Human anatomy and physiology?is?considered one of the most difficult courses a student can take in a pre-health professional major in the US (Slominski, et. al., 2017). Research has revealed benefits of the use of art and anatomy within medical education, including improved clinical observational skills, greater understanding of disease and…

This study investigated the causes of modifications on "Tradescantia zebrina" leaves due to environmental effects by inquiry-based and long-term observations. These observations started with restricted face-to-face education at school during the COVID-19 and continued under the teacher's guidance in distance education. All the study…

The primary purpose of this paper is to describe the variety of active engagements that characterize student behaviors in active learning classrooms (ALCs) across an undergraduate degree program. The number of different engagement types observed during a single class meeting varied between two and eight across 23 different courses. Three forms of…

Theoretically, organisational culture, instructor training, and learning space design influence how faculty teach STEM courses. Previous studies have used classroom observation protocols to characterise the range of teaching practices in mostly teacher-centered, traditional STEM classrooms. In this study, we examined the classroom behaviour of 13…

This study presents the case of development and evaluation of a STEM-oriented 30-h robotics course for junior high school students (n = 32). Class activities were designed according to the P3 Task Taxonomy, which included: (1) practice-basic closed-ended tasks and exercises; (2) problem solving--small-scale open-ended assignments in which the…

How can an engineer design a bird feeder that attracts many birds? This question resulted from kindergarten students' observations of the bird feeders in their school's bird sanctuary. The challenging question is the heart of project-based learning (PBL), a teaching strategy in which students tackle real-world problems and design projects to solve…

Active learning with clickers is a common approach in high-enrollment, lecture-based courses in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In this study, we describe the procedures that faculty at one institution used when implementing clicker-based active learning, and how they situated these activities in their class sessions. Using a…

While attempting to provide real world experiences in STEM, educators face numerous challenges including adhering to curriculum requirements and working with potentially limited resources. The purpose of this action research study was to examine how the addition of authentic learning modules to the existing University of Arizona Middle School…

Recent evidence for the effectiveness of active learning interventions has led educators to advocate for widespread adoption of active learning in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses. Active learning interventions implement technology and collaboration to engage students actively with the content. Yet, it is…

This classroom-based investigation sought to document how, in real time, STEM teachers and students attempt to locate the invariant mathematical relations that are threaded through the range of activities and representations in these classes, and how highlighting this common thread influences student participation and learning. The authors…

Objective: In this study, we investigated the implementation of project-based learning (PBL) activities in four secondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education settings to examine the impact of inquiry based instructional practices on student learning. Method: Direct classroom observations were conducted during the…

This article describes a visual approach to integrating observational data into self-evaluation and peer review of teaching, practices that can lead to adoption of evidence-based active-learning strategies in STEM. This approach was designed to be implemented for undergraduate courses across disciplines. The presentation of observational data in a…

The Scientist in the Classroom Partnership (SCP) is a unique, long-term program that partners STEM fellows with K-12 teachers. The SCP was adapted from the original NSF GK-12 model, with fellows and teachers working in the summer and academic year to build their partnership and design and coteach inquiry-based STEM curricula. The current study is…

Background: Barriers to reforming traditional lecture-based undergraduate STEM classes are numerous and include time constraints, lack of training, and instructor's beliefs about teaching and learning. This case study documents the use of a situated instructional coaching process as a method of faculty professional development. In this model, a…

Teaching is a complex activity that requires making ongoing multiple decisions and sporadic, responsive actions all while performing preplanned prescribed tasks. Evidence of certain aspects of teaching can be best assessed with a well-designed observation instrument. This instrument was designed to assess the enactment of the essential elements of…