Much of traditional schooling in America is built around systems of compliance and control, characteristics which stifle the creative and entrepreneurial instincts of the children who are subjected to these tactics. This article explores a different approach to education, one that involves capturing the interest of the student through the use of…

Designing and implementing pedagogies that support collaborative groupwork experiences and which also incorporate the use of information and communications technology is a commonplace, yet complex, task. This article describes a case study that uncovered problems with such an approach that employed interdisciplinary group projects in an…

This paper presents an action-research case study that focuses on experiences of collaboration in a problem-based learning (PBL) course in Zoology. Our PBL model was developed as a research activity in partnership with a commercial organisation. Consequently, learning was grounded in genuine situations of practice in which a high degree of…

This paper describes an analysis of facilitation of a student-centered problem-based learning group. The focus of this analysis was to understand the goals and strategies of an expert facilitator in support of collaborative learning. This was accomplished through interaction analysis using video data and stimulated recall to examine two PBL group…

In a world with increasingly global economies and competition, students need to learn how to think critically and analytically, and to apply the imagination to solve complex problems. Problem-based learning (PBL) does just that, helping students identify problems, pose questions, research answers, report results, and create a stake in learning.…

This article outlines a K-12 college learning partnership that has evolved over the past two years at the University at Albany, SUNY. Two faculty members with the School of Information Science & Policy (SISP) Joette Stefl-Mabry and Jennifer Goodall Powers, with administrative support of their Associate Dean, Carol Doll, have integrated…

In software engineering education, large projects are widely recognized as a useful way of exposing students to the real-world difficulties of team software development. But large projects are difficult to put into practice. First, educators rarely have additional time to manage software projects. Second, classrooms have inherent limitations that…

This study investigated differential effects of learning styles and learning orientation on sense of community and cognitive achievement in Web-based and lab-based university course formats. Students in the Web-based sections achieved higher scores at the "remember" and "understand" levels, but not at the "apply" or "analyze" levels. In terms of…

Some of our most challenging youth are educated in interim, short-, and long-term alternative school settings. Many of those youth have emotional disturbances and learning disabilities and have experienced academic and social failure in other school settings. Federal mandates require teachers to provide mathematics instruction to those students…

The implementation of problem-based learning (PBL) and other inquiry-driven educational techniques is often resisted by both faculty and students, who may not be comfortable with this learning/instructional style. We present here a hybrid approach, which combines elements of expository education with inquiry-driven laboratory exercises and…

The web has the potential to offer an environment that can support standardized medical education to students dispersed in time or place and, in the process, respond to reduced availability of patients for practice. This exploratory article describes how we evaluated critical thinking in an online collaborative Problem-based Learning (PBL)…

This paper proposes an alternative approach to the traditional education paradigm that has prepared students for the old health care environment. In a changing health care environment, problem based learning (PBL) is achieving popularity primarily because educational outcomes parallel the skills and abilities desired of future clinicians and…

Professions are changing rapidly and at an increasing rate, confronting professionals with an unprecedented requirement for adaptability and anticipation. The accelerated growth of knowledge relevant to professions and its relationship to curricula for preparing professionals has been referred to as the "cult of coverage." School culture…

In problem-based learning, an instrument is needed to measure students' actual learning activities. Mapping the domain of learning activities undertaken by students and improving problems is especially important in a problem-based curriculum because students choose their own learning objectives. Such an instrument, the Topic Evaluation…

It is a common public perception that schools are failing to perform their fundamental mission; in the public eye, the responsibility for this failure lies with the administrators leading the schools. Consequently, there has been a litany of criticisms of the programs that prepare administrators, particularly programs located in major research…