This article describes how our university built a unique classroom environment specifically for active learning. This classroom changed students' experience in the undergraduate executive information technology (IT) management class. Every college graduate should learn to think critically, solve problems, and communicate solutions, but 90% of…

Reading programs for low-income populations often give disappointing results. Failures may be partly due to a neglect of practice in decoding letters. Visual stimuli are best learned symbol by symbol, with pattern analogies and much practice to unite smaller components and speed up identification. The prerequisite for comprehending volumes of text…

This case study examines the life of a digital native who has her online accounts hacked, passwords reset, and is locked out of important online resources including her university email account and Facebook. Part one of the case study examines how the hack was perpetrated and the fallout of losing control of one's digital identity. Part two of the…

Even though the existence and importance of inner forms of sign-making are acknowledged in social-semiotic educational research, their contours have, none the less, yet to be charted in a systematic way. This article uses a combination of social-semiotic and pragmatist approaches to bring into focus some characteristics of pupils' inner…

Among the many difficulties beleaguering the communication research methods instructor is the problem of contextualizing abstract ideas. Comprehension of variable operationalization, the utility of the measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion, and the visual distribution of data sets are difficult, since students have not handled data.…

Undergraduate students often have trouble interpreting cultures other than that with which they are familiar in a way that takes into account the symbols and meanings that explain behaviors, objects, and ideologies. Instead, many fall into the trap of making ethnocentric assumptions and coming to conclusions that are informed by their own cultural…

This single class activity described here: (1) illustrates the importance of interdependence in groups; (2) can be used to measure group productivity and performance; (3) can encourage groups to engage in group learning; and (4) can facilitate group cohesion for newly formed groups. Students will be working in groups for the majority of their…

The two-stage exam is a relatively simple way to introduce collaborative learning and formative assessment into an exam. Their use is rapidly growing in the physics department at the University of British Columbia, as both students and faculty find them rewarding. In a two-stage exam students first complete and turn in the exam individually, and…

As our closest celestial neighbor, the Moon is a familiar and inspiring object to investigate using a small telescope, binoculars, or even photographs or one of the many high quality maps available online. The wondrously varied surface of the Moon--filled with craters, mountains, volcanic flows, scarps, and rilles--makes the Moon an excellent…

As part of the new education initiatives of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), an activity kit for teachers that includes a variety of lessons addressing acoustics for a range of students (K-12) has been created. The "Sound and Music Activity Kit" is free to K-12 teachers. It includes materials sufficient to teach a class of 30…

While translanguaging research has been gaining currency worldwide, calls have been made for deepening its theorisation and providing more systematic pedagogical guidance. To contribute to this discussion, this study is informed by a fluid, distributed, dynamic process view of human meaning-making. Through a fine-grained multimodal analysis of…

The relationship among bodily movements, cognitive abilities, and academic achievement in children is receiving considerable attention in the research community. The embodied learning approach is based on the idea of an inseparable link between body and mind in learning, aiming for teaching methods that promote children's active engagement in the…

Many articles have been published on the use of 3D printing technology. From prefabricated homes and outdoor structures to human organs, 3D printing technology has found a niche in many fields, but especially education. With the introduction of AutoCAD technical drawing programs and now 3D printing, learners can use 3D printed models to develop…

Global climate change and its effects are real and immediate. Students must gain an understanding of climate science so they can participate in public debate about how to reduce the emission of heat-trapping gases and how their communities can mitigate the effects of global warming. In this activity, students model these effects on Earth's oceans…

The new ACRL "Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education" brings a new emphasis into our instruction on student metacognition and dispositions. In this article I introduce self-regulated learning, a related concept from the field of education; it encompasses metacognition, emotions, motivations and behaviors. I discuss how…