the teacher change phenomenon. Data were recorded by means of field notes, audio and videotapes, semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and video Stimulated Recall (SR) interviews. Emerging themes relating to teacher change, knowledge interests, constructivist pedagogy, and professional development illustrated how teachers grapple with various aspects of implementing a reform-based science curriculum. The teachers in this study were similar to those in earlier investigations, which found that sustained professional development programs involving mentoring and constant reflection enable elementary science teachers to change their instructional strategies from the technical-realist orientation towards the practical-hermeneutic and emancipatory-liberatory orientations. The study has implications for science curriculum developers and designers of professional development programs.

Effectiveness of the implementation of an evidence-based nursing model using participatory action research in oncohematology: research protocol.

PubMed

Abad-Corpa, Eva; Meseguer-Liza, Cristobal; Martínez-Corbalán, José Tomás; Zárate-Riscal, Lourdes; Caravaca-Hernández, Amor; Paredes-Sidrach de Cardona, Antonio; Carrillo-Alcaraz, Andrés; Delgado-Hito, Pilar; Cabrero-García, Julio

2010-08-01

To generate changes in nursing practice introducing an evidence-based clinical practice (EBCP) model through a participatory process. To evaluate the effectiveness of the changes in terms of nurse-sensitive outcome (NSO). For international nursing science, it is necessary to explore the reasons for supporting EBCP and evaluate the real repercussions and effectiveness. A mixed methods study with a sequential transformative design will be conducted in the bone marrow transplant unit of a tertiary-level Spanish hospital, in two time periods >12 months (date of approval of the protocol: 2006). To evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention, we will use a prospective quasi-experimental design with two non-equivalent and non-concurrent groups. NSO and patient health data will be collected: (a) impact of psycho-social adjustment; (b) patient satisfaction; (c) symptom control; (d) adverse effects. All patients admitted during the period of time will be included, and all staff working on the unit during a participatory action research (PAR). The PAR design will be adopted from a constructivist paradigm perspective, following Checkland's "Soft Systems" theoretical model. Qualitative techniques will be used: 2-hour group meetings with nursing professionals, to be recorded and transcribed. Field diaries (participants and researchers) will be drawn up and data analysis will be carried out by content analysis. PAR is a rigorous research method for introducing changes into practice to improve NSO.

Galactic Structure: A Constructivist Approach to Teaching Astronomy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Domenech, Antonio; Casasus, Elena

1991-01-01

An astrophysics course based on the constructivist approach to science teaching is described. The study of galactic structure is given as an example. Direct experiences and observations, representative-symbolic language, organized knowledge, and formal strategies are emphasized. (KR)

Designing and Implementing a Constructivist Chemistry Laboratory Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blakely, Alan

2000-01-01

Describes a constructivist chemistry laboratory approach based on students' personal experiences where students had the opportunity to develop their own experimental processes. Points out both the fruitfulness and difficulties of using a graduate student as a teaching assistant. (YDS)

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)

Teaching Probability: A Socio-Constructivist Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharma, Sashi

2015-01-01

There is a considerable and rich literature on students' misconceptions in probability. However, less attention has been paid to the development of students' probabilistic thinking in the classroom. This paper offers a sequence, grounded in socio-constructivist perspective for teaching probability.

The Impact of Financial Hardship on Single Parents: An Exploration of the Journey From Social Distress to Seeking Help.

PubMed

Stack, Rebecca Jayne; Meredith, Alex

2018-01-01

Single parent families are at high risk of financial hardship which may impact on psychological wellbeing. This study explored the impact of financial hardship on wellbeing on 15 single parents. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed using constructivist thematic analysis. Participants described food and fuel poverty, and the need to make sacrifices to ensure that children's basic needs were met. In some cases, participants went without food and struggled to pay bills. Isolation, anxiety, depression, paranoia, and suicidal thoughts were described. However, participants reported that psychological services not able to take the needs of single parents in to account. Support for single parents must acknowledge the impact of social circumstances and give more consideration economic drivers of distress.

Impact of social factors on labour discrimination of disabled women.

PubMed

Mondéjar-Jiménez, José; Vargas-Vargas, Manuel; Meseguer-Santamaría, María-Leticia; Mondéjar-Jiménez, Juan-Antonio

2009-01-01

Disabled women suffer from a double labour discrimination due to their gender and their disability. In rural areas, in addition, they also suffer from a lack of specific services, the isolation of the disabled associations, problems with public transport, the dispersion of population centres, and a limited access to information that could improve their chances of entering the labour market. The current work adopts a constructivist perspective on disability and offers a preliminary examination of the influence of social factors, such as the rural or urban nature of the disabled women's place of residence, the assistance they receive from their family or outside the family, the quantity of information they receive about the labour market, and their educational level, on the activity and employment status of this group of people.

Patterns of non-verbal social interactions within intensive mathematics intervention contexts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomas, Jonathan Norris; Harkness, Shelly Sheats

2016-06-01

This study examined the non-verbal patterns of interaction within an intensive mathematics intervention context. Specifically, the authors draw on social constructivist worldview to examine a teacher's use of gesture in this setting. The teacher conducted a series of longitudinal teaching experiments with a small number of young, school-age children in the context of early arithmetic development. From these experiments, the authors gathered extensive video records of teaching practice and, from an inductive analysis of these records, identified three distinct patterns of teacher gesture: behavior eliciting, behavior suggesting, and behavior replicating. Awareness of their potential to influence students via gesture may prompt teachers to more closely attend to their own interactions with mathematical tools and take these teacher interactions into consideration when forming interpretations of students' cognition.

Examining young children's conceptual change process in floating and sinking from a social constructivist perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Havu-Nuutinen, Sari

2005-03-01

This paper presents a case study of the process of conceptual change in six-year-old children. The process of conceptual change in learning about floating and sinking is described from two different viewpoints: how the children's conceptions change during the instructional process, and how the social discussion during the experimental exploration can be seen in terms of the cognitive changes in the children. Based on qualitative analysis of verbal data, changes in the children's conceptions were mostly epistemological and the children's theories of flotation became more complete with respect to the scientific view. From the viewpoint of the conceptual change, conceptually orientated teacher-child interactions seemed to support the children's cognitive progress in cognitive skills and guided the children to consider the reasons for the flotation.

Understanding Older Adults' Resilience During the Brisbane Floods: Social Capital, Life Experience, and Optimism.

PubMed

Brockie, Lauren; Miller, Evonne

2017-02-01

The purpose of this study was to explore how social capital or the impact of life and previous disaster experience facilitated resilience in older adults who experienced the 2011 and 2013 floods in Brisbane, Australia. Data were drawn from in-depth interviews of 10 older adults from Brisbane who were evacuated in both the 2011 and 2013 floods. A combined qualitative approach drawing from the methods of constructivist grounded theory and narrative inquiry was applied and the data were analyzed by using (inductive) line-by-line and axial coding. The narratives of the older adults revealed a strong theme of resilience linked to social capital (bonding, bridging, and linking) and previous disaster experience. The results reflected the changing face of disaster management strategies and sources of social capital. Changes in disaster management polices (toward self-reliance) and more formalized sources of social capital highlight the need to build strong and healthy resilient communities that are capable of positively recovering from natural disasters. The results from this research emphasize the importance of initiatives that enhance social cohesion, trust, and social capital within local communities. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:72-79).

Fleck and the social constitution of scientific objectivity.

PubMed

Fagan, Melinda B

2009-12-01

Ludwik Fleck's theory of thought-styles has been hailed as a pioneer of constructivist science studies and sociology of scientific knowledge. But this consensus ignores an important feature of Fleck's epistemology. At the core of his account is the ideal of 'objective truth, clarity, and accuracy'. I begin with Fleck's account of modern natural science, locating the ideal of scientific objectivity within his general social epistemology. I then draw on Fleck's view of scientific objectivity to improve upon reflexive accounts of the origin and development of the theory of thought-styles, and reply to objections that Fleck's epistemological stance is self-undermining or inconsistent. Explicating the role of scientific objectivity in Fleck's epistemology reveals his view to be an internally consistent alternative to recent social accounts of scientific objectivity by Harding, Daston and Galison. I use these contrasts to indicate the strengths and weaknesses of Fleck's innovative social epistemology, and propose modifications to address the latter. The result is a renewed version of Fleck's social epistemology, which reconciles commitment to scientific objectivity with integrated sociology, history and philosophy of science.

Correcting a Longstanding Misconception about Social Roles and Personality: A Case Study in the Psychology of Science.

PubMed

Johnson, John A

2018-06-04

Psychologists often argue that sex roles direct different types of socializing behaviors toward males and females and that this differential treatment, in turn, leads to sex differences in personality. Widely cited in support of this thesis has been the Fels longitudinal study finding that dependency and passivity are stable from childhood to adulthood for females only and aggressiveness and sexuality for males only. The present article explains why the type of sex differences in personality stability cited by Fels researchers actually contradicts the view that sex role expectations cause these differences. The report suggests ways in which social learning theory, the dominant developmental paradigm of the 1960s, may have contributed to the misinterpretation of the Fels data and how the rise of social constructivism maintained this misinterpretation for decades. The article concludes by correcting misconceptions about biology and personality stability and by explaining why theories that incorporate biology are not only more adequate than social constructivism but also more effective in bringing about the changes in society that constructivists desire.

The persistence of women in STEM: A constructivist grounded theory study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gamm, Ryan

Men and women have reached relative parity in most sectors of the United States workforce. Yet women remain underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields (AAUW, 2010). Underrepresentation persists despite several decades of research, legislation, and intervention focused on gender equality in STEM fields (Clewell, 2002). The underrepresentation or shortage of women in STEM fields is identifiable primarily in degree attainment, in workforce demographics, and in a gender wage gap. Situated in constructivist grounded theory, this study asks how do women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, particularly those in established career positions, persist when encountering personal and institutional barriers, resistance, and hostility? I use an interpretive-constructivist lens to conduct a grounded theory study exploring the experiences of women who persist in STEM fields, their relation to extant literature on this topic, and the connections to K-12 education practices, specifically curriculum. To understand the connections to curriculum I employ Pinar's (2012) method of currere. Pinar (2012) contends currere "provides a strategy for students of curriculum to study the relations between academic knowledge and life history in the interests of self-understanding and social reconstruction" (p.44). This qualitative study explored nine female STEM workers stories of persistence as each respondent works in STEM fields were gender parity has yet to be established. This study presents a substantive theory: As women persist in STEM fields they reframe themselves to be situated in the overlapping intersection of the social processes that correspond to "engagement" and "persistence." This reframing is possible by interpreting one's present day circumstances by independently removing oneself from current circumstances to understand the cumulative effect of both past and present. The findings highlight the importance of early educative experiences and their reinforcement throughout formal education including the STEM pipeline. The findings suggest that how one understands and interprets STEM work, and the compatibility ones' own identity with this work are crucial, reinforcing the some of the diverse body of literature that seeks to understand women's underrepresentation in STEM. Although literature focused on STEM related education, including work examining gender, offers suggestions compatible with the findings of this study, experiences that are match the stories of the respondents appear to be outside of the norm.

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.

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)

The Warrant for Constructivist Practice within Educational Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bopry, Jeanette

1999-01-01

Discusses educational technology as a form of technical rationality and considers the conflict between practitioners' epistemological position as constructivists and technical rationality. Topics include cybernetics; autonomous systems theory; enactive constructivism; representation versus effective action; mind and memory; enaction in artificial…

Students' perceptions of constructivist Internet learning environments by a physics virtual laboratory: the gap between ideal and reality and gender differences.

PubMed

Chuang, Shih-Chyueh; Hwang, Fu-Kwun; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2008-04-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of Internet users of a physics virtual laboratory, Demolab, in Taiwan. Learners' perceptions of Internet-based learning environments were explored and the role of gender was examined by using preferred and actual forms of a revised Constructivist Internet-based Learning Environment Survey (CILES). The students expressed a clear gap between ideal and reality, and they showed higher preferences for many features of constructivist Internet-based learning environments than for features they had actually learned in Demolab. The results further suggested that male users prefer to be involved in the process of discussion and to show critical judgments. In addition, male users indicated they enjoyed the process of negotiation and discussion with others and were able to engage in reflective thoughts while learning in Demolab. In light of these findings, male users seemed to demonstrate better adaptability to the constructivist Internet-based learning approach than female users did. Although this study indicated certain differences between males and females in their responses to Internet-based learning environments, they also shared numerous similarities. A well-established constructivist Internet-based learning environment may encourage more female learners to participate in the science community.

Understanding teacher responses to constructivist learning environments: Challenges and resolutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenfeld, Melodie; Rosenfeld, Sherman

2006-05-01

The research literature is just beginning to uncover factors involved in sustaining constructivist learning environments, such as Project-Based Learning (PBL). Our case study investigates teacher responses to the challenges of constructivist environments, since teachers can play strong roles in supporting or undermining even the best constructivist environments or materials. We were invited to work as mediators with a middle-school science staff that was experiencing conflicts regarding two learning environments, PBL (which was the school's politically correc learning environment) and traditional. With mediated group workshops, teachers were sensitized to their own and colleagues' individual learning differences (ILDs), as measured by two styles inventories (the LSI - Kolb, 1976; and the LCI - Johnston & Dainton, 1997). Using these inventories, a learning-environment questionnaire, field notes, and delayed interviews a year later, we found that there was a relationship between teachers' preferred styles, epistemological beliefs, and their preferred teaching environment. Moreover, when the participating teachers, including early-adopters and nonvolunteers to PBL, became more sensitive to their colleagues' preferences, many staff conflicts were resolved and some mismatched teachers expressed more openness to PBL. We argue that having teachers understand their own ILDs and related responses to constructivist learning environments can contribute to resolving staff conflicts and sustaining such environments. We present a cognitive model and a strategy which illustrate this argument.

Critical Thinking and Constructivism: Mambo Dog Fish to the Banana Patch

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boghossian, Peter

2012-01-01

Constructivist pedagogies cannot achieve their critical thinking ambitions. Constructivism, and constructivist epistemological presuppositions, actively thwarts the critical thinking process. Using Wittgenstein's private language argument, this paper argues that corrective mechanisms--the ability to correct a student's propositions and cognitions…

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…

Constructivist Early Education for Moral Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeVries, Rheta; Hildebrandt, Carolyn; Zan, Betty

2000-01-01

Examines role that constructivist teachers play in fostering moral development in young children. Traces development of perspective taking, autonomy, and self- regulation, and examines effects of different teaching and parenting practices on children's character development. Provides suggestions for teachers to promote optimal moral development by…

Student Motivation in Constructivist Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cetin-Dindar, Ayla

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between constructivist learning environment and students'motivation to learn science by testing whether students' self-efficacy in learning science, intrinsically and extrinsically motivated science learning increase and students' anxiety about science assessment decreases when more…

A Constructivist View of Reprimand in the Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mancuso, James C.; Eimer, Bruce N.

1982-01-01

Shortcomings of contingency management techniques used for student discipline are delineated, and personal construct studies with some pertinence to classroom reprimand are reviewed. Behavior science specialists should be involved in the constructivist approach, which considers the individual psychological frameworks that students and teachers…

Researching Feedback Dialogue: An Interactional Analysis Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ajjawi, Rola; Boud, David

2017-01-01

A variety of understandings of feedback exist in the literature, which can broadly be categorised as cognitivist information transmission and socio-constructivist. Understanding feedback as information transmission or "telling" has until recently been dominant. However, a socio-constructivist perspective of feedback posits that feedback…

Radical Constructivism and Mathematics Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steffe, Leslie P.; Kieren, Thomas

1994-01-01

Provides an interpretation of the influence of constructivist thought on mathematics educators starting around 1960 and proceeding up to the present time, including Piaget's cognitive-development psychology, a preconstructivist revolution in research, beginnings of the constructivist revolution, and how this revolution served as a period of…

The Evolution of Constructivist Learning Environments: Immersion in Distributed, Virtual Worlds.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dede, Chris

1995-01-01

Discusses the evolution of constructivist learning environments and examines the collaboration of simulated software models, virtual environments, and evolving mental models via immersion in artificial realities. A sidebar gives a realistic example of a student navigating through cyberspace. (JMV)

Teacher beliefs about teaching science through Science-Technology-Society (STS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Massenzio, Lynn

2001-07-01

Statement of the problem. As future citizens, students will have the enormous responsibility of making decisions that will require an understanding of the interaction of science and technology and its interface with society. Since many societal issues today are grounded in science and technology, learning science in its social context is vital to science education reform. Science-Technology-Society (STS) has been strongly identified with meeting this goal, but despite its benefits, putting theory into practice has been difficult. Research design and methodology. The purpose of this study was to explore teacher beliefs about teaching science through STS. The following broad research questions guided the study: (1) What are the participants' initial beliefs about teaching science through STS? (2) What beliefs emerge as participants reflect upon and share their STS instructional experiences with their peers? A social constructivist theoretical framework was developed to plan interactions and collect data. Within this framework, a qualitative methodology was used to interpret the data and answer the research questions. Three provisionally certified science teachers engaged in a series of qualitative tasks including a written essay, verbal STS unit explanation, reflective journal writings, and focus group interviews. After implementing their STS unit, the participants engaged in meaningful dialogue with their peers as they reflected upon, shared, and constructed their beliefs. Conclusions. The participants strongly believed in STS as a means for achieving scientific and technological literacy, developing cognition, enhancing scientific habits of mind and affective qualities, and fostering citizen responsibility. Four major assertions were drawn: (a) Participants' initial belief in teaching for citizen responsibility did not fully align with practice, (b) Educators at the administrative level should be made aware of the benefits of teaching science through STS, (c) Social interactions such as peer talk and cooperative learning can be a medium for thought development for both teachers and students, and (d) Teacher preparation programs must include informal assessments that evaluate social interactions. Since teachers directly influence student learning through classroom practices and usually act on what they believe, exploring teacher beliefs is crucial to science education reform.

The Constructivist Concept: Primacy of the Obscure.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thoresen, Carl E.

1988-01-01

Responds to Mahoney and Lyddon's review of constructivism in previous article by raising questions about how the conceptual framework of constructivism can be further examined or challenged scientifically, how a constructivist orientation can be used in clinical and counseling work, and what role behavior plays. (NB)

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…

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…

Constructivist Teaching Strategies: Projects in Teacher Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Jessie C., Ed.; Adams, Arlene, Ed.

This book provides information from experienced teachers on constructivist teaching, offering examples of preservice teachers' projects, lesson plans, and real-life advice. The 11 chapters are: (1) "Writing Case Studies: Constructing an Understanding of Student and Classroom" (Bettejim Cates); (2) "Educating Children Who are Racial…

Long-term attitude sustainability from a constructivist-based astronomy-for-teachers course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slater, T. F.; Safko, J. L.; Carpenter, J. R.

Survey performed four years after in-service teachers (elementary and middle school) took a special astronomy course using constructivist approach. Attitudes and confidence toward teaching astronomy did not decline during this time, implying that properly designed courses have long-term effectiveness.

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)

Ockham's Razor and Plato's Beard.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Orton, Robert E.

1995-01-01

Response to an earlier article in JRME in which the authors propose a constructivist alternative to the representational view of mind. Argues that the original article misinterprets the postepistemological perspective, confuses ontological and epistemological issues, and mistakes the pragmatic force of the constructivist argument. (45 references)…

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.

The role of appraisal distortion, contempt, and morality in couple conflict: a grounded theory.

PubMed

Whiting, Jason B

2008-01-01

A common goal of couples' therapy is to help individuals modify their view of each other and the relationship. Distorted views and appraisals contribute to conflict, and these can be manifest by use of rationalization or denial. This study explored appraisal distortion as an evaluative and moral process that occurs during partner conflict, particularly when it becomes contemptuous and aggressive. Using a philosophical base that is grounded in the ethical relationship, a model of appraisal distortion and couple conflict was created using constructivist grounded theory methods. The theoretical concepts derived from the data show relationships between one's relational stance, appraisal distortion, and verbal and physical aggression. This model implies that helping individuals take responsibility for appraisals is important in treating conflict.

Games as Tools to Address Conservation Conflicts.

PubMed

Redpath, Steve M; Keane, Aidan; Andrén, Henrik; Baynham-Herd, Zachary; Bunnefeld, Nils; Duthie, A Bradley; Frank, Jens; Garcia, Claude A; Månsson, Johan; Nilsson, Lovisa; Pollard, Chris R J; Rakotonarivo, O Sarobidy; Salk, Carl F; Travers, Henry

2018-06-01

Conservation conflicts represent complex multilayered problems that are challenging to study. We explore the utility of theoretical, experimental, and constructivist approaches to games to help to understand and manage these challenges. We show how these approaches can help to develop theory, understand patterns in conflict, and highlight potentially effective management solutions. The choice of approach should be guided by the research question and by whether the focus is on testing hypotheses, predicting behaviour, or engaging stakeholders. Games provide an exciting opportunity to help to unravel the complexity in conflicts, while researchers need an awareness of the limitations and ethical constraints involved. Given the opportunities, this field will benefit from greater investment and development. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.