Meaningful assessment activities

Planning and organizing the young child's curriculum and classroom environment is an essential component in the early childhood education program. Every fall in the USA millions of children begin and continue to participate in formal school settings. These children are all unique and differ in cognitive and social maturity.Jeffrey I. Gelfer is Program Manager of children's services of Easter Seal Society in Sarasota, Florida. Peggy G. Perkins is an Educational Consultant in Sarasota, Florida.     

Teachers’ Beliefs About Grading Practices and a Constructivist Approach to Teaching

We examined novice teachers’ beliefs about grading and constructivist teaching approaches. Adapting an existing instrument designed to assess preservice teachers’ grading beliefs that deviate from recommended practices, we administered the Survey of Grading Beliefs to 203 inservice teachers. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in a 3-factor model with a structure similar to that found in prior research; differences between the 2 samples were noted. Teachers who endorsed grading beliefs characterized as “academic enabling” tended to endorse constructivist teaching approaches. To better understand the underlying reasoning of the academic enabling factor, we conducted qualitative research with 6 additional teachers. Results revealed that teachers’ reasons for grading judgments were strategic, analytical, and thoughtful, not haphazard. This study provides empirical evidence about the nature of novice teachers’ beliefs about grading, how they relate to constructivist teaching beliefs, and how they may compare to the beliefs of preservice teachers.     

A critical review of elaboration theory

In this article the authors examine elaboration theory (ET), a model for sequencing and organizing courses which was developed by Charles Reigeluth and associates in the late 1970s. The purpose of the article is to offer a critique of ET based on recent cognitive research and to offer suggestions for updating the model to reflect new knowledge.Commentary by Charles Reigeluth follows this article.     

Beyond media stickiness and cognitive imprinting: Rethinking creativity in cooperative work &; learning with ICTs

This paper attempts to build a bridge between the fields of Computer Supported Cooperative Work and learning in online communities. A framework for group interactions is presented contrasting creative interactions such as collaboration with other but still valuable interaction types. Evaluative tools are proposed capable of identifying particular learning processes associated with various interactive activities. Each field has independently developed notions of inertia in the behaviour of users of these technologies. The notion of media stickiness is examined and related to that of imprinting in learning communities. However, dynamic and creative tracks can also be discerned and the argument is made that true collaboration requires attention to learning processes. Various suggestions are made of value to both fields and further research identified.