This article explores the outcomes of using community-engaged learning in a sustainability-focused social sciences research course titled Methods of Social Research. The integrated components of the course were designed to teach students about the research process while addressing sustainability issues at Utah State University. Throughout the…

There is a paucity of empirical research on teaching mixed methods. To fill this gap in literature, this convergent mixed methods study explores the effectiveness of using active learning approaches in teaching a mixed methods course. The qualitative data, including 10 individual interviews, 29 students' reflections, and 26 teaching evaluation…

Higher education is beginning to focus on how to effectively cultivate IoT engineers who possess both hard skills and soft skills. Therefore, from the perspective of activity theory and combining it with project-based learning, this study constructed a project-based learning framework based on activity theory and applied this framework to an IoT…

Teachers in contemporary elementary classrooms are adopting diverse teaching strategies to encourage learners' motivation and engagement. This study aimed to identify ways of enhancing students' motivation and engagement in religious education classes at elementary levels. The study employed a systematic review design, utilising an online search…

Drawing is a teaching tool that provides numerous benefits to student learning, including enhanced knowledge retention, improved observation skills, and increased engagement with course content. However, these exercises also place high cognitive demands on students and require a considerable time commitment. To acknowledge and celebrate the effort…

Impacts of incorporating active learning pedagogies into a lecture-based course were examined among 266 students across nine research methods course sections taught by one instructor at a large public university. Pedagogies evaluated include lecture only, lecture with small group discussions, and lecture with simulations. Although…

Flipped classrooms are gaining popularity, especially in psychology statistics courses. However, not all courses lend themselves to a fully flipped design, and some instructors might not want to commit to flipping every class. We tested the effectiveness of flipping just one component (a module on junk science) of a large methods course. We…

This article describes a general education course offering, Physics and the Arts. During the development of this course, physics and arts faculty collaborated closely. We cover the usual physics phenomena for such a course--light, color, and sound--in addition to gravity, equilibrium, and spacetime. Goals of the course are to increase students'…

In response to increasing homelessness in our city, Seattle Pacific University invited a homeless encampment (Tent City) to reside on our university campus for three months. This provided an opportunity to engage students on issues of poverty and inequality. Building from a service-learning model, we devised course work around homelessness and…

Despite years of research on effective teaching suggesting that learners must engage actively in the process and that teachers should vary their instructional strategies, direct instruction using lecture continues to dominate in America's college classrooms. The author reviews selected studies focusing on effective instructional practices and…

Student preparation for class is an integral part of the college learning experience. In order to incentivize student preparation outside class, professors have employed such techniques as reflection papers, quizzes, and group discussion, to name but a few. This article explores the benefits of using a technique known as "course preparation…

The creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) is promoting a change toward a new model of education focused on the student. It is impelling methodological innovation processes in many European universities, leading more teachers to apply methods based on active and cooperative learning in their classrooms. However, the successful…

To complement traditional learning activities in a masters-level research methodology course, social work students worked on a formal research project which involved: designing the study, constructing measures, selecting a sampling strategy, collecting data, reducing and analyzing data, and finally interpreting and communicating the results. The…

In this paper, we discuss ways collaborative research groups can be used and what students appear to learn about social science reasoning and quantitative literacy from such groups. Data are from field observations, pre- and post-semester surveys in both collaborative and traditional courses, end of the semester student comments, and student work…