Implementing an Innovation Cluster in Educational Settings In Order to Develop Constructivist-Based Learning Environments

This forum will initiate with a description of the implementation of a constructivist-based reform effort in k-12 classrooms in the US. The reform effort was an online collaboration among four teachers in 4 and 5 grades classrooms to implement a design problem-based unit meant to develop higher-order thinking responses in students. The unit design principles are correlated to current research in the cognitive sciences and the teachers’ efforts at implementing reform are correlated to current research in theories of innovation. The initial description will also briefly characterize aspects of the implementation process that led to productive or less productive reform results. The questions that will be developed in this forum include: 1. How can teachers’ professional development programs to increase the effectiveness of innovation in education? 2. Do students have a stake in educational reform including emerging technologies-specifically constructivistbased learning principles-, as in are these learning principles important and valid for students? 3. How can educational systems encourage innovation in education? 4. How can communities support efforts to change in education? 5. Are reforms, such as the integration of advanced technologies within a constructivist-based learning environment meant to develop higher-order cognition valued in today’s society? 6. How can educational research aid efforts at change in education?