The authors discuss an innovative study-abroad program implemented by a large university in the Midwestern United States. In partnership with a French business school, a program was established incorporating project-based learning, a multi-national student population, and a three-month residency in France by U.S.-based students and faculty.…

The introduction of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) by David Hestenes and colleagues in 1992 produced a remarkable impact within the community of physics teachers. An instrument to measure student comprehension of the Newtonian concept of force, the FCI demonstrates that active learning leads to far superior student conceptual learning than…

We designed an interrupted case study to teach aerobic cellular respiration to major and nonmajor biology students. The case is based loosely on a real-life incident of rotenone poisoning. It places students in the role of a coroner who must determine the cause of death of the victim. The case is presented to the students in four parts. Each part…

The requirements engineering course is a core component of the curriculum for the Master's in Software Engineering programme, at Monmouth University (MU). It covers the process, methods and tools specific to this area, together with the corresponding software quality issues. The need to produce software engineers with strong teamwork and…

This article describes how a traditional biology lecture course was transformed into an interactive class. A review the activities used, changes made to grading policy, and practical tips for integration of active learning in the classroom are provided. Analysis of student responses to course assessments indicated that active learning experiences…

Advocates of computer-mediated instruction have pointed to the potential of online teaching for facilitating students' active learning behavior. Small-group online discussion can have a role in meaningful student interaction. Yet, what is less known are the conditions under which students actually engage in interaction in online discussion groups…

This inquiry originates in a conversation between the first two authors which concluded with the challenge that a Revans Institute for Action Learning & Research should not only be doing research "by" action learning and but should also be researching "into" action learning itself. Action learning has been a recognised…

In their study of 261 students enrolled in eight sections of a business communication course, three taught in a traditional classroom setting and the others delivered in a hybrid, half-time online format, the authors found that all students measurably improved their writing skills. On another dimension of interest, however, students in the online…

In this article, the author describes a student-centered research project he introduced to his students. In this research project, his students used images collected by telescopes at Kitt Peak National Optical Observatory (KPNO) to look for novas in the Andromeda Galaxy. This project grew out of the author's experience during a Teachers As Leaders…

This paper describes an active learning game that addresses different motivational styles including intrinsic, social, achievement, and instrumental. The game is loosely based on the CBS television series Survivor and involves breaking the class into student teams (tribes) and allowing them to compete at solving chemical engineering problems. In…

Author Lyn Lesch advocates that learning cannot be measured by empirical results like testing and grading. As the founder of Chicago's The Children's School, Lesch didn't give grades or submit students to standardized testing. Such conditions may seem blasphemous to most educators, but the results spoke for themselves. Without the high-stakes…

In post-16 education and training, a variety of ways of delivering citizenship have been developed according to the needs of the learners and the settings to which they belong--school, college, work based learning or youth and community groups. Qualifications or certification often feature in these approaches because organisations want to find…

Results from this study suggest teachers believe technology may provide English language learners (ELLs) an advantage in developing writing skills. Using a theoretical framework by Hadaway, Vardell, and Young (2002) citing seven teacher practices that support the writing of ELL students when writing processes are embedded in real-world activities,…

Students from the University of Montevallo, Alabama's public liberal arts university, re-created the Battle of Shiloh (April 6-7, 1862) approximately twenty miles north of Corinth, Mississippi. For ten weeks in a classroom environment, nineteen students studied strategy, operations, and tactics that affected events nearly 143 years prior. Then,…

The objective of this research was to explore how authentic technology use and teacher inquiry may coalesce during curriculum-based, technology-enhanced field experiences for prospective teachers. Thirteen inquiries were analyzed using qualitative analytic procedures (Rossman, 1998). Results suggest that teacher inquiry may serve a variety of…