Liberating Structures (LS) provide a user-friendly toolkit to shift group power dynamics and allow all stakeholders to contribute. We explored the novel use of LS in soil health extension to conduct high-engagement events with diverse stakeholders. Our goals were to promote social learning, networking, and to encourage innovation. Soil health…

Recent studies have shown that sorting tasks are a useful tool both for measuring and aiding student learning as well as facilitating the transfer of knowledge to novel contexts. These tasks require students to categorize scenarios or information in new ways that facilitate connection making and deeper understanding. As such, sorting tasks…

Civics education shouldn't be confined to dusty textbooks, as evidenced by this assortment of projects. In one unit, elementary students play out the presidential election--from campaigning to inauguration day--using the Storypath approach. In another project, 5th graders explore the controversy about Confederate monuments by studying a local…

Educational approaches in structural engineering have focused on classical methods for solving problems with manual calculations through assignments, quizzes, and exams. The use of computational software to apply the learned knowledge has been ignored for decades. This paper describes an educational approach to tackle the lack of applicable…

Preclass reading quizzes (RQs) have been shown to enhance student performance. Many instructors implementing evidence-based teaching assign preclass RQs to ensure their students are prepared to engage in class activities. Textbook companies now offer a gamified, adaptive-learning RQ format. In these RQs, students answer point-valued questions…

We demonstrate that a particular blended learning space is especially productive in developing understanding of energy transfers and transformations. In this blended space, naturally occurring learner interactions like body movement, gesture, and metaphorical speech are blended with a conceptual metaphor of energy as a substance in a class of…

Project-Based Learning (PBL) connects standards-based content to real-world scenarios through the use of projects to improve student achievement. By engaging students in authentic problems that do not have a predetermined solution, students learn both subject matter and critical 21st-century skills. This "Focus On" addresses what…

Biochemistry courses at Seattle University have been taught exclusively using process oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) without any traditional lecture component since 1997. In these courses, students participate in a structured learning environment, which includes a preparatory assignment, an in-class activity, and a follow-up skill…