This document sets out a novel teaching methodology as used in subjects with statistical content, traditionally regarded by students as "difficult". In a virtual learning environment, instructional techniques little used in mathematical courses were employed, such as the Jigsaw cooperative learning method, which had to be adapted to the…

In the 2007 report, "Maximizing the Impact: The Pivotal Role of Technology in a 21st Century Education System," a task force of leading employers, education technology advocates, and educators concluded that schools were barely using technology, much less developing the tech skills needed of those entering the workplace. The report was a loud,…

Logistic growth displays an interesting pattern: It starts fast, exhibiting the rapid growth characteristic of exponential models. As time passes, it slows in response to constraints such as limited resources or reallocation of energy. The growth continues to slow until it reaches a limit, called capacity. When the growth describes a population,…

Faced with meager enrollment in band, orchestra, and choir programs, schools are using digital technology to excite students about creating music on today's terms. This article discusses how music educators reinvent their profession by acknowledging and incorporating the way students interact with music today--digitally. Bill Evans, a music…

The large number of experimentally determined molecular structures has led to the development of a new semiotic system in the life sciences, with increasing use of accurate molecular representations. To determine how this change impacts students' learning, we incorporated image tests into our introductory cell biology course. Groups of students…

A cloud network system is combined with standard computing applications and a course management system to provide a robust method for sharing data among students. This system provides a unique method to improve data analysis by easily increasing the amount of sampled data available for analysis. The data can be shared within one course as well as…

Getting students to learn new technology skills can be a challenge. After all, they know everything about computers and the Internet, right? Ninth grade students in Mrs. Aszklar's Digital Media Tools ("Digitools") class at Spanaway Junior High in Washington state quickly discovered they might not know as much as they thought. From…

This paper aims to discuss the changing roles and competencies of a teacher in context of prevailing developments accomplished by the vast availability of social software, which have made easy the development of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs). This has been accomplished by an in-depth review of the literature on teacher's socially situated…

Students acquire knowledge and skills through different modes of instruction that include classroom lectures with textbooks, computers, and the like. The availability and choice of learning innovation depends on the individual's access to technologies and on the infrastructure environment of the surrounding community. In this rapidly changing…

In the wild river region of northeastern Wisconsin, the Menominee people conserved a portion of their ancient homelands now known as the Menominee Indian Reservation. The Menominee are nationally known for their majestic forests. The Wolf River flows southward for more than 200 miles from its headwaters in Pine Lake to Lake Poygan near the city of…

Teachers are using technological innovations--including interactive whiteboards--in pre-K-grade 3 classrooms across the country. An IWB is a wall-mounted, touch-sensitive flat screen. When connected to a computer (or another electronic device) and a projector, it displays enlarged instructional content (such as a math word problem, pictures or…

Views about the role of Facebook and other social networking sites in education are extremely varied. Facebook threatens academic success and yet "certain kinds of Facebook use" can support study; indeed, Facebooking students may perform better than their unwired peers (Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe 2007). Facebook is emphatically a…

Inquiry-based instruction has become a hallmark of science education and increasingly of integrated content areas, including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Because inquiry-based instruction very clearly contains surface, deep, and implicit structures as well as engages students to think and act like scientists,…

Computer science core instruction attempts to provide a detailed understanding of dynamic processes such as the working of an algorithm or the flow of information between computing entities. Such dynamic processes are not well explained by static media such as text and images, and are difficult to convey in lecture. The authors survey the history…

In this paper, the authors present some of the most important lessons they have learned from teaching courses, conducting workshops, writing articles, and supervising graduate student research on the educational uses of digital storytelling. The guidelines described here are categorized within the ADDIE instructional design framework and are…