Thursday, April 26, 2012

Theoretical Foundations of Learning Environments

Theoretical Foundations of Learning Environments Review



Theoretical Foundations of Learning Environments provides students, faculty, and instructional designers with a clear, concise introduction to the major pedagogical and psychological theories and their implications for the design of new learning environments for schools, universities, or corporations. Leading experts describe the most important contemporary theories that form the foundation of the conception and design of student-centered learning environments and new applications of educational technologies. This book is well suited as a textbook for courses in instructional design, educational psychology, learning theory, curriculum theory and design, and related areas.

The rise of constructivism and its associated theories represented a paradigm shift for educators and instructional designers to a view of learning as necessarily more social, conversational, and constructive than traditional transmissive views of learning. This bestselling book was the first to provide a manageable overview of the altered field, and the second edition has been fully updated to include expert introductions to metacognition, Argumentation, and other key contemporary theories.


Tuesday, April 24, 2012

LOST SHIPS: THE DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF THE OCEAN'S SUNKEN TREASURES (The Learning Channel Series)

LOST SHIPS: THE DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF THE OCEAN'S SUNKEN TREASURES (The Learning Channel Series) Review




From the day the first humans put to sea 50,000 years ago, the ocean has never lost its power to fascinate mankind. This fascination endures despite -- or, perhaps, because of -- the ever-present danger that has been, for a thousand generations, the cost of seafaring: shipwrecks. From prehistoric dugouts to the "Titanic" herself, new discoveries, and thousands of old ones, retain a firm grip on the imagination of the world; they remain a source of dread and fascination, an example of human frailty in the face of nature's power.
"Lost Ships" is a chronicle of three of the most fascinating adventure stories in maritime history -- or, rather, three stories of adventure and three of exploration, for each part of "Lost Ships" intertwines the tale of a shipwreck with that of its subsequent discovery by Mensun Bound, marine archaeologist and adventurer. Using a combination of high-tech gadgetry -- sonar sensing, satellite mapping, carbon dating -- and old-fashioned detective work, Bound documents the distinct character of each discovery, tells the story of the crew and/or passengers, places each wreck in its historical context, and shows the Challenges overcome in the exploration of the wreck. And what a selection of shipwrecks these are: the Mahdia ship that carried the spoils of Sulla's sack of Athens in the first century B.C.E., sank off the coast of North Africa, and was rediscovered only in 1993; the "Agamemnon, " Horatio Nelson's first ship of the line and victor at the Battle of Trafalgar; and the "Graf Spee, " one of Nazi Germany's most powerful warships, scuttled in the
River Plate in Uruguay after the most thrilling naval chase of the century. Here are:

thedestruction of Athens and Piraeus as chronicled by Plutarch and Appian...the journey of the treasure ship back to Rome, only to sink off the coast of North Africa...its unwitting discovery by Jacques Cousteau in 1948, and its rediscovery by Mensun Bound in 1993.
the history of one of the great ships of the Napoleonic Wars, one of the great line of British ships whose guns destroyed French sea power for good at Trafalgar...her own destruction in the teeth of a South Atlantic storm...the salvage of one of those great guns -- one of the guns of Trafalgar -- from the bottom of Maldonado Bay.
the near-legendary story of the outgunned British cruisers "Exeter, Ajax, " and "Achilles, " and the epic battle they had fought with the pride of the German navy, the pocket battleship "Graf Spee."..the commerce raider scuttled in the harbor of Montevideo by her extraordinary commander, Zee Kapitan Hans Wilhelm Langsdorff...Langsdorff's suicide, fallen on the battle ensign of the ship he had commanded.

Ranging from the Mediterranean to the South Atlantic, from satellites hundreds of miles above the surface of the earth to the ocean floor, "Lost Ships" is a vivid and exciting record of both nautical adventure and maritime exploration.


Saturday, April 21, 2012

Mediated Learning: Teaching, Tasks, and Tools to Unlock Cognitive Potential

Mediated Learning: Teaching, Tasks, and Tools to Unlock Cognitive Potential Review



Features an expanded discussion of mediated learning and includes case studies, reflective activities for the reader, and in-depth coverage of metacognition, metalearning, metateaching, and metatasking.


Friday, April 20, 2012

The evolution of mathematical explorations in open-ended problem-solving situations [An article from: Journal of Mathematical Behavior]

The evolution of mathematical explorations in open-ended problem-solving situations [An article from: Journal of Mathematical Behavior] Review



This digital document is a journal article from Journal of Mathematical Behavior, published by Elsevier in 2005. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Results from an earlier study conducted by the researchers [Cai, J., & Cifarelli, V.V. (2005). Exploring mathematical exploration: How two college students formulated and solved their own mathematical problems? Focus on Learning Problems in Mathematics, 27(3), 43-72] illustrated and explained several characteristics of the solvers' mathematical explorations in open-ended problem situations. The current study continues our efforts to understand this important process by extending the results of the earlier study in two ways. First, the analysis broadens the scope of the original study by examining the solver's mathematical exploration across a pair of open-ended tasks, the Billiard Ball and Number Array tasks. This enabled us to determine if the results of the earlier study could be replicated and if the consistency of general processes of mathematical exploration processes could be confirmed across different problem tasks and contexts. Second, the results build on the findings of the earlier study by refinement and clarification of the individual processes found in the earlier study. In these ways, the results of the original study are generalized and there is refinement of the individual processes that were identified.


Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Rethinking Undergraduate Business Education: Liberal Learning for the Profession (Jossey-Bass/Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching)

Rethinking Undergraduate Business Education: Liberal Learning for the Profession (Jossey-Bass/Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching) Review



Business is the largest undergraduate major in the United States and still growing. This reality, along with the immense power of the business sector and its significance for national and global well-being, makes quality education critical not only for the students themselves but also for the public good.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching's national study of undergraduate business education found that most undergraduate programs are too narrow, failing to challenge students to question assumptions, think creatively, or understand the place of business in larger institutional contexts. Rethinking Undergraduate Business Education examines these limitations and describes the efforts of a diverse set of institutions to address them by integrating the best elements of liberal arts learning with business curriculum to help students develop wise, ethically grounded professional judgment.


Friday, April 6, 2012

The Role of Criticism in Understanding Problem Solving: Honoring the Work of John C. Belland (Explorations in the Learning Sciences, Instructional Systems and Performance Technologies)

The Role of Criticism in Understanding Problem Solving: Honoring the Work of John C. Belland (Explorations in the Learning Sciences, Instructional Systems and Performance Technologies) Review



In 1991, Denis Hlynka and John Belland released Paradigms Regained, a well received reader for graduate students in the field of educational technology. The Role of Criticism in Understanding Problem Solving updates some of those ideas initially proposed in Paradigms Regained, and extends the conversation into the contemporary discourse regarding problem based learning (PBL). Paradigms proposed the idea of criticism as a third method for the conduction of educational research, the first two being qualitative and qualitative. The concept of criticism as a tool for research is not well established in educational technology, although it is well established in other educational research traditions such as Curriculum Studies. Unfortunately, it is not always clear how criticism can be applied. This book views criticism as a way to step back and look at an educational intervention within educational technology through a particular critical lens. Criticism is viewed as a valuable approach to guiding meta analyses and theoretical studies, serving to prevent the proverbial "spinning of the wheels" that often happens in educational research. By indicating new potential research questions and directions, criticism approaches can invigorate educational research. This book revisits the ideals of criticism in order to establish their usefulness for studying educational technology interventions to support problem based learning. First, a few foundational chapters set the stage for the conversations on criticism. Then, the role criticism can play in enhancing analysis and interpretation of the PBL literature is explored. Finally, case studies addressing the central concepts of the text are presented and dissected. This book represents a complete overhaul and rethinking of the use of criticism as a method for understanding and furthering the research area of PBL within the field of Educational technology.