Attempts to clarify the critical, philosophical, epistemological, and pedagogical dimensions and underlying assumptions and relationships of a contemporary view of scientific literacy. Presents a practical framework for using writing in science to enhance scientific literacy and provides illustrative classroom examples. Contains 31 references.…

This paper reports a cross-sectional study of Taiwanese physics students' understanding of subatomic phenomena that are explained by quantum mechanics. The study uses students' explanations of their answers to items in a questionnaire as a proxy for students' thinking. The variation in students' explanations is discussed as is the development in…

The paper argues that a critical realist perspective can contribute to a critique of evidence-based practice, while at the same time not abandoning the idea of evidence altogether. The paper is structured around a number of related themes: the sociopolitics of "evidence-based"; epistemological roots and a critical realist critique; the debate in…

The purpose of this article is to investigate the construct of academic self-regulation in Web-based learning environments. Self-regulation will be discussed in general using social cognitive theory as the framework of the discussion. The article concludes with a brief review of the limited amount of research on self-regulation in Web-based…

Computer-based learning environments commonly comprise symbolic as well as static and dynamic pictorial representations, frequently combined with the possibility of modifying them interactively. While multiple, dynamic and interactive external representations have the potential to improve learning in various ways, they also place specific demands…

A curriculum unit for middle school Earth Science called "What's on Your Plate?" was designed. The unit was implemented in several middle and high school classrooms in California and Massachusetts. In the first implementation, the total number of students who participated was 1100. The unit was designed with two main pedagogical…

The inclusion of visual images in current educational literacy discussions tends to contextualise them within more semiotic, socio-critical and textually focussed theoretical traditions. These particular traditions privilege and emphasise the structures and "language-like" aspects of visual images, and include the broader social and…

In this article, the author offers insights about how teacher educators might best educate future teachers to comprehend the relationship of social class to power and success in American institutions, especially schools. She chronicles her efforts to educate prospective teachers to better understand how their perceptions of social class have the…

The science epistemological beliefs of students have been found to play an important role in determining their learning orientations towards science. Conley, Pintrich, Vekiri, & Harrison (2004) developed a measure to examine the epistemology beliefs of students about science. The measure encompasses four dimensions about scientific knowledge:…

Recent studies in the literature on online learning highlight a constructivist approach to knowledge-building in Web-based environments. In this case study of an online course, students were introduced to a constructivist orientation toward learning, a requirement to work in a new learning environment, and a challenge to accomplish academic work…

Epistemological beliefs are fundamental assumptions about the nature of knowledge and learning. Research in university contexts has shown that they affect the ways and results of student learning. This article transfers the concept of epistemological beliefs on workplace learning. The basic assumption is that employees epistemological beliefs…

This is an interpretative research study and presents findings of five case studies where the evolution of teachers' knowledge throughout the design and implementation of teaching material using a simple authoring tool is analysed and explained within its context of occurrence. Data were collected via interviews, field notes, artefacts and…

Asthma education interventions primarily target young children and adults, and a few target adolescents. Several constructs of the social cognitive theory were used to design a classroom-based high school asthma education curriculum and to determine if the curriculum would improve asthma knowledge and attitudes among 10th grade students, as well…

I investigated the presence, utility, and emergence of tacit knowledge in 9 study participants who used assistive-augmentative technology. I conducted phenomenologic interviews, audio-taping, and transcribed the interview with the written consent of the participants. Sixteen highly trained experts critiqued the final product of the interviews and…

Jane Roland Martin's later work, especially as represented in "The Schoolhome: Rethinking Schools for Changing Families," has been attacked as vague, essentialistic, and a formula for the (re)feminization of education. This paper does not attempt to defend Martin against these criticisms because such a defense seems impossible for…