Presents a course designed to effectively utilize active learning techniques to accent a more traditional style of presenting scientific information. Uses research-based principles and techniques to facilitate active learning. (SAH)

Examines practice play, symbolic play, games with rules, and constructions and their relation to Piaget's active education, the intentional social process of constructing understanding involving interest, experimentation, and cooperation within the play context. Recommendations for identifying the type of knowledge being constructed (physical,…

Recent research suggests that thinking of learning as an activity of the brain will lead to greater understanding of how and why students learn and how faculty can better facilitate learning. Discusses: genetic contributions; epigenetic growth; the synapse; stabilizing synapses; pedagogy; the role of emotions; kinds of learning; active learning;…

Introduces an activity on the rock cycle. Sets 11 stages representing the transitions of an earth material in the rock cycle. Builds six-sided die for each station, and students move to the stations depending on the rolling side of the die. Evaluates students by discussing several questions in the classroom. Provides instructional information for…

Describes a card game that illustrates natural selection acting on random mutations with or without cumulative selection. (YDS)

Claims that oral communication across the curriculum (OCXC) offers unique pedagogical advantages in three areas: (1) active learning; (2) discipline-specific application of communication; and (3) continued instruction and practice throughout college for non-communication majors. Provides a guide for administrators and faculty in developing OCXC…

Surveys at a university in Hong Kong indicated that graduates of discrete part-time programmes perceived significantly higher development in eight out of nine graduate capabilities than their counterparts in full-time programmes. Several possible explanations are considered and rejected. The conventional view that capabilities are nurtured through…

Students find difficulty in learning linear algebra because of the abstraction and formalism associated with concepts such as vector space, linear independence, rank and invertible matrices. Learning the necessary procedures becomes insufficient, and imitating worked examples does not guarantee the maturity level necessary for understanding these…

This paper explores the use of the educational pilgrimage as an active learning strategy in the introductory world religions course. As we study pilgrimages from different religious traditions throughout the semester using Victor Turner as our theoretical guide, students also plan their own campus pilgrimage, paying homage to sites that help them…

This article responds to the exponential growth in academic textbooks on Western or American Buddhism by arguing that popular trade books written by Buddhist teachers in the West make more effective tools for teaching and learning about the growth of Buddhism in western societies. The use of such texts in the classroom provides students with…

This paper examines how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can potentially capture a student's imagination, facilitate active learning, and create a state of "flow" in geography classrooms. The paper is organised in four sections. First, the author provides a condensed overview to the major tenets of "FlowTheory." Second, a short discussion…

This paper proposes a practical framework for key skills that can be used or adapted for use in any discipline at university level. The paper begins by reviewing the arguments for and against integrating key skills into higher education. Although the skills agenda has been widely criticised on several fronts, this paper argues that key skills need…

Written comments on student evaluations often seem idiosyncratic, lacking the power of numerical statistical data. These statements, however, may sometimes reveal intellectual challenges common to novice learners in our disciplines. Instructors can use these insights as part of a scholarly approach to teaching, making meaningful adjustments to…

This article describes a language simulation involving six distinct phases: an in-class quick response, a card game, individual research, a classroom debate, a debriefing session, and an argumentative essay. An analysis of student artifacts--quick-response writings and final essays, respectively, both addressing the definition of liberty in a…

In this study of peer instructors in three Learning in Retirement Programs, the constructivist elements embedded in Mezirow's theory of transformational learning are examined at the theoretical intersections of transformational learning and developmental constructivism, specifically the work of Robert Kegan, resulting in a suggested developmental…