The authors present an experimental design used to teach concepts in the economics of auctions and implications for e-Business procurement. The experiment is easily administered and can be adapted to many different treatments. The chief innovation is that it does not require the use of a lab or class time. Instead, the design can be implemented on…

With the widespread public interest in games as learning tools, digital game-based learning (DGBL) proponents now need to explain why games are engaging and effective and how those principles can be leveraged to best integrate games into the learning process. In this article, Richard Van Eck outlines why DGBL is effective and engaging, how those…

The ways in which Teri Lesesne, an author, selects the best book from the hundreds of books published each year are discussed. The importance of understanding the needs of the readers and the curriculum is explained.

Researchers observed 28 university faculty in graduate and undergraduate science and mathematics courses in a three-year, longitudinal study of teaching. Subjects were selected from five higher education institutions in the state where faculty had a two- to five-year association with a reform-based NSF professional development program. Observer…

Computers are becoming the norm for teaching and learning. The Internet gives people ready access to text, visual and audio messages from around the world. For teachers, content is critical and the future dictates the need for major changes in the role of the teacher and learner. Today's digital tools and video games have proven to be well known…

This study assessed the effectiveness of an innovative science course for improving prospective elementary teachers' perceptions of laboratory learning environments and attitudes towards science. The sample consisted of 27 classes with 525 female students in a large urban university. Changing students' ideas about science laboratory teaching and…

This paper describes 25 National Science Foundation supported projects that have innovations designed to improve education for students majoring or minoring in statistics. The characteristics of these projects and the common themes which emerge are compared with the American Statistical Association's (ASA) guidelines for developing statistics…

Previous chapters in this monograph have reported on a series of research studies that examined the adoption of an instructional innovation, model-based instruction (MBI), by teachers in three stages of career development: preservice/student teachers (STs), induction teachers (ITs), and experienced/cooperating teachers (CTs). All the teachers were…

Designing effective professional development experiences for technology-enhanced inquiry instruction is the goal of the Technology Enhanced Learning in Science (TELS) NSF funded Center for Learning and Teaching. In order to provide this type of support to a large number of teachers, we devised a "targeted professional development approach."…

We redesigned our medical school's Problem-Based Learning (PBL) curriculum to include a substantial increase in required geriatrics content. Innovations included new PBL health care problems and standardized patients (SPs) throughout the first three years and a new required four-week, fourth-year rotation. We used data from the AAMC Medical School…

A major dilemma facing higher educational institutions around the world is how to achieve quality outcomes for students in an increasingly internationalised and competitive environment. To effect change in teaching and learning, we advocate a teacher-as-learner approach to the implementation of teaching and learning policy. Our approach has been…

The "New Humanities" has called for new ways of engaging with Humanities texts; the European Science Foundation is just one major research funder to demand that the Humanities contribute to interdisciplinary collaborations. Meanwhile, traditionally trained disciplinary academics have resisted bringing traditional texts into…

In 2009 Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system, in common with so many other areas of public policy and the economy, was preoccupied by the effects of the global economic downturn and, like other sectors, sought to reposition itself to deal with the economic fallout, while anticipating its role in the recovery. Yet, as…

In a reflection on her teaching practices, Wendy Bishop in "Teaching Lives" suggests that over time she became a "social expressivist," in that by writing about her own teaching she learned "to develop a personal voice within the public matrix of professional communities" (ix). For the compositionist committed to the…

This paper first discusses why the sentence-level drills still being used extensively in the teaching of grammar to second language learners have not been successful. What follows is a presentation of an innovative approach; namely, using context and discourse to present and practice grammar in more authentic and effective ways.