Physics teachers are most effective when their students are active learners who think and participate in every class. This extends beyond the classroom too: ideally, students would tackle challenging questions and exercises after every class--not just before the exam or the night before the weekly homework is due. Just-in-Time-Teaching was…

The cognitive apprenticeship approach has been applied in a good deal of conceptual, quantitative and qualitative studies in various settings including technology integration. It has proved successful in promoting student's higher order thinking skills as well as in shaping the social interactions between teachers and students to goal-oriented…

In this work I argue that the lack of training in analytical and critical thinking imposes important constrains on students' understanding of academic written material, as well as on the quality of their writing. I claim that the body of cognitive tasks that pupils are asked to perform in school constitutes a profession--"pupilcy". Some examples…

In her recent work, Green (2001; 2008) builds on the idea that there is a gulf between "real-world music" and classroom music (Ibid., p. 2). One of her main goals seems to be to pave the way for the former in the latter: to make the music in schools more in touch with reality. The learning practices of popular music are taken to bring the needed…

This paper presents a new pedagogical method for nodal analysis optimization based on the use of virtual current sources, applicable to any linear electric circuit (LEC), regardless of its complexity. The proposed method leads to straightforward solutions, mostly arrived at by inspection. Furthermore, the method is easily adapted to computer…

A simple spreadsheet program is presented that can be used by undergraduate students to calculate the lattice-site distributions in solids. A major strength of the method is the natural way in which the correct number of ions or atoms are present, or absent, at specific lattice distances. The expanding-cube method utilized is straightforward to…

This paper focuses on the potential of mental simulation (mentally rehearsing an action to enhance performance) as a useful contemporary educational method. By means of a meta-review, it is examined which conditions impede or facilitate the effectiveness of mental simulation (MS). A computer search was conducted using Ovid PsycINFO. Reviews,…

Utility companies generate three-phase electric power, which consists of three sinusoidal voltages with phase angles of 0 degrees, 120 degrees, and 240 degrees. The ac generators described in most introductory textbooks are single-phase generators, so physics students are not likely to learn about three-phase power. I have developed a simple way…

The television show Deal or No Deal and an Excel spreadsheet help students see how understanding probability and mean--and the concept of expected value (EV)--can lead to game show wins.

The purpose of this study was to test a model in which technology integration of pre-service teachers was predicted by a number of university-based and school-based factors. Initially, factors affecting technology integration were identified, and a research-based path model was developed to explain causal relationships between these factors. The…

Use of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in school classrooms and conference rooms is increasing. To evaluate the effectiveness of IWBs as a tool for Extension education, two groups of 3rd and 4th grade Minnesota students (n=325) were taught nutrition using traditional methods or IWBs. Significant increases in knowledge and behavior were observed in…

There is a growing interest in the use of simulations and games in Dutch higher education. This development is based on the perception that students belong to the "gamer generation" or "net generation": a generation that has grown up with computer games and other technology affecting their preferred learning styles, social…

It's no secret that fewer and fewer women are entering computer science fields. Attracting high school girls to computer science is only part of the solution. Retaining them while they are in higher education or the workforce is also a challenge. To solve this, there is a need to show girls that computer science is a wide-open field that offers…

The goal of this study is to gain a detailed understanding of the experience of instructors who have been using Tablet PCs (TPCs) for their teaching practice. The study examines the lived experience of 28 faculty members from a College of Engineering which is promoting the diffusion of TPCs in the classroom. Phenomenology was adopted to answer the…

This study investigated the educational benefits of system-based lecture notes and interactive learning objects in a peripheral nervous system component of a traditional first-year medical school human anatomy course. The impetus for the investigation was anecdotal evidence suggesting enhanced learner satisfaction with the learning resources.…