This guide provides suggestions for using technology (i.e., computers and anything that attaches to computers) as instructional tools in environments that support learning. Chapter 1 offers an overview of learning principles based on constructivist theory, including what constructivism offers the classroom, the role of the student, the role of the…

This document contains the technology plan for North Carolina Public Schools. The plan has three primary purposes: to consolidate previous work towards the vision of technologically literate students; to indicate the commitment of the Department of Public Instruction to provide schools with the necessary technology framework to work towards the…

In contrast to the recent back-to-basics movement, which emphasizes rote-learning and the acquisition of mechanistic skills, small-group cooperative learning emphasizes the development of thinking and problem-solving skills. It also seeks to minimize student anxiety and competition by creating an environment in which students feel safe to make and…

Organizing and clarifying research and theory from diverse sources, including philosophy and cognitive psychology, this book provides a framework intended to help educational practitioners (principals, supervisors, curriculum directors, and teachers) plan programs for incorporating the teaching of thinking throughout the regular curriculum.…

This book is concerned with educational change affecting elementary and secondary schools in the United States and Canada. A wide range of innovative programs are discussed as examples of the practical meaning of change, including projects involving various curriculum areas, microcomputers, career education, open-concept schools, desegregation,…

Despite massive inputs of resources during the last 15 years, and despite numerous "adoptions" of educational innovations, very little significant change has occurred at the school level corresponding to the intended consequences of these innovations. The modal process of change has been characterized by a pattern whereby innovations are…

Noting that in both developing and developed nations schools may be found that do not reflect the vision of the United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child, this report examines the articles of the Convention dealing with education and discusses their implications for the development of educational policy. The report describes articles in the…

This article discusses an investigation carried out with a group of young learners of English in a Brazilian language school aiming at these individuals' development of critical thinking and their involvement in a de-naturalization process of gender dualism. The study, which took place in an educational context witnessing important changes at both…

This anthology of 58 pieces originally published in the "Journal of Experiential Education" focuses on the value of experiential learning and the need to incorporate direct experience in formal education. Chapter 1 summarizes and reviews the findings of "A Nation at Risk" and other major national reports on education. Chapter 2…

Efforts by community colleges to become more learning-centered reflect the reforms taking place in traditional higher education. In addition to making learning the highest priority, American education must continue to overhaul its outdated, traditional framework restricted by time, place, bureaucracy, and limited teacher roles. The ideal model of…

This guide provides conceptual as well as practical information for meeting the needs of all learners in heterogeneous classrooms. The first six sections discuss the growing heterogeneity in today's classrooms, the rationale for differentiated teaching and learning, the changing roles of teachers and students, the importance of creating classroom…

Six of the first vocational education (VE) programs to adopt new voluntary national skill standards were studied to identify the opportunities and challenges faced by VE programs adopting the new standards. The VE programs studied were located in high schools in seven cities: Chalmette and Walker, Louisiana; Chicago, Illinois; L'Anse Creuse,…

This document, together with an earlier document, "Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics," is designed to establish a broad framework to guide reform in school mathematics in the next decade. These standards spell out what teachers need to know to teach toward new goals for mathematics education and how teaching…

This document offers a view of educational change that has educational technology at the center of the process and underscores some of the contributions educational technology can make to reforming education in Saskatchewan (Canada). The province has an excellent teaching force and communities that value education highly, but there is a prevailing…

Examines two sets of Chinese educational ideology and practice: pre-1977 (during the Cultural Revolution) and post-1976 (during the Hua Guofeng administration), as well as changes in the 1980s. Special attention is given to ideology, the expansion of schooling, self-reliance, utilization of human resources, and emergence of pressure groups.…