Re: Constructivist Instruction: Success or Failure?

Some blog followers may be interested a post [Hake (2010)] of the above title. The abstract reads:

ABSTRACT: In a previous post "Re: All about constructivism" [Hake (2009)], I pointed to Doug Holton's (2009) valuable post “All about constructivism,” regarding the debate engendered by Kirschner, Sweller, & Clark's (2006) provocative “Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching.”

For a recent continuation of that debate see Constructivist Instruction: Success or Failure? [Tobias & Duffy (2009)]. The publisher's information at http://tinyurl.com/y9xpear includes the “Table of Contents” and a description of the book, stating that it ”brings together leading thinkers from both sides of the hotly debated controversy about constructivist approaches to instruction.”

An especially insightful contribution is David Klahr's (2009) “To Every Thing There is a Season, and a Time to Every Purpose Under the Heavens,” wherein Klahr emphasizes the importance of operational definitions in science education, as was also underscored in “Language Ambiguities in Education Research” [Hake (2008)].

To access the complete 16 KB post please click on http://tinyurl.com/yb9443e .

REFERENCES [Tiny URL's courtesy http://tinyurl.com/create.php.]

Hake, R.R. 2010. "Re: Constructivist Instruction: Success or Failure?," online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://tinyurl.com/yb9443e. Post of 17 Jan 2010 17:10:41-0800 to AERA-L, Net-Gold, and PhysLrnR. The abstract only was transmitted to various discussion lists.

Tobias, Sigmund & T.M. Duffy, eds. 2009. Constructivist Instruction: Success or Failure?Routledge; forward by Robert J. Sternberg; publisher's information at http://tinyurl.com/y9xpear. Amazon.com information at http://tinyurl.com/ye8y5xp. For a severely truncated version see the Google Book preview at http://tinyurl.com/yaffdma .

Science and Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood

Some blog followers may be interested a post [Hake (2010)] of the above title. The abstract reads:

ABSTRACT: A recent Education Week article "Experts Urge Earlier Start to Teaching Science" [Viadero (2010)] may be of interest. Viadero's three main points were (paraphrasing):

1. "Duschl et al. (2007) in Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8, advised introducing scientific study even before the start of formal schooling, with children as young as 4. The commonly held view that young children are concrete and simplistic thinkers, the report said, 'is outmoded.' Refuted, some experts added, by decades of research in cognitive science and developmental psychology."

2. "Gelman et al. (2009) in Preschool Pathways to Science: Facilitating Scientific Ways of Thinking, Talking, Doing, and Understanding reinforce the advice of Duschl et al. to introduce science to pre-school children and present what they call 'research-based ways to teach young children about scientific concepts.' "

3. "Researchers at the Education Development Center (EDC) in Newton, Mass. have crafted a Young Scientist curriculum series with support from the National Science Foundation and field-tested it with 50 Massachusetts teachers working in Head Start, finding 'dramatic' learning gains for teachers, coupled with 'promising' improvements for their young students.' Now, with funding from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, EDC is engaged in a larger study testing the curriculum's efficacy in . . . . dozens of other New York Head Start classrooms in Westchester County and on Long Island."

Since science and mathematics education pose similar challenges to early childhood education, the recent book Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity [Cross et al. (2009)] may also be of interest.

To access the complete 16 KB post please click on http://tinyurl.com/yzag7ld .

REFERENCES [Tiny URL's courtesy http://tinyurl.com/create.php.]

Hake, R.R. 2010. "Science and Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood," online on the OPEN AERA-L archives at http://tinyurl.com/yzag7ld. Post of 15 Jan 2010 14:45:10-0800 to AERA-L, Net-Gold, and PhysLrnR. The abstract only was transmitted to various discussion lists.

Second Edition of Seifert/Sutton Educational Psychology Available Online and Open-Source

Some blog followers might be interested in a recent post of the above title [Hake (2009)]. The abstract reads:

ABSTRACT: Kelvin Seifert has alerted the TeachingEdPsych list to the 2nd edition of the FREE online text Educational Psychology available at http://globaltext.terry.uga.edu/books?q=node/61. This text appears to be concerned primarily with K-12 education so it is perhaps not too surprising that the second edition, like the first, fails to mention the formative pre/post testing with concept inventories that is currently being used to improve undergraduate - and some high-school - courses in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines (but not psychology!).

To access the complete 12 kB post please click on http://tinyurl.com/ykffbrp .

REFERENCES [Tiny URL's courtesy http://tinyurl.com/create.php.]

Hake, R.R. 2009. “Second Edition of Seifert/Sutton Educational Psychology Available Online and Open-Source” online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://tinyurl.com/ykffbrp. Post of 20 Dec 2009 15:21:31-0800 to AERA-L, Net-Gold, & PhysLrnR. The abstract only was sent to AERA-C, AERA-D, AERA-J, ASSESS, EdResMeth, EdStat-L, Net-Gold, POD, PsychTeacher (rejected), STLHE-L, and TIPS.