Constructing constructivism: how student‐teachers construct ideas of development,knowledge, learning,and teaching

This case study investigates the development of the understanding of constructivist theory among students in a Masters level elementary teacher education program within a particular course. The focus of the study is a seminar entitled ‘Advanced Seminar in Child Development’. The questions explored include: How do students’ ideas of teaching, learning and knowledge develop within the context of their experience in this course? How do they come to understand constructivism? What are their definitions of constructivism? What is the course of the development of this understanding? The nature of the students’ learning processes is examined through three sources of data: dialog journals, videotaped sessions and the instructor’s reflective teaching journal. The study looks both at student development and instructional practice to further understanding of how student‐teachers can learn to apply constructivist theory to their teaching and to understand the learning process, both within themselves and their students. Their development is placed in the context of Korthagen and Kessels’s model of teacher understanding and practice, and within a broader context of principles of practice that emphasize a belief in equity and social justice. The case illustrates how the way student‐teachers are taught theory can help them integrate their own ideas of learning and teaching with constructivist theory in order to think critically about their own practice in an ongoing developmental manner.     

高中学生数学思维障碍的成因及突破

如何减轻学生学习数学的负担?如何提高我们高中数学教学的实效性?本文通过分析高中学生数学思维障碍的成因,提出几种突破方法,以起到抛砖引玉的作用。     

契约学习:提高教学质量的有效方式

从教学角度出发,把教师的教与学生的学放在契约社会这个背景下来考虑,强调教学双方是平等进入、平等交流,甚至是平等交换的契约关系,这就是“契约学习”的方式。在契约约束下的学习活动,不但调动了学生的学习自觉性、自主性,提高学生的学习质量,也实现了教师教学的预期目的,提高了教学质量,双方共同满足教与学的需求。     

Data Return: The Sense of the Given in Educational Research

Educational research is dominated by a particular model: data is gathered and analysed. Much literature on methods concerns either ways of processing data, or ethical issues regarding its collection and handling. The present paper looks beyond these matters to the taken‐for‐granted idea of data itself. What can be meant by ‘data’? How does this connect with ideas of the given? What is the place of giving in education—in teaching and learning, in research itself? These issues are explored in the light of information technology’s impact on research, uncovering ethical dimensions that the seeming naturalness of data otherwise obscures.     

唯有确立“教师为要”方能落实“学生为本”——对我国大学教学理念嬗变的再思考

一百年前陶行知在南高师力主将“教授法”更名为“教学法”,看似一字之变,却彰显了教育哲学的天差地别。他的“教学合一”和“以学生为中心”思想,既脱胎于杜威的“儿童是太阳”和“新三中心论”,同时,也凸显了他对教育,特别是对大学教育问题与症结的深刻认识和犀利分析。时至今日,人们重温历史,仍然为其前卫、明晰的理念和深入浅出的阐释所深深折服。需要反思的是,对教育、教学本质内涵及要素互动的理解,是否仍有拓展的空间?对“教”与“学”角色互动和影响交互的认识,是否仍有深化可能?鉴于“以学生为中心”的提法易生歧义,“学生为本”更准确科学;而“学生为本”离不开“教师为要”;只有坚持“教师为要”,方能真正落实“学生为本”。笔者郑重建议:将“学生为本”与“教师为要”并提,作为现代大学办学的基本原则,它们如同鸟之两翼、车之两轮,互为犄角、互为表里,不可或缺也不可偏废!     

Using ‘big ideas’ to enhance teaching and student learning

Organising teaching of a topic around a small number of ‘big ideas’ has been argued by many to be important in teaching for deep understanding, with big ideas being able to link different activities and to be framed in ways that provide perceived relevance and routes into engagement. However it is our view that, at present, the significance of big ideas in classroom practice is underappreciated while their implementation in teaching is perceived as ‘unproblematic’. In this paper we address these issues; while we draw on the experiences of two major research projects focusing on teachers’ pedagogical reasoning, we attempt to investigate big ideas from a conceptual stance. While the domain is important, we argue that the source of big ideas should include reflection on issues of student learning and engagement as well as the domain. Moreover, big ideas should be framed in ways that are richer, more generative of teaching ideas and more pedagogically powerful than topic headings. This means framing them as a sentence, with a verb, that provides direction and ideas for teachers. We posit three different kinds of big ideas: big ideas about content, big ideas about learning and big ideas about the domain; the last two result in teachers having parallel agendas to their content agendas. In addition to discussing how pedagogically powerful big ideas can be constructed, we draw on data from highly skilled teachers to extend thinking about how teachers can use big ideas.     

Learning novel mathematical concepts in a computer-enriched environment

There is widespread belief that computers should be used for the teaching and learning of mathematics. Research indicates that computers are primarily used in mathematics classes: (1) to reinforce previously taught concepts, (2) to allow students to construct computer programs to simulate mathematical techniques known to the student and (3) to explore mathematical microworlds encompassing mathematical ideas and concepts normally known to the student. Furthermore, it is said that pre-service teachers should experience the learning of mathematical ideas and concepts of which they had no prior experience in environments in which computers are just one of the resources available for exploring and experimenting with these ideas and concepts. How should these learning environments be constructed so that pre-service teachers are sensitised to the value of doing mathematics in such environments? Is a student's understanding of novel mathematical concepts enhanced when s/he explores it in a computer-enriched environment? An experiment with pre-service teachers was carried out in a college of education for blacks in South Africa. This article describes the insights gained from this experiment.     

Learning to teach at the elbows: The tao of teaching

The metaphor learning to teach at the elbows is put forward in this article to highlight claims about learning to teach that focus on the development of “teaching manner.” My particular interest is in characterizing and understanding aspects of teaching that seem to be acquired, shared, mediated, and changed through teachers' work together—a shaping which I believe occurs initially through mimicry in the practice setting, and which in many cases appears to take place independent of rational deliberation. I ask “How do I understand this kind of learning?” and “How, then, do I then represent my work as a teacher educator?” These questions are explored in light of contemporary Western ideas about situated cognition, activity, and identity—ideas which are extended further in this paper by pointing out similar problems related to integrating knowing and action that are found in early Chinese philosophy. In particular, the dialogical relationship between Confucianism and Taoism provides a useful framework for understanding the studio interplay between learning as socio-culturally mediated activity and critical reflection in the initial preparation of teachers.     

从“做中学”到建构主义——探究学习的理论轨迹

从杜威的“做中学”到时下的建构主义,教学研究和实践到底走出了多远?杜威的“做中学”思想中可以提炼出两个原型:手工艺活动和科学研究活动。这两个原型都在后来的研究之中得到了新的发展:从实践活动场景到实践共同体;从实验室到科学共同体。它们在发展方向上殊途同归,都强调了“做”背后的社会文化属性。看清近百年教学思想的发展轨迹有利于我们避免教学改革中的左右摇摆和形式主义。     

“Poetry? Of course we do it. It's in the National Curriculum.” Primary children's perceptions of poetry

What can listening to children's ideas about poetry teach us? This article considers ways in which exploring primary‐aged students' perceptions of poetry can inform teachers' work with children. Using strategies from earlier studies in secondary schools, a small‐scale project with Year 6 students revealed their complex and sometimes contradictory ideas. These ideas reflect some of the current debates around the nature of poetry and ways of teaching it. The children's ideas are analysed with critical attention paid to the impact of the view of literacy in England's National Literacy Strategy on the teaching and learning of poetry.     

试谈高校公体课中的跨栏教学

<正> 跨栏跑源于英国,是克服水平障碍的短跑项目,它在田径运动中是动作技术复杂和身体素质要求很高的运动项目之一.在学校里,跨栏能培养学生勇敢,顽强的意志品质并可使身体素质得到全面提高,对于普通高校的学生在开展这项运动时,如何培养学生的兴趣和让学生更好地掌握动作技术,关键在于教师在教学中正确运用和选择的教学方法与手段,笔者根据教学实践,从三个方面谈谈自己在跨栏教学中的一些点滴看法.     

如何让教师在合作学习活动中掌握合作学习方法

合作学习的效果取决于教师对于合作学习理念的理解与方法的掌握。在教师培训过程中,通过合作学习活动让教师掌握合作学习方法,是一种十分有效的途径。这一活动通过对合作学习五个基本问题的个体学习、同桌学习、小组学习、全班共享学习的不断推进,不仅让学员形成关于合作学习的理性认识并转变其观念,而且让教师参与式体验了合作学习的过程与方法。此项活动所形成的学习模式,不仅可以运用到教师培训的其他方面,而且可以通过教师的迁移运用到其课堂教学活动中学生的合作学习过程之中。     

What We Learned about Using Metaphors in College Teaching: Methods and Meanings

The field of education is rich with metaphors that reveal one's perspective on the nature of teaching and learning—ideas are “covered,” students “absorb” information, teachers offer writing “clinics.” Each of these metaphors indicate nuanced ideas about what schooling is and is for—to be checked off? Taken in unquestioningly? For those who are sick? Two teacher educators in the field of early childhood education share insights from their own experiences in considering novice teachers' metaphors in their preparatory experiences, particularly wondering what these unveil about heretofore unanalyzed beliefs and what instructors can learn so as to form further instruction. Methods are shared and reflection led educators to find important instructional and relationship-building implications for working with novice teachers.     

谈研究性学习的教学与实践

研究性学习使教学内容本身具有了教育价值，它使教学内容和方法成为一个活动中所包含的两个方面，有利于课程与教学的整合，促进了“制度课程”向“体验课程”的进化，是课程与教学关系上的一次革命。研究性学习的实践所遵循的基本原则是：用创新教育的基本理念去指导课堂教学的实践。     

论强化小组合作团队学习机制的六大策略

小组合作团队学习是一种符合素质教育思想、新课程理念的教学组织形式。要实现小组合作团队学习机制的持续运转,必须落实六大＂要诀＂：一是教师角色要实现深度转型;二是教学要走向策略化学习;三是教学内涵要走向问题式学习;四是教师将黑板分隔后实现小组化承包;五是多媒体使用要遵循＂三适＂;六是教师要坚持召开三个团队会。只有不断调整教师自己的角色、行为和策略,始终关注六个要诀,才能保障小组合作团队学习机制的科学运行,提高小组合作团队学习质量。     

“分层导学案”在数学教学中的运用探讨

随着我国新课改的逐步深入,学校普遍开始运用新的教学方式及教学理念。学生如果没有独立的思考能力以及足够的知识积累,逻辑思维能力就不会提高。“分层导学案”的运用有效提升了学生的逻辑思维能力。文章通过对北师大版九年级数学教材的分析,探究“分层导学案”模式在教学中的实践。分层导学案的教学模式不但可以提高学生学习数学的主动性,还可以有效提升教师的课堂教学效率。     

AutoCAD教学与创新能力培养

文中阐述了AutoCAD教学中存在的问题,提出以设计思想带动教学、以管理思想推动教学、将创新设计引入考试、用更高水平要求教师的教改思路,试图将共性学习与个性学习相结合,着力培养学生的创新能力.     

因材施教,灵活多变——英语教学方法与学习风格初探

因材施教是每一位教师必须遵守的教学原则。在英语教学中,教师往往会面临这样一个问题:如何使自己的教学方法适应学生不同的学习风格和学习目的?本文通过对比,论述了两种不同的教学方法,即“以教师为中心”的教学方法和“以学习者为中心”的教学方法所各自拥有的优势和不足。由于学习者之间的差异,本文认为:作为一位专业的英语教师,我们必须充分考虑学生不同的英语学习风格和方法,并采取灵活多变的教学方法来使自己的教学风格与学生的学习风格尽可能地协调和统一,只有这样才能提高教学质量,提高学习者的语言学习效率。     

乐学境界:追寻语文教学的根

语文教学的根在哪里?如何让学生爱学语文、会学语文、学好语文?文章从孔子教育思想中汲取智慧,回归语文教学的本质与核心,提出了追求乐学境界的教学主张,强调教学中以儿童为主体、以学习为核心、以课程为载体、以解决问题为方式、以激励为动力、以快乐为价值,采用循循善诱、因材施教、学思行结合、循序渐进、教学相长等教学方法,引导学生切问、近思、明辨、践行,使他们享受学习的快乐、获得审美的满足、体验成长的幸福。     

Knowledge, the disciplines, and learning in the Digital Age

ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) are now widely used in schools: However, despite predictions, they have not revolutionized teaching and learning. Why is this? Does it matter? Should we care? This paper outline seeks to answer such questions and why we should care. School ICTs are informed by a range of different, and often conflicting ideas, with the result that student work is often “digital busywork”. The article argues that if ICTS are to play a useful role in helping us to re-develop our schools for the Knowledge Age, we need to re-examine some of our old ideas about knowledge. In particular, we need to re-examine the place and purpose of the traditional disciplinary knowledge that is the basis of the current curriculum.