The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA), located in Aurora Illinois, is a public, three-year residential high school for students who are academically talented in mathematics and/or science. The mission statement of IMSA is to "ignite and nurture creative, ethical, scientific minds that advance the human condition." This…

Background: In order to design appropriate environments for performance and learning of movement skills, physical educators need a sound theoretical model of the learner and of processes of learning. In physical education, this type of modelling informs the organisation of learning environments and effective and efficient use of practice time. An…

This paper describes two case studies where problem-based learning (PBL) has been introduced to undergraduate civil engineering students in University College Dublin. PBL has recently been put in place in the penultimate and final year transport engineering classes in the civil engineering degree in University College Dublin. In this case study,…

The goal of the two Power of Data (POD) projects was to increase science, technology and math skills through the implementation of project-based learning modules that teach students how to solve problems through data collection and analysis utilizing geospatial technologies. Professional development institutes in two formats were offered to…

A course in the Calculus sequence is arguably the most difficult course in which inquiry-based learning (IBL) can be achieved with any degree of success within the curriculum in part due to: (1) the plethora of majors taking Calculus to which the sequence relates to their majors in what is considered an "applied" manner; and (2) the…

In his book "Teaching Music in the Secondary Schools," Charles Hoffer reported a lack of consensus among music educators when considering the essential components of a middle-level general music course. Today, this condition persists. The increasingly diverse nature of students and schools makes a singular, model curriculum for middle-level…

In his book "Creating Significant Learning Experiences" (2003), Dee Fink challenges professors to create a deep vision for the courses they teach. Educators often have a vision for what their courses could be, but often lack a model for instituting change. Fink's book provides that model. In this article, the author describes how this model helped…

Given the problems associated with the traditional lecture method, the constraints associated with large classes, and the effectiveness of active learning, continued development and testing of efficient student-centered learning approaches are needed. This study explores the effectiveness of team-based learning (TBL) in a large-enrollment…

Action learning is a pedagogical practice that helps participants learn by talking about their workplace action with fellow participants ("comrades in adversity") in their action learning set. This paper raises questions about the action in action learning, such as: how do members of an action learning set learn from and through each other? How do…

The type and amount of student interaction with major socializing agents on campus--faculty and their peers--determine the impact of college on students. Much of the research on postsecondary education links the quality of peer interactions directly to student learning outcomes and satisfaction with the college experience, and Alexander Astin went…

The nature of IS technologies and the range of their appropriate and inappropriate uses continue to evolve and expand. MIS educational programs have a challenge to provide both the appropriate content to introduce students to classic information ethics problems, as well as the methods for analyzing possible actions within a complex realistic…

Students of exercise science are well positioned to facilitate a shift of the nation's attitude on health care from disease treatment to disease prevention. This report chronicles our efforts toward transforming the exercise physiology core course from a lecture-based, instructor-centered class to a student-centered environment in which…

This article presents results of utilizing a college course design that is based on experiential learning theory and experiential education methods. The subject matter of the course included how human dimensions, economic development, and policy affect the sustainability of natural resources such as water, wildlife, and forestry in a highly ranked…

Background: Problem-based learning (PBL) is a teaching approach working in cooperation with self-learning and involving research to solve real problems. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but that energy is conserved. Students had difficulty learning or misconceptions about this law. This study…

The purpose of this paper is to describe a Personal Learning Plan method used in undergraduate early childhood education courses as a specific case of learner-centered, inquiry-based instruction. A rationale for this approach to instruction, the instructional context in which the specific method was developed and used, the method framework (i.e.,…