Using an apparently simple problem, ''Design a cylindrical can that will hold a liter of milk,'' this paper demonstrates how engineering design may facilitate the teaching of the following ideas to secondary students: linear and non-linear relationships; basic geometry of circles, rectangles, and cylinders; unit measures of area and volume;…

Dental hygiene education has evolved over the years from dental hygiene professions who provide patient education on oral health care to assuming the responsibility for the assimilation of knowledge that requires judgment, decision making and critical thinking skills. Given that the dental hygiene professions has moved toward evidence-based,…

As institutional and market pressures move more faculty into the online teaching space, renewed discussions are occurring about how to best teach online, and what features of online courses are best to employ. A distance learning staple, the online discussion, or asynchronous discussion forum (ADF) is an easy strategy for faculty to employ in an…

This qualitative research study is an exploration of the merit and shortcomings of using a combination of the music software GarageBand[TM] and an electronic bulletin board to facilitate musical and peer learning in a 3-month elementary music methods curriculum and instruction course. A pedagogical objective of this assignment was to increase the…

This contribution outlines a strategy to counteract literature lethargy and train beginning and continuing undergraduate and graduate researchers in a professor's research group to efficiently learn from and critique archival journal articles. Journal Club is a weekly one-credit-hour class where a research article related to each research…

Nineteen pre-service and in-service teachers taking a chemistry teaching methods course at a university in Hong Kong were asked to take a diagnostic assessment. It consisted of seven multiple-choice questions about the chemistry of the lead-acid battery. Analysis of the teachers' responses to the questions indicated that they had difficulty in…

In the new European higher education space, Universities in Europe are exhorted to cultivate and develop multilingualism. The European Commission's 2004-2006 action plan for promoting language learning and diversity speaks of the need to build an environment which is favourable to languages. Yet reality indicates that it is English which reigns…

This paper seeks to contribute new insight to the process of learning during idea generation (i.e., brainstorming) by proposing and evaluating two alternative operationalizations for learning, which we refer to as connection-based learning and multi-perspective learning, during a carefully designed idea-generation task in the earth-sciences…

Teachers often resist discussions about racism in the classroom, yet it is a topic that is frequently addressed in multicultural literature. This study examines teachers in a graduate reading program (N = 58) who used picture books reflecting African American heritage with elementary school children in a summer reading practicum. Prior to teaching…

In this paper, we report on our efforts to support teachers' development of mathematical knowledge for teaching through online professional development focusing on authentic engagement in collaborative mathematical problem solving. In particular, this paper seeks to explore and understand the relationship between online mathematical collaboration…

The realisation to integrate science, ethics and morality is recognised with growing impetus in recent years (as noted with introducing the Australian Curriculum "Science as a Human Endeavour" strand), to develop sophisticated epistemologies of science, which includes an appreciation of the social context including ethical thinking. To…

This article reports comprehensive findings from a national study of the teaching and assessment of writing in classrooms across ten Canadian provinces and two of three territories. Through interviews with 216 grade 4-8 teachers and observations and interviews in 22 classrooms (1 to 3 classrooms in each province), we gathered information about…

Blogging, if you truly inhale its essence, will give you a calling, renewal, and purpose as you have never seen before. Here, the author shows how to blog like a king or a queen. These techniques include: (1) Write a meaningful comment; (2) If you have written about it, hyperlink to your post; (3) If you have a blog, share some information about…

The study reported here sought to obtain the clear articulation of asynchronous computer-mediated discourse needed for Carl Bereiter and Marlene Scardamalia's knowledge-creation model. Distinctions were set up between three modes of discourse: knowledge sharing, knowledge construction, and knowledge creation. These were applied to the asynchronous…

The use of technology such as laptop computers in the classroom has long been recognized as destructive behavior since it diverts a student's attention from course topics. However, it is conceivable that every student will be using some form of technology in the near future. Determining the effects of interactive software on students' learning…