Historically, math education at the high school and introductory college levels has focused on computational skills. With the advancement of computational technologies, problemsolving and other higher-order thinking skills should become the focal point. This article discusses ways in which the University of Minnesota has integrated problem-solving…

This article focuses on designing and conducting action research in diverse settings. Action research is a collaborative approach to problem solving. It involves consultative problem identification, reflects context, encourages reflexive examination, and ultimately encourages and empowers beneficiaries for desirable change. In that regard, it puts…

One of the requirements for interior design students by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation is to be "prepared to work in a variety of contexts as well as across geographic, political, social, environmental, cultural, and economic conditions." To help with this preparation, faculty partners from two institutions--the University…

The Mathematics Practicum has been offered at St. Olaf College for over 30 years. The Practicum is a 4-week, January Interim course where three teams of five students work on consulting problems solicited from area businesses, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. These problems have significant mathematical, statistical, and…

Youth involved in 4-H projects have been engaged in science-related endeavors for years. Since 2006, 4-H has invested considerable resources in the advancement of science learning. The new Minnesota 4-H Science of Agriculture Challenge program challenges 4-H youth to work together to identify agriculture-related issues in their communities and to…

A cohort program to increase retention of under-represented groups in chemistry was developed at the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University. In particular, this program chose to emphasize early career mentoring and early access to research. This goal was chosen because research has been repeatedly shown to increase scientific identity…

In this article, Sarah Currier, a math specialist at Elizabeth Hall International School in Minnesota, describes how she used origami in a deliberate manner to teach content. She shares how she uses paper folding to teach mathematical concepts, reinforce vocabulary, and as a problem-solving model. She also offers ideas for using origami in other…

"WeBWorK" CLASS combines the best features of online homework and digital whiteboards to create a system that provides instructors with information on students' problem-solving processes, as well as their final answer. The system's utilization of tools that can sort students based on correct and incorrect homework and quiz answers and…

Engineering-based modeling activities provide a rich source of meaningful situations that capitalize on and extend students' routine learning. By integrating such activities within existing curricula, students better appreciate how their school learning in mathematics and science applies to problems in the outside world. Furthermore, modeling…

Technology alone won't be enough to improve teaching and learning to where it needs to be for 21st century skills. Where it is being done successfully, teachers collectively share a vision of promoting deeper learning in all their students, and have collaboratively redesigned the role of the teacher to that of facilitator who uses technology as a…

Real world mathematical modeling activities can develop needed and valuable 21st century skills. The knowledge and skills to become adept at mathematical modeling need to develop over time and students in the elementary grades should have experiences with mathematical modeling. For this to occur elementary teachers need to have positive…

Prior research suggests that students' understanding of scientific concepts is pre-determined by their reasoning ability. Other efforts suggest that American students' scientific literacy is in decline. One difficulty Bybee (2009) acknowledges is that there are two divergent philosophical models of scientific literacy. The first describes the…

This paper describes changing the way a business statistics course is taught through the use of just-in-time teaching methods. Implementing this method allowed for more time in the class to be spent focused on problem solving, resulting in students being able to handle more difficult problems. Students' perceptions of the just-in-time assignments…

What needs to be done to strengthen U.S. democracy, to make it work the way it should? Each generation of Americans asks some version of this question, but this book offers an answer that recognizes the heightened urgency and hopefulness in the way individuals are asking the question today. At the heart of the debate is a conviction that…

The purpose of this article is to describe research-based reading intervention within a Response-to-Intervention (RTI) model, using prevention science as a context. First, RTI is defined and a rationale is provided for its use in improving the reading performance of all students, particularly those students identified as at risk for…