The coronavirus pandemic of 2019 transformed the way that educators, across all levels and disciplines, seek to establish and provide a pedagogically sound curriculum. With the continued need to transform curriculum into an online format, secondary-level animal science instructors have several points to consider if their applied discipline will…

We implemented two different approaches of using peer review to support undergraduate essay assignments for students taking large second-year courses in life sciences and biology: a web-based online peer review (OPR) approach and a more traditional face-to-face peer review (FPR) approach that was conducted in tutorial settings. The essays…

New literacies have many functions in schools and learning, but science and mathematics education are among the contexts where their full potential has yet to be explored. This book both illustrates and critically analyzes the practice of blogging and its possibilities for fostering different ways of communicating, interacting, learning, and…

The "cyberinfrastucture" is a broad informational network that entails connections to real-time data sensors as well as tools that permit visualization and other forms of analysis, and that facilitates access to vast scientific databases. This multifaceted network, already a major boon to scientific discovery, now shows exceptional promise in…

Microblogging is one of the latest Web 2.0 technologies. The key elements are online communication using 140 characters and the fact that it involves "following" anyone. There has been a great deal of excitement about this in recent months. This paper reports on a research study that was carried out on the use of a microblogging platform…

This study was designed as a confirmatory study of work on "productive failure" (Kapur, "Cognition and Instruction," 26(3), 379-424, 2008). N = 177, 11th-grade science students were randomly assigned to solve either well- or ill-structured problems in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment without the provision of any…

The present article reports on the results of a three-year German-wide program Biology in Context ("bik"). In this program teachers and researchers worked together in 10 learning communities with the goal of enhancing the quality of teaching and learning in biology classrooms as mandated by the recently passed National Educational…

Given the challenges facing higher education in the fast-changing educational and social environment, what can be learned from an instructor who has braved the rapidly changing stream of technologies and has subsequently developed a personal and productive approach to using emerging technologies to teach better and farther? What aspects of…

This paper investigates the use of online technologies to extend the learning of a group of junior secondary school students after attending a Sun, Science, and Society camp. The students were of mixed ages and came from metropolitan and rural schools. Their teachers described them as students of high ability or students interested in science who…

The development of inquiry and project-based materials is challenging in many ways, not the least of which is the design of supports for teachers implementing such materials. We report on the design of educative and just-in-time teacher supports for an online project-based unit in ocean science. The teacher supports were visible as tabs on the…

Engaging students in science learning can be challenging, and incorporating new forms of technology into science has been shown to provide creative learning experiences. However most technology enhanced learning and e-Science experiences to date have been designed and run by researchers. There is significant challenge in moving these experiences…

Learning communities gained attention in 1984 after the publication of the "Involvement in Learning" report, which was sponsored by the U.S. Education Department. The authors of the report stated that active engagement in learning processes enhances learning and leads to two fundamental principles: (1) The amount of student learning and personal…

Discusses the issues involved in creating an Internet-based chemistry class, including presentation of material, testing, lab work, and administrative support. (WRM)

Describes the advantages of using a World Wide Web-based discussion board as the organizational center for a college chemistry course. Discusses implementation of the "ChemBoard" at Hope College in Michigan and student reactions to the innovation. (WRM)

Discusses possibilities for the application of telepresence to physics and teaching. Telepresence allows a computer user to effectively be present at some other location through the use of remote cameras, sensors, and controls. (WRM)