This volume is a sympathetic but analytical and critical view of social constructivist teaching, considering both its affordances (what it offers to students when implemented well in situations for which it is well suited) and its constraints (enabling conditions; situations in which these conditions are absent and other forms of teaching are more appropriate). Contributors were asked to explain what social constructivist teaching means in the areas of teaching in which their scholarly work has concentrated, to describe the forms that such teaching takes and the rationale for using them, assess their strengths/areas of applicability and their weaknesses/areas of irrelevance or limited applicability, and talk about how the approaches would need to be adjusted from their usual forms in order to match the affordances and limitations of certain students, instructional situations, etc. The authors focus on theory and research relating to social constructivist teaching, not merely social constructivist ideas about epistemology or learning. Taken together, the contributions encompass most grade levels and school subjects and include attention to small-group as well as whole-class settings and to selection of learning activities as well as scaffolding of discourse. Most currently available scholarly writing on social constructivist teaching is limited to consideration of propositional knowledge (defining it and identifying its key characteristics) and procedural knowledge (describing its implementation in detail). This volume also includes much-needed conditional knowledge (specification of when and why it would or would not be used).

American Poet Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962) was educated in the classics from an early age and published his first book of poetry in 1912. Most of Jeffers' work is distinguished by strong elemental narratives set in the California Carmel/Big Sur area. His imagery often puts the rugged beauty of the landscape in opposition to the degraded and introverted condition of modern humanity. Jeffers' themes draw on classical and biblical sources from his early education, and his strong interest in Nietzsche's concept of individualism. Many of his contemporaries erroneously regarded him as a nihilist. This collection of essays attempts to illustrate the art and complexity of Jeffers, while presenting new insights into his work and its perception among his contemporaries. The essayists are Robert Brophy, Alex Vardamis, Robert Zaller, Terry Beers, Tim Hunt, David J. Rothman, Alan Soldofsky, Kirk Glaser, and William Everson. The essays represent a range of critical points of entry-some are on the cutting-edge of criticism and break new ground, others attempt to place Jeffers in the established perspectives of Western civilization's Christian humanism and American poetry's landscape-centered mysticism. The collection constitutes some of the most conversant and active research in the field of Jeffers studies. The critiques speak to the nature of Jeffer's poetry- how it challenged both the minds and hearts of its readers and prompted them to carefully define their own values and authentically find their own center.

American Poet Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962) was educated in the classics from an early age and published his first book of poetry in 1912. Most of Jeffers' work is distinguished by strong elemental narratives set in the California Carmel/Big Sur area. His imagery often puts the rugged beauty of the landscape in opposition to the degraded and introverted condition of modern humanity. Jeffers' themes draw on classical and biblical sources from his early education, and his strong interest in Nietzsche's concept of individualism. Many of his contemporaries erroneously regarded him as a nihilist. This collection of essays attempts to illustrate the art and complexity of Jeffers, while presenting new insights into his work and its perception among his contemporaries. The essayists are Robert Brophy, Alex Vardamis, Robert Zaller, Terry Beers, Tim Hunt, David J. Rothman, Alan Soldofsky, Kirk Glaser, and William Everson. The essays represent a range of critical points of entry-some are on the cutting-edge of criticism and break new ground, others attempt to place Jeffers in the established perspectives of Western civilization's Christian humanism and American poetry's landscape-centered mysticism. The collection constitutes some of the most conversant and active research in the field of Jeffers studies. The critiques speak to the nature of Jeffer's poetry- how it challenged both the minds and hearts of its readers and prompted them to carefully define their own values and authentically find their own center.