This study is a collaborative project between university researchers and museum practitioners investigating ways to advance STEM learning opportunities for young children and their families in museums. The focus of the work is on how the knowledge resources that are available to families (e.g., prior knowledge, information provided by the museum…

In recent years, accreditation standards for international engineering education have led to a dramatic rise in the use of outcome-based education at universities. In this system, enticing new undergraduate students to science and engineering, although challenging, is the first important step toward building students' career competencies. An…

Tzur and Simon (2004) postulated two stages of concept development, participatory and anticipatory. The distinction between the two stages was exemplified by what they termed "the next-day phenomenon" in which learners who could solve a task one day in the context of the activity through which they made the abstraction, could not solve…

The study examines two years of an educational program for children aged three to four, based on the use of digital cameras. It assesses the program's effects on the children and adults involved in the project, and explores how they help the youngsters acquire visual literacy. Operating under the assumption that formal curricula usually…

University programs are currently faced with a number of challenges: how to engage students as active learners, how to ensure graduates are "work ready" with broad and relevant professional skills, and how to support students to see their potential as agents of social change and contributors to social good. This paper presents the…

A Virtual Resource Center (VRC) has been brought into use since 2008 as an integral part of a task-based language teaching and learning program for Business English courses at Nantes University, France. The objective of the center is to enable students to work autonomously and individually on their language problems so as to improve their language…

Civic engagement has become an essential learning goal for institutions throughout higher education. Communication scholars employ various pedagogical tools to foster civic engagement. For instance, service learning has been shown to increase political and community engagement in courses such as family communication and public relations. Teachers…

Multi-school and multi-country programs greatly enhance leadership development and global awareness in students and teachers, while creating better problem solvers, stronger relationships, and wider community impact than any single-school program. That's why Global Youth Leadership Institute (GYLI) and National Association of Independent Schools…

Presented is an interview concerning development and implementation of the Unified Sciences and Mathematics for Elementary Schools (USMES) project, which has developed an interdisciplinary problem-solving curriculum for elementary students. (Author)

An inner city school solved its attendance problem by developing special attendance teams that helped promote plans of positive action to prevent children from becoming chronic absentees and potential dropouts. (Author/RK)

This paper describes a creative approach for training counselor and counselor educators that provides collaborative interactions among students and faculty in several university training programs. Structured around a problem-solving activity and self-reflection questionnaires, undergraduate teachers-in-training were given an opportunity to receive…

This article, a revision of a paper presented at the West Virginia Statewide Bicentennial Conference last summer, discusses the problems of youth--in school and at work. These are of the first order in today's America. The author presents a kind of solution and pays his respects to the constraints. (Editor)

Samples of materials available to students from grades 4 through 12 at a Mathematics Center are reviewed. The examples are part of a collection of more than 200 mathematical tasks using solid materials in a new approach to problem solving. (MP)

This report describes a 2-semester interdepartmental sequence which is one phase of an innovative 5-year program leading to a bachelor's degree and certification as a teacher of industrial education. During this first phase, the prospective teacher is expected to gain understandings, build attitudes, and develop special abilities needed as a…

A sequence of activities is presented that has been used to explore powers of numbers and patterns with middle school students. Experiences with use of this sequence are noted. The material is designed to serve three instructional purposes, which are noted at the conclusion. (MP)