American higher education is being asked to do more with less at a time when more students with different backgrounds, experiences, and expectations are seeking the support they need to improve their personal, professional, and civic lives. Learning communities (LCs) support the success of diverse learners, and learning community literature argues…

This article describes an undergraduate simulation that formulates Iraqi regimes following the removal of Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime. This exercise reinforces student comprehension and awareness for a range of legal and political topics--including group decision making, international law, diplomacy, and human rights--by actively engaging the…

As societal and classroom demands for accountability increase, teacher educators are challenged to prepare and support new teachers for the realities of today's classrooms. Sometimes the preparation and the realities appear to be in conflict. University-based teacher educators may stress critical thinking and active learning. School-based teacher…

With an increasing number of Chinese learners pursuing higher education in Western universities, the characteristics of Chinese students have raised many discussions and debates (e.g. Carson, 1992; Watkins & Biggs, 2001). Two contradictory views are commonly reflected in the existing literature: being passive, quiet, submissive, or disciplined…

This article examines the use of the TARRGET model (Tasks, Autonomy, Recognition, Resources, Grouping, Evaluation, and Time) in restructuring middle school literacy instruction in urban schools. By changing the scheduling of reading and writing instruction, using literature as a basis for reading instruction, and emphasizing comprehension…

Runner is a high-quality educational game designed by the University for Industry (UfI/"learndirect") to attract young adults who find learning in formal educational contexts difficult. A case study evaluation of this novel application of an adventure game genre to literacy learning is discussed, based on observations and interviews in…

While the traditional meaning of connected knowledge is valuable in some school subjects, it does not address the main activities of knowledge acquisition in subjects such as physics and mathematics. The goal of this article is to analyze the relationships between the concepts "learning for understanding" and "connected…

Field trips provide active learning as children have firsthand experience with information they had previously encountered only in textbooks. In this article, the author describes how she used an interesting textbook to plan a field trip for her elementary social studies methods class to Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery (Alabama). The textbook,…

The 12th iteration of the International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2019) is organized under the auspices of the International Educational Data Mining Society in Montreal, Canada. The theme of this year's conference is EDM in Open-Ended Domains. As EDM has matured it has increasingly been applied to open-ended and ill-defined tasks…

This book is a guide to helping college students take charge of their learning in their school environment, by capitalizing on their motivation arising from curiosity. It helps students gain independence from the lecture-study-exam system, with a resulting sense of thinking "I know my stuff." The guide argues that many students who do not work to…

In this chapter, a Canadian high school teacher describes a senior English independent study program requiring that each student become involved in a topic through experience. From previous teaching experiences, the teacher realized that the curriculum was secondary to the method of delivery, that learning happened when a teacher instilled in…

To ensure a lasting effect of the efforts made in early childhood programs, this manual provides specific, sequential curriculum-related activities for parents to use with infants and toddlers at home. Activities have been differentiated for the following three age groups: (1) 4 to 12 months; (2) 12 to 24 months; and (3) 24 to 36 months. The…

A study determined whether a pattern of continuing failure in reading for three remedial second graders could be changed and the students brought to grade level as measured by the Ginn Reading Program, when taught with brain compatible techniques (including active learning, cooperative learning, feedback, individual instruction, and risk taking).…

Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS) use computers to capture, store, and distribute knowledge in both an interactive and non-linear delivery. Using technology sources such as the Internet, Microsoft's Net Meeting, Connectix's color camera, and business software, it is possible to provide multiple site delivery and bring business…

Encouraging librarians to incorporate critical thinking skills and active learning techniques in their course instruction requires more than talking about it in a department meeting or distributing articles on the topic. At Old Dominion University (Virginia), librarians have tried conducting workshops, had readily-accessible binders of articles…