Understanding how the periodic table of elements is organized and how to read information from it is fundamental for understanding chemistry. Introductory chemistry courses usually include discussions detailing what elemental information can be determined by virtue of its position on the periodic table. Although many people have been exposed to…

The English National Curriculum Programmes of Study emphasise the importance of knowledge, understanding and skills, and teachers are well versed in structuring learning in those terms. Research outcomes into how long-term memory is stored and retrieved provide support for structuring learning in this way. Four further messages are added to the…

Creativity can be applied to every domain of knowledge and must be seen as an important competence. Supporting social creativity across different domains and disciplines in learning communities is an important part of collaborative process in both university education and in the context of large-scale international projects. In this paper, we…

This paper discusses what chemistry students might see while working with animations found on the Internet and how these electronic illustrations can potentially interact to reinforce rather than resolve misconceptions about chemical principles that a student may possess. The Daniell voltaic cell serves as an example to illustrate the ways in…

"Art practice as research" casts artmaking as inquiry--as a particularly experiential and constructivist process of learning in which imaginative synthesis and creative image making are ways of constructing knowledge. This article explores how artmaking functions as research through the creation of visual images, especially images that picture…

"Mental modeling" refers to a student's ability to visualize or comprehend the information research process. This article reviews 50 years of changing conceptions of how we learn: behaviorist, cognitivist, and constructivist perspective; describes the application of three "mental models" to interactive technology; and discusses…

This work presents a unique education resource for both process engineering students and the industry workforce. The learning environment is based around spherical imagery of real operating plants coupled with interactive embedded activities and content. This Virtual Reality (VR) learning tool has been developed by applying aspects of relevant…

Applies principles of constructivism and virtual reality (VR) to computer-aided design (CAD) curriculum, particularly engineering, by integrating network, VR and CAD technologies into a Web-based learning environment that expands traditional two-dimensional computer graphics into a three-dimensional real-time simulation that enhances user…