Volume 1, Issue 2

September 2013

Current Research in Constructivism

Graduate Research
Meet Koray Kasapapoglua who is one of our graduate student members. Some of you might recognize Koray from his presentation at the 2012 AERA meeting in Vancouver, BC. Since that time Koray has continued his constructivist research. His most recent publication: Kasapoglu, K., & Yildiz-Duban, N. (2012). Pre-service classroom teachers attitude toward the constructivist approach as a predictor of their self-efficacy for the implementation of the constructivist approach (A case of Afyonkarahisar) (in Turkish). Mersin University Journal of the Faculty of Education, 8(2), 85-96. Koray is currently working on his dissertation and would like to thank the SIG for recognizing his hard work. He says As a graduate student, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Constructivist Theory, Research and Practice SIG for this opportunity of sharing a number of firsts of mine: The first time I have been abroad miles away. The first time a part of my masters thesis, supervised by Dr. Ali Yildirim, has been presented at the AERA Annual Meeting. Thank you!

THE CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY, RESEARCH & PRACTICE SIG

Field Research
We would like to highlight the work of Dr. Marjorie Madden and Dr. Valarie Lees phenomenal work in a new form of literacy professional development over the past seven years. They began the Rowan Literacy Consortium (RLC) with the intent of developing highly effective literacy leaders. They invited districts to form four-member literacy leadership teams who would work across the year on a reading and writing focus. The teams included administrators and teachers who make a commitment to engage in sustained, ongoing, and intensive work. RLC is constructivist in nature in that it is grounded in inquiry and reflection and is participant-driven and collaborative.
Meet the Officers

Newsletter

Looking Back Over Six Years: Timeline 06-07: Comprehension 07-08: Follow-up 08-09: Reading & Writing across the Content Areas 09-10: Writing Curriculum 10-11: Nonfiction Reading and Writing 11-12: Critical Literacy and Digital Tools 12-13: Distinguished Teaching in a Common Core Era 13-14: Writing and Assessment in the Common Core

Dr. Madden

Dr. Lee

The model consists of a series of speakers and additional workshop sessions around a reading/writing focus. Districts send teams of teachers, administrators, and curriculum supervisors to work on an action project for the year to be implemented the following year. As part of their mission, they believe in the power of teacher-to-teacher sharing and knowledge building.

Highlight Your Work

In each edition of this newsletter, we would like to highlight the work of our members. If you have recently had a professional accomplishment (in the field of constructivism) that you would like to share with the membership, please e-mail Tawnya Lubbes (tlubbes@eou.edu) with the details. Published books, book chapters, journal articles, and substantive works in progress will be highlighted. We can also share short articles written expressly for this newsletter and not published elsewhere.

Become an Officer
We are currently accepting nominations for SIG officers.
We have the following openings: Chair, Program Chair and Treasurer (descriptions of these positions can be found below). Please submit your nominations to Jannah Nerren, nerrenjanna@sfasu.edu,by October 1st, 2013. Nominations must include the following: 1) The full name of the nominee 2) The institutional affiliation of the nominee 3) A biographical statement for the nominee, which can be up to 250 words. The full name of the nominee; Chair. The Chair shall be responsible for the general administration of the SIG, for ensuring that the SIG Bylaws are followed, and shall act as liaison between the SIG and AERA and the SIG and the SIG Executive Committee. The The institutional affiliation of the nominee; Chair shall preside at all meetings of the SIGs Executive Committee and at the Annual Business Meeting. The Chair shall act as parliamentarian or shall appoint a SIG member to serve in that role for each meeting. The Chair shall appoint ad hoc committees as needed. Unless otherwise specified in these Bylaws, the Chair of the SIG shall A biographical statement for the nominee, which can be up to 250 words. appoint persons to assist officers, to chair committees or to carry out other work of the SIG. Treasurer. The Treasurer shall be responsible for managing and reporting on the financial accounts of the SIG and the safe keeping of all financial documents of the SIG. Program Chair. The Program Chair shall be responsible for determining sessions, reviewers, discussants and chairs for the annual meeting along with sending acceptance and rejection notices to authors of submitted proposals. In addition, the Program Chair will act as Chair in the event of the absence of the Chair

SIG WEBSITE: Erik Byker

Dr. Erik Byker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Elementary Education at Stephen F. Austin State University. Erik received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University's Curriculum, Teaching, and Educational Policy Program. His fields of specialization include educational technology, curriculum foundations, global education, and elementary social studies. Erik's primary research surrounds the meanings and uses of educational technology among elementary school teachers and students. The research is comparative and international in scope as Erik has conducted field studies in Cuba, England, India, South Korea, and throughout the United States. For his dissertation, he lived in Bangalore, India, and collected data on how an economic cross-section of Bangalore's elementary schools used computer technology in their schools. From this research, and his other field studies, Erik developed Technological Play Theory, which is theoretical framework about how students construct meaning for technology. Erik presented a TED talk about this theory. Erik would like to invite everyone to check out the new Constructivist SIG website, which is linked at: constructsig.wikispaces.com. The website shares important announcements, provides information about the SIG, and highlights the research and accomplishments of our membership. The Constructivist SIG site is both a website and wiki. It is a website for all visitors, but it is a wiki for SIG members who would like to join (for free!) and contribute content. You will find more details about joining the wiki on the homepage: http://constructsig.wikispaces.com/Home. Additionally, you can always contribute content by sending an email to Erik at bykerej@sfasu.edu. Please spread the word about our new Constructivist SIG website!

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T H E C O N S T R U CT I V I S T T H E O R Y , R E S E A R C H & PR A CT I C E S I G