Interactivity, group learning and student engagement are accepted as key features of social constructivist learning theories. The challenge is to understand the interplay between such features in different learning environments. This study focused on the qualitative differences between two interventions--small-groups and whole-class discussions.…

The aim of the reported study was to explore how science teachers made sense of their roles and responsibilities in teaching and assessing science coursework. The focus was on the teacher assessment, the feedback that teachers gave to students and, how they perceived their role when they taught and assessed students' science coursework reports.…

In a series of three experimental studies, the effectiveness of three-dimensional computer simulations to aid the understanding of chemical structures and their properties was investigated. Arguments for the usefulness of three-dimensional simulations were derived from Mayer's generative theory of multimedia learning. Simulations might lead to a…

The topic of biodiversity is of high value for education for sustainable development as it reflects the interaction of ecological, economic and social issues particularly well. Especially in so-called biodiversity hotspots, among them Chile, natural resources are often depleted for economic interest which, in many cases, is required income.…

We examine the respective roles of substantive understanding (i.e., understanding of factual knowledge, concepts, laws and theories) and procedural understanding (an understanding of ideas about evidence; concepts such as reliability and validity, measurement and calibration, data collection, measurement error, the ability to interpret evidence…

This paper aims to extrapolate the difficulties and challenges posed by ideas about creativity principally in the context of doctoral theses in which the practices of dance play a prominent, if not, pivotal role. While resisting definitive transparency, creativity is a crucial marker as much for postgraduate scholars as it is for artists. The…

In this article, the author describes the 11th Dance and the Child International (daCi) Conference 2009 which was hosted by the Edna Manley School of the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica from August 2-8. Nicholeen Degrasse-Johnson, the director of the Edna Manley School of Dance along with daCi officials, including the president of…

This paper details the early stages of research which, through exploring new methodological and conceptual spaces, is being carried out with the aim of contributing to redressing the balance between creativity and performativity, in secondary level dance education in England. The Dance Partners for Creativity Research (DPC) Project is a…

Radford (2004) postulated that emotions are fundamentally data that should be used as a guide towards creative acts. Yet, empirically speaking, we know very little about the role of emotions, and more specifically feel, in the creative experiences of dancers. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of feel in the creative experiences of…

Recent innovations in the field of early childhood education have prompted a re-thinking of teaching and learning. Traditional notions of child development have been undergoing some radical changes and, as such, have resulted in a reviewing and re-formulation of early years pedagogy. In Aotearoa New Zealand the field of early childhood education…

This paper was originally presented as a keynote address to the Conference on Research on Dance (CORD) held at De Montfort University, Leicester England in 2009. The themes of the conference, global perspectives on dance pedagogy: research and practice, are considered, particularly in relation to the interwoven nature of the relationships between…

Traditionally drama in schools has been seen either as a learning medium with a wide range of curricular uses or as a subject in its own right. This paper argues that the importance of drama in schools is in the processes of social and artistic engagement and experiencing of drama rather than in its outcomes. The paper contrasts the pro-social…

My specific teaching and research interest is drama in the classroom--drama as a teaching and learning medium to fulfil a curriculum demand for student-active, creative and aesthetic learning processes. In this article I will focus on the challenges and possibilities that exist in Norwegian classroom drama. The article is based on my latest…

I propose a conceptualisation of drama in school education as improvisation within a framework that has a number of fixed but changing structures. I examine how the "drama in schooling" practice of one country, New Zealand, might be seen as a group improvisation in which, through dramatic negotiation, participants evolve their goals, narrative and…

This paper reports on a one-year project in a Singapore "neighbourhood" school where the researcher was invited to assist the teachers of two secondary English classes to incorporate drama strategies to enliven their pedagogy. Few teachers involved had any prior experience of drama in schools and none had studied drama during pre-service teacher…