Disciplinary Literacy is about to go from theory to game plan--taking students from superficial understanding to deep content expertise. And guess what? ReLeah Lent's big secret lies in highlighting each content area's "differences"--advancing a discipline-specific model in which literacy is used as a tool for strategic thinking,…

Informal learning is an important venue for educating the general public about complex socio- scientific issues: intersections of scientific understanding and society. My dissertation is a multi-tiered analysis of how informal education, and particularly informal educators, can leverage learning to respond to one particular socio-scientific issue:…

Today's schools face challenges that go beyond those of the 20th Century, in addition to the more recent impact of No Child Left Behind. Common core standards and stipulations found in the recent Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) call for new academic programs and ways for teachers to implement them. Integral to the ESSA are techniques for…

A hands-on activity based on general electrochemistry concepts with the aim at introducing design science elements is presented. The main goals of the activity are to reinforce electrochemical principles while fostering innovation in the students through the assembly and optimization of a voltaic device and subsequent evaluation by powering…

Using multilevel models, this study examined whether the strength of the association between student engagement and development of generic student competencies (GSCs) varies across Korean colleges. Data from the Korean Educational Development Institute's 2007 national sample and from 5,445 students representing 60 four-year colleges and…

The cell topic was taught to 9th-grade students in three modes of instruction: (a) students "hands-on," who constructed three-dimensional cell organelles and macromolecules during the learning process; (b) teacher demonstration of the three-dimensional model of the cell structures; and (c) teaching the cell topic with the regular…

This chapter describes the processes and pedagogies used by one school in transitioning from lecture halls to collaborative learning environments.

This study evaluated brief, in-class write-to-learn assignments as a tool for promoting learning and retention in large, introductory psychology courses. A within-subjects (student) design was used with assignment of concepts to write-to-learn and copy (control) conditions counterbalanced across sections for each instructor. Students performed…

This is an activity for younger learners in which the concepts of relative frequency and probability are explored, illustrating how a creative, non-transmission teaching approach using bottle tops can enable students to develop their understanding in an engaging fashion and at almost no cost.

For the past nine years, we have been offering an interdisciplinary course for science majors: The Biology and Chemistry of Brewing. This course is primarily laboratory- and inquiry-based; from a total of 24 h of student/instructor contact time, approximately 6 h are devoted to lecture, and the other 18 h are divided between laboratory exercises,…

The current article contributes to student engagement literature in higher education in line with the paradigm shift taking place in college teaching in India. The aim of this article supports that the collaborative approach does lead to active student engagement. The findings reflect the success of this Mumbai college in ensuring that each…

This study focuses on structured and guided inquiry instruction regarding question asking behaviors and curiosity of elementary students in Turkey. 177 sixth graders in 8 science courses were randomly assigned to treatment groups. Analysis of the data revealed that students in the guided inquiry groups asked higher-cognitive level questions and…

Student engagement is vital in enhancing the student experience and encouraging deeper learning. Involving students in the design of assessment criteria is one way in which to increase student engagement. In 2011, a marking matrix was used at Aston University (UK) for logbook assessment (Group One) in a project-based learning module. The next…

Students commonly hold erroneous notions of a "post-racial" world and individualistic worldviews that discount the role of structure in social outcomes. Jointly, these two preconceived beliefs can be powerful barriers to effective teaching of racial segregation: Students may be skeptical that racial segregation continues to exist, and…

This study followed the academic growth of four university teachers, over a two-year period, with the intention of enhancing inquiry-based learning in practice. Data were generated within the natural settings of classrooms, laboratories and lecture halls, through the analysis of teaching materials, low-participation observation, informal…