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The goal of this paper is to explore the design and implementation of early years educational policy in England in the period 1997-2004. First to be described are the innovations in policy (i.e. the promise), followed by the 'evidence base' for new policy (i.e. the research), the delivery of new services (i.e. the achievement), and finally the tensions and gaps which remain (i.e. the shortfall). The paper will focus on evidence concerning expansion of services and on the benefit of early years education on children's development. It is argued that early years education in England has been transformed through the following: integration of education and care at local and national level, the introduction of the Foundation Stage Curriculum 3-6 years and its birth-3 years supplement, and the firm focus on families as well as children in the delivery of services. There are, however, gaps and tensions to be resolved before the overall vision can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dewey was perhaps the foremost theorist and advocate of participatory democracy as an ethical ideal based on a belief and faith in human experience as a general theory of education that would generate the requisite aims and methods for what he called ‘organized intelligence’ and what we might call today ‘collective intelligence’ – that is, as he says, ‘faith in democracy is all one with faith in experience and education’. In this paper we revisit Dewey’sDemocracy and Education. An introduction to the philosophy of education(1916/2001) in order to evaluate the growth and development of democracy against the decline of social democracy in the West. We identify the three turns which separate democracy of Dewey’s times and democracy of today – the global, the ecological, and the digital turn – and relate them to changing notions of citizenship. We analyse complex interplay between the turns, and show that they cannot be understood and / or analysed in separation. While the identified turns have indeed significantly changed circumstances in which Dewey produced his understanding of democracy, we conclude that his work still carries a lot of value and call for its reinvention in and for the age of digital reason. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Felt problem: Technology integration continues to be a challenge for health science faculty. While students expect emerging technologies to be used in the classroom, faculty members desire a strategic process to incorporate technology for the students' benefit. Our solution: We have developed a model that provides faculty a strategy for integrating emerging technologies into the classroom. The model is grounded in student learning and may be applied to any technology. We present the model alongside examples from faculty who have used it to incorporate technology into their health sciences classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite emphasis and progress in developing collaborative inquiry in computer-supported collaborative learning research, little attention has been given to examining how collective learning can be assessed in computer-supported collaborative learning classrooms, and how students can have agency in assessing their own collaborative process. We propose that assessments should capture both individual and collective aspects of learning and be designed in ways that foster collaboration. We describe the design of student-directed electronic portfolio assessments to characterize and "scaffold" collaborative inquiry using Knowledge Forum™. Our design involved asking students to identify exemplary notes in the computer discourse depicting knowledge building episodes using four knowledge building principles as criteria. We report three studies that examined the designs and roles of knowledge building portfolios with graduate and Grade 12 students in Hong Kong and Canada. The findings suggest that knowledge building portfolios help to characterize collective knowledge advances and foster domain understanding. We discuss lessons learned regarding how knowledge building may be fostered and provide principles for designing assessments that can be used to evaluate and foster deep inquiry in asynchronous online discussion environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If design research involving technology-based tools is going to impact educational settings, the design process must be extended beyond the tool itself to encompass a broader range of factors such as the classroom social structures (e.g., beliefs about learning and knowledge, learning activities and participant structures, configurations of both physical space and cyberspace). Although prior research has underscored the importance of classroom social structures in technology integration, it has failed to specify the critical design variables that must be taken into account. Only by understanding the critical variables involved is it possible to develop a deep understanding of how and why things work. The Social Infrastructure Framework systematically frames the critical design elements in terms of 4 dimensions: (a) cultural beliefs, (b) practices, (c) socio-techno-spatial relations, and (d) interaction with the "outside world." This article details the design issues associated with each dimension based on examples drawn from a range of educational technologies. This article also describes how the framework can serve to advance the methodology of design research by serving as a tool for both design and analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools and colleges of education have been criticized for not adequately preparing preservice teachers to Integrate technology in their future classrooms. It has been proposed that a central component in the preparation of preservice teachers is for the instructors of content methods courses to model strategies integrating technology that enhance learning. Mason et al's (2000) Guidelines for Using Technology to Prepare Social Studies Teachers" (CUFA Technology Guidelines)were development specifically for social studies educators and are premised on the belief that one role of social studies educators is to model appropriate uses of technology for preservice teachers. This article presents results of a research study that investigated the characteristics of social studies methods instructor whose practice was guided by the CUFA Technology Guidelines. In particular, this article describes how the instructor's constructivist philosophical beliefs influenced her integration of technology as encouraged by the CUFA Technology Guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social studies educators hove long promoted Inquiry learning as a valuable method of instruction. Specifically, research into the use of Inquiry methods in the teaching and learning of history has demonstrated that this method has much to offer. Recently, the use of technological tools, including Internet, has received attention as a means of transforming social studies instruction. This case study of a sixth grade classroom, investigates the integration of the inquiry learning method and the Internet medium through the WebQuest approach. Three findings are presented and discussed: 1) students have differing perceptions of the value of Internet sources and print sources, but many find print sources preferable to Internet sources 2) students' strategies for gathering and organizing information are initially characterized by a quest for the 'Path-of-Least-Resistance, but the teacher can successfully guide students to more productive approaches; and 3) students of varying academic ability levels can conduct inquiry-oriented investigations, but they approach and perceive the value of such investigations differently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the issue of introducing technology in the classroom. Division among teachers and educational administrators regarding technology in the classroom; Discussion of the Constructivist learning theory; Belief regarding technology in teaching science, suggesting multimedia materials are of less benefit in that discipline; Examples of where technology undermines the serious thinking and metacognition needed for deep learning; Reference to Neil Postman's "The End of Education"; Issues to consider when considering technology in the classroom.

Lasting curriculum evolution is a slow process but it is continuous. Even at the level of the single institution, whole curriculum change is rarely obvious from one year to the next. The production cycle in schools begins in April/May for planning, is implemented in September 1990 and cannot be changed except in a dire emergency until the following year. There are acknowledged weaknesses in the system of education in the Great Britain. Science, technology and engineering have their share of them, though influential writers trace the causes of weakness far beyond education.