The purpose of this article is to document a study where we problematized the notion of meaningful instruction in the context of problem-based learning for culturally and linguistically diverse students. We analyzed 32 lessons with independent measures of the levels of integration of multicultural content and culturally responsive teaching and…

Maximizing classroom time to include meaningful content-based learning with fun engaging activities that simultaneously challenge and encourage students is a hallmark of a successful school day. This article shares one instructional approach that does a model eliciting activity (MEA). A MEA is a real-world, problem-based scenario framed around a…

Design-based learning (DBL) is gaining increasing acceptance as a motivating and practical approach that can be used to prepare young people for the challenges of the twenty-first century. Emotions are known to influence a student's academic performance in traditional learning, which raises the question as to what role emotions can play in DBL.…

Ample research has identified several features of a learning experience likely to enhance student learning, including collaboration, open-ended exploration, and problem-based learning in real-life scenarios. Missing is a model of how instructors might combine these elements into a single project that works flexibly across disciplines and…

High school academic departments remain under-examined yet powerful entities in American high schools. High status department leaders create and sustain narratives around teaching and learning, disciplinary-specific best practices, and the overall efficacy and effectiveness of any number of school improvement policies and initiatives promoted by…

It has been widely acknowledged that learners of English as an additional or second language need to develop rich repertoires of digital literacies to be able to read, write, and communicate in digital spaces in English. However, finding appropriate approaches is challenging for many practitioners, and teaching digital literacies often focuses on…

As digital games become more integrated into education, striking a balance between technology and pedagogy is essential. This study investigates digital games as contexts for problem-based learning (PBL) to actively involve students in problem-solving in a Korean middle school. This study examined two cases (Social Studies and Science) where…

In this dissertation I explore the fugitive technology practices of Black high-schoolers in a tech-rich after-school makerspace. To do so, I invoke ontologies from two cyborgs to make sense of these Black teens' practices. First, James and Costa Vargas (2012) offer the Black Cyborg-- the rebel intellectual rejecting victimization through…

This paper sheds light on an intellectual dispute on the purpose of problem-based learning that took place in the 1970s between two major figures in the history of PBL: Howard S Barrows from McMaster University and Henk Schmidt from Maastricht University. Using historical evidence from archive materials, oral history accounts and contemporary…

Many educational institutions in higher education switched to problem-based learning (PBL) in the last 5 decades. Despite its' successful implementation worldwide, many institutions still encounter problems in their daily teaching practices that limit deep learning in students. This raises the question: How else can we look at PBL practice and…

Just as steam was found to be a source of power during the Industrial Revolution, increasing factory production and improving transportation, today STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) can be found to be a framework that empowers teachers, increases student engagement, and improves student understanding. Although a…

Proponents of problem-based learning suggest that learners should solve problems that are representative of the types of issues that practitioners face. However, this is challenging because novices lack the essential experiences that inform solutions. According to case-based reasoning, one way to overcome this gap is by providing a set of cases…

Background/purpose: This study investigated the effectiveness of Problem-Based Worksheets (PBWs) in improving conceptual understanding of logic gates. PBWs were designed with key characteristics that integrate authentic problem-solving, active student engagement, and conceptual scaffolding to support critical thinking processes. A total of 32…

Transitioning from K-12 to college poses significant challenges due to the shift from guided learning to self-directed engagement. Traditional pedagogies such as inquiry-based learning and flipped classrooms have not fully resolved issues like poor retention and low graduation rates in STEM fields, which are critical for economic growth and…

This study aims to reveal the effectiveness of the problem-based learning (PBL) model in teaching the concepts of heat, temperature and pressure, as well as the effect of the activities on the development of scientific process skills. For this purpose, the change in the academic achievement levels of the students constituting the sampling group…