Constructivism: Does your practice match your conceptual framework?

Abstract

Though constructivism has been an epistemology espoused by early childhood educators since the field's inception; defining, understanding, and implementing a constructivist philosophy is challenging. This article includes an overview of constructivism, including the role of the learner and the teacher and the conditions that enhance learning. Also discussed will be distinct challenges that exist in the implementation of constructivism in a higher education setting. Practical strategies that universities have found to overcome these challenges are included.     

Sharing MedlinePlus®/MEDLINE® for Information Literacy Education (SMILE): A Dental Public Health Information Project

The SMILE project represented a partnership among the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Libraries, the Gateway Clinic in Laredo, and the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District. The project focused on improving dental practitioners' access to reliable information resources and integrating the best evidence into public health dental practice. Through its training program, SMILE cultivated a set of “power information users” among the dentists, dental hygienists, and community health workers (promotores) who provided public health preventive care and oral health education. The dental public health practitioners gained information literacy skills and increased their knowledge about reliable sites such as blogs, PubMed®, and MedlinePlus®. This project fostered opportunities for expanded partnerships with public health personnel.     

Breaking it Down: Engineering Student STEM Confidence at the Intersection of Race/Ethnicity and Gender

It is generally accepted that engineering requires a strong aptitude for mathematics and science; therefore, students’ judgments regarding their competence in these areas as well as engineering likely influence their confidence in engineering. Little is known about how self-confidence in science, mathematics, and engineering courses (STEM confidence) varies at the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender. To fill this gap, this study examined the STEM confidence of multiple groups in undergraduate engineering programs. Results indicated that although some underrepresented groups may have lower STEM confidence overall, this finding no longer applies to all groups after controlling for personal, environmental, and behavioral factors. Specifically, African-American and Hispanic men report higher average STEM confidence than White men after controlling for these associated measures. In addition, White women continue to report lower average STEM confidence than White men after controlling for these measures, while other groups do not differ from White men. Further, many elements of student perception, including student views of professors, comparisons to peers, perceptions of the field as rewarding, and desirability of chosen major are positively associated with student STEM confidence. The changing patterns of significance for race/ethnicity and gender groups between the two models indicate that personal, environmental, and behavioral factors have different relationships with STEM confidence levels for different groups. This study contributes an understanding that gender differences in STEM confidence are not indifferent to racial and ethnic context. Social-cognitive theory provides a valuable framework for studying student academic confidence and would improve future self-confidence research.     

Selecting Books for Children Birth Through Four: A Developmental Approach

The selection of books to read to young children matters enormously in the role books play for enriching children’s lives. This paper reviews the scientific evidence for the appropriate selection of books, and argues that care in selecting books targeted to children’s developing skills will enhance the power and the pleasures of reading to young children.