Plant growth, development and reproduction are fundamental concepts in biology; yet there is a recorded lack of motivation for young people to grapple with these concepts. Here we present the “DigitalSeed” toy for making investigations around these concepts more accessible to children through hands-on digital interaction. This is part of an on-going project investigating improved ways of learning involving digital media. To date, this project has addressed the learning of 4–5 year olds, but it is anticipated that the project could be extended to older children in mainstream and special needs education. In the case of older children, specific curricula requirements would be addressed, although this is a secondary goal. Relevance: The relevance to constructivism is that it provides an alternative approach to a difficult topic, viz., plant nutrition, where the learner must navigate between two realities: the virtual and the “real.”

Key words: Digital educational device, biology, children

In the Irish education system, there is little continuity between the primary and secondary education systems. The transfer between these systems is particularly problematic in the area of science. In order to alleviate some of these problems, as well as to enhance the cognitive development of students, the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education programme was adapted for use and implemented across the primary–secondary school transition in Ireland. The programme was delivered in a variety of ways across the two levels, including the teacher and researcher teaching the programmes individually and team-teaching arrangements. The results on cognitive development measures showed that the students who were taught the programme in primary and secondary school made significant gains, when compared to the non-intervention group. There were also gains evident for students who only received one part of the programme (i.e. in either primary or secondary school). The greater gains, in terms of effect size, were evident at secondary school. The rationale, methodology and results are detailed in this paper. Relevance: The relevance to constructivism is that the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education programme is a social constructivist intervention.

Open peer commentary on the article “Beyond Technocentrism: Supporting Constructionism in the Classroom” by Karen Brennan. Upshot: Brennan describes strategies designed to help teachers use Scratch in their classrooms, emphasising interfaces between the tool and its users, between users and between hope and happening. Previous work with similar aims identified apparently significant cultural approaches to initiating constructionist practice. Questions arise about the development of practice from technocentric to pedagogic over time that may have some answers in the data accumulated.

Open peer commentary on the article “Constructing Constructivism” by Hugh Gash. Upshot: Radical constructivism is explicitly discussed in Gash’s target article outlining “stages” or types of constructivism. The stages contextualize radical constructivism in a series of research phases involving a number of domains using a variety of approaches. The target article begs the query: “just how radical are many constructivist approaches in teaching and learning?”

Open peer commentary on the article “Religion: A Radical-Constructivist Perspective” by Andreas Quale. Upshot: The aim of this commentary is to examine whether religious belief is a cognitive activity. It is proposed that religious belief can be the result of cognitive processes individually construed and constructed upon layers of prior experience, thus adhering to the fundamental tenets of radical constructivism. However, a distinction should be made between cognizing religious beliefs and religious experience. The use of the science versus religion dichotomy is explored and relegated to the status of a “phoney war.”

Open peer commentary on the article “Negotiating Between Learner and Mathematics: A Conceptual Framework to Analyze Teacher Sensitivity Toward Constructivism in a Mathematics Classroom” by Philip Borg, Dave Hewitt & Ian Jones. Upshot: I review the arguments put forward by Borg et al. as to why a teacher cannot be constructivist in their methodologies and ask why they have not considered constructivist methodologies that emphasise negotiation.

Open peer commentary on the article “Constructivism and Mystical Experience” by Hugh Gash. Abstract: Gash follows a prescient argument concerning constructivism and mysticism. Mysticism may equate to noetic religious, spiritual, and mystical experiences involving subjectivity and objectivity, and people experience “faith” or belief in the deity, which involves intellection, conceptual discrimination, decision-making and a range of technical, rational and intellectual tools. Von Glasersfeld’s assumptions, and those of other constructivists are, not so far removed from mystical theological approaches to the deity.

Le travail de recherche présenté dans cet article s’inscrit dans le cadre d’un projet de recherche européen sur l’enseignement des sciences (projet COMENIUS), mené par cinq équipes basées à Chypre, en Irlande, en Slovénie, en République tchèque et en France. Le projet, conduit sur trois ans, a débuté en septembre 2006 et porte sur l’articulation entre la formation des enseignants et l’action pédagogique en classe. L’équipe de chercheurs a élaboré des modules de formation à la recherche de modalités opérationnelles permettant d’engager les enseignants dans une démarche socio-constructiviste. S’appuyant sur l’expertise des chercheurs engagés dans ce projet, cet article collectif présente la situation de l’enseignement des sciences dans les différents pays représentés et montre, au-delà d’une simple juxtaposition descriptive, comment notre groupe s’est trouvé confronté à un paysage contrasté. Nous cherchons à préciser quelques points saillants, à montrer similitudes et divergences des situations rencontrées, et à dégager quelques pistes concrètes d’action dans le domaine de la formation des enseignants.