Although service learning provides unparalleled real world experiential student learning opportunities and benefits to four major constituencies--student, faculty, community and institution, it takes place in an uncontrolled environment introducing uncertainty into the instructional process. Faculty might avoid this valuable approach to…

Regardless of the course topic, every instructor in a computing field endeavors to engage their students in deep problem-solving and critical thinking. One of the specific learning outcomes throughout our computer science curriculum is the development of independent, capable problem solving--and we believe good pedagogy can bring such about. Our…

This study proposed a novel instructional approach, a two-stage LED simulation of Project-based learning (PBL) course with online peer assessment (OPA), and explored how to apply OPA to the different structured problems in a PBL course to enhance students' professional skills in LED design as well as meta-cognitive thinking. The participants of…

This paper describes research on the use of journals in a general education chemistry course for elementary education majors. In the journals, students describe their understanding of a topic, the development of that understanding, and how the topic connects to their lives. In the process, they are able to engage in reflection about several…

Problem-solving activities let students use knowledge gained in various areas of their academic education. They bring together skills and knowledge from such areas as science, math, art, and English by simulating activities and projects students will encounter later in career and life experiences. A very important feature of most problem-solving…

The purpose of the "Identity Pole" was to explore the big idea of identity. Students would confront issues of personal and cultural meaning, and draw upon interdisciplinary connections for inspiration. The author chose to present totem poles of the Northwest Coast Native Americans/First Nations of Canada, as well as school, state and national…

Using an apparently simple problem, ''Design a cylindrical can that will hold a liter of milk,'' this paper demonstrates how engineering design may facilitate the teaching of the following ideas to secondary students: linear and non-linear relationships; basic geometry of circles, rectangles, and cylinders; unit measures of area and volume;…

There are many types of inquiry activities out there: Demonstrations, guided or scaffolded inquiry labs, open- or free-inquiry labs, and problem-based or project-based learning activities are all staples in science education. The importance of inquiry is highlighted in such documents as the National Science Education Standards (NRC 1996) and the…

Customers determine whether a product fulfills their needs or satisfies them. "Quality control", then, is the process of finding out what the customer wants, along with designing, producing, delivering, and servicing the product--and ultimately satisfying the customer's expectations. For many years, people considered a product to be of good…

The focus of this article is to present students' perceptions of the recently developed A3 method, a structured problem-solving approach based on lean concepts and tools that have been adapted to the health care environment. The students were all employees of a large health care provider and were enrolled in a customized health care executive MBA…

This paper enlarges the reservoir of solved tutor problems in non-holonomic mechanics at the undergraduate level of physics education. Unlike other, rather artificial, solved problems typically used, the streetboard-rider locomotion problem presented here represents an appealing contemporary real-world problem with interesting applications in a…

Surveys that focused on academic and life skill development were collected from alumni who attended Avalon Charter School in St Paul, Minnesota. Avalon is a small public charter school that uses project-based learning as their primary teaching method. Forty-two alumni responded to the online survey. Students ranked life skills such as creativity,…

A3 Thinking is fundamental to Toyota's benchmark management philosophy and to their lean production system. It is used to solve problems, gain agreement, mentor team members, and lead organizational improvements. A structured problem-solving approach, A3 Thinking builds improvement opportunities through experience. We used "The Toyota…

One goal of 21st-century education is to develop mature citizens who can identify issues, solve problems, and communicate solutions. What better way for students to learn these skills than by participating in a science and engineering fair? Fair participants face the same challenges as professional scientists and engineers, even Nobel laureates.…

In France, project activities figure predominantly in technology education. The general idea behind learning based on project activity is to allow the pupil to get involved in the activity in question, with the pupil tackling real situations rather than ones of an abstract nature. But too often, we notice that the pedagogical strategies used by…