An experiment in chemical kinetics as part of our Discovery Chemistry curriculum is described. Discovery Chemistry is a pedagogical philosophy that makes the laboratory the key center of learning for students in their first two years of undergraduate instruction. Questions are posed in the pre-laboratory discussion and assessed using pooled…

This report describes a biochemistry laboratory that is completely project-oriented. Upper-level biology and chemistry majors work in teams to purify a protein of their choice. After the student groups have completed literature searches, ordered reagents, and made buffers they continue to learn basic protein purification and biochemical techniques…

An easily-implemented instructional innovation that improved reading comprehension for students including striving readers, average readers, and advanced readers is described in this article. START (Students and Teachers Actively Reading Text) was developed to improve reading comprehension instruction and achievement. This innovative instructional…

University instructors are increasingly drawing on active learning exercises to engender critical thinking skills among students. In this article, we introduce the design and implementation of an active learning exercise about mobility and transportation that we assigned in an introductory human geography class at the University of Georgia. The…

Based on survey data from 1222 undergraduate students studying at UK higher education institutions, this article addresses students' engagement with the internet as a source of academic information for their studies. In particular the article explores how academic use of the internet is patterned by a range of potential influences such as…

Two Chicano Studies professors share their pedagogy training preservice teachers in a course on the educational experiences of Latino youth. We describe our classroom practices based on a critical care framework. This framework moves student teachers beyond a superficial form of caring to a critically engaged relationship with students and their…

Companies are beginning to realize that simply storing data in warehouses and databases is not sufficient to ensure the usefulness of that data or information. As information is processed with a purpose (Ackoff & Emery, 1972), it becomes knowledge. Knowledge exists on many planes; one is the tacit-explicit plane described by Polanyi (1966).…

The latest contribution to the content standards boom that began in the 1990s comes from the American Psychological Association (APA), which recently published "National Standards for the Teaching of High School Psychology." This Digest discusses: (1) the origin and purposes of the project to develop standards for high school psychology…

This study investigates the case-based learning experience of 133 undergraduate veterinarian science students. Using qualitative methodologies from relational Student Learning Research, variation in the quality of the learning experience was identified, ranging from coherent, deep, quality experiences of the cases, to experiences that separated…

You've probably heard the terms "active" or "engaged" learning at your college. If you haven't encountered them yet, beware. Worry especially if you teach at a big university with large classes. The terms translate into the following command for professors: it is your responsibility to pioneer new techniques that can "make large classes seem…

American Institutes for Research (AIR) conducted an external evaluation of Vermont's Ed-Tech Program from January 2010-June 2011. The purpose of the evaluation was to provide feedback on the implementation and outcomes of the competitive grant programs that were active during this time. The findings of the evaluation are intended to help VTDOE…

The model of learning best suited to the future may be one which sees learning as the process of managing the different kinds of participation an individual might have in complex social systems. Learning capability and engagement is thus dependent on the relationship between an individual identity and social systems. We report on the incorporation…

The rapid growth in online and virtual learning opportunities has created culturally diverse classes and corporate training sessions. Instruction for these learning opportunities must adjust to meet participant needs. "Online Course Management: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications" is a comprehensive reference source for the…

This paper examines whether a single first-year inquiry-based seminar can have a lasting impact on students' academic skills. Fifty-four Inquiry students and 71 comparable students participated in three performance tests: a research skills exercise; an evaluation of oral presentation ability; and a test of critical reasoning and teamwork skills.…

The author of this paper posits that inquiry-based learning (IBL) enacted via a modified Moore method (MMM) is a content-driven pedagogy; as such it is content-centred not instructor-centred or student-centred. The MMM is a philosophy of education where student must master material by doing; not simply discussing, reading, or seeing it and that…