Recently, our course team transformed a large-enrollment introductory genetics course from being predominantly lecture based to active learning based. During class sessions, students engaged in problem solving, which occurs when a student attempts to solve a problem without knowing the path to complete it. We designed class activities…

Supporting student participation and learning in STEM involves motivating students to engage in the most effective learning activities. In this article, we study how student motivation interacts with learning activities, and we pay special attention to active learning and the Scandinavian context where participation in learning activities is…

Educators, including library professionals are fortunate to have access to multiple educational Apps, virtual learning environments, and smartphones. However, during numerous Information Literacy sessions at Manchester Metropolitan University, the authors have continued to witness the value of paper-based activities. In this case study, we will…

Although students rely on social solidarity in their everyday lives, they generally fail to acknowledge its existence. An active learning class exercise, conducted within approximately 35 minutes, introduces sociology students to Emile Durkheim's concept of solidarity and the distinction between its mechanical and organic forms. Some groups of…

This paper discusses the implementation of exemplar essays within an undergraduate first-year diagnostic radiography module to encourage active learning and the development of academic literacies. Nine essays ([approximately]400 words each) were provided over six sessions, using lecturer-guided discussion to explore the academic virtues and…

Several studies have highlighted the positive effects that active learning may have on student engagement and performance. However, the influence of active learning strategies is mediated by several factors, including the nature of the learning environment and the cognitive level of in-class tasks. These factors can affect different dimensions of…

How can Latin American students learn more effectively how different governments address similar public problems? This region shares similarities in terms of culture and history. However, Latin American students study only their public policies and public administration based on the notion that each administrative system has its own…

Worked examples can help novice learners develop early schemata from an expert's solution to a problem. Nonetheless, the worked examples themselves are no guarantee that students will explore these experts' solutions effectively. This study explores two different approaches to supporting engineering technology students' learning in an…

This article describes an interactive activity for the first week of an undergraduate Strategic Management (SM) or Business Policy and Strategy (BPS) course. This activity is designed to foster student engagement, which is critical to both the teaching of theory and the practice of strategy while reinforcing course learning objectives regarding…

During the global COVID-19 pandemic, instructors strove to facilitate student learning, engagement, and community in an unfamiliar environment, while students adapted to a college experience that differed from their expectations. This context provided the opportunity to identify factors that increased undergraduates' sense of belonging in remote…

In the information age, the acquisition of data literacy skills has become increasingly important for undergraduate student success, yet these skills are not emphasized in the lecture setting. Here we present a study to inspire educators to scaffold graph knowledge and interpretation into their classrooms. Specifically, we sought to understand how…

Active learning approaches to biology teaching, including simulation-based activities, are known to enhance student learning, especially of higher-order skills; nonetheless, there are still many open questions about what features of an activity promote optimal learning. Here we designed three versions of a simulation-based tutorial called…

This study presents a monocular approach for capturing students' prototyping activities and interactions in digital-fabrication-based makerspaces. The proposed method uses images from a single camera and applies object reidentification, tracking, and depth estimation algorithms to track and uniquely label participants in the space, extracting both…

Active learning, including student thinking and discussion in class, has been shown to increase student learning gains. However, it is less clear how instructor-level variation in the implementation and timing of active learning activities affects student gains. Our study aims to investigate the extent to which the time spent on individual…

Challenge Statement: Laboratory classes are indispensable in the teaching of biomedical engineering education, offering students invaluable hands-on experience and opportunities for practical application of theoretical knowledge. However, without a deep understanding of the underlying principles, students may find themselves merely going through…