This study presents early childhood teachers’ beliefs and practices about constructivist education. The included three components of constructivism: their professional identity, classroom practices, negotiations with children’s communities. Despite differences in individual descriptions identities, all the teachers shared conviction that construction knowledge requires a safe environment, consi...

There are moments when philosophy captures the educator's attention. Such an occasion was the opening night of the 1990 annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching. Ernst von Glasersfeld gave a highly stimulating lecture on "radical constructivism." Radical constructivism is an epistemological philosophy that divorces knowing from any notion that reality is the r...

Objective This paper explores the Constructivist Grounded Theory research methodology informed by Charmaz (2006). Comparisons are drawn between the Constructivist Grounded Theory position and the ethical principles of Deontology, Utilitarian, Virtue ethics and fidelity that inform contemporary mental health nursing practice. Conclusions are made between the relative fit of the interpretivist na...

There has been a growing concern with the adverse impacts of economic development upon the environment in recent years and a concomitant response in terms of policy initiatives. The policy discourse of sustainable development proposes that economic development and the environment can be integrated to give rise to “win-win” outcomes. Many policy initiatives have been developed at the urban, regi...

This study uses quantitative method to examine whether or not a social constructivist theory-driven pedagogical model integrated with weblogs is associated with improved critical thinking skills. Forty secondary two students at the age of 13 completed a series of extra-curricular activities designed according to a proposed model within ten months. Half of these students came from high ability c...

Bourdieu confuses himself and others by calling his project a ‘transcendence’ of the objectivist–subjectivist antinomy. Contrary to claims, Bourdieu’s methodology and theoretical premises are directly opposed to phenomenological social constructivism, though he makes use of several key phenomenological concepts. Habitus enriches the objectivist perspective by specifying a partial theory of agen...

The main aim of the present paper is to outline a theoretical framework of instruction based on the elements of two major approaches of cognitivism and constructivism. To begin with, the paper introduces the notion of instructional design and discusses the importance of psychology of learning and instruction in designing instructional models. Further, the paper identifies the prototypical schem...

We report the findings of a field study of the enactment of ICT supported knowledge work in a Human Resources contact centre, illustrating the negotiable boundary between what constitutes the developer and user. Drawing upon ideas from the social shaping of technology, we examine how discussions regarding producer-user relations require a degree of greater sophistication as we show how users de...

Computer science teaching is often based upon the traditional lecture format. However, this methodology may not be the best way to help many students actively understand underlying concepts. This paper explores an alternative pedagogical approach that emphasizes constructive and collaborative learning in CS1 classrooms. After brie ̄y discussing constructivism and providing examples of constructi...

This paper describes the perception of a social constructivist approach to teaching and learning among Vietnamese teachers in a Confucian heritage culture and the changes these teachers undergo through their interaction with a new science curriculum that was designed culturally appropriate. A framework of teacher professional development combining state-of-the-art knowledge on professional deve...