Despite advances in active learning pedagogy and other methods designed to increase student engagement in the chemistry classroom, retention and engagement issues still persist, particularly with respect to women and minorities underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs. Relevancy also remains elusive in…

In this essay, the authors describe the benefits and theoretical connections of the Junior Model United Nations (JMUN) program in middle school classrooms. The lens used to view the JMUN program is informed by literature on the needs of young adolescents, inquiry learning, and global citizenship. Findings based on this literature illuminate…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to determine whether applying e-learning material to a course leads to consistently improved student performance. Design/methodology/approach: This paper analyzes grade data from seven instances of the course. The first three instances were performed traditionally. After an intervention, in the form of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the various roles that early elementary teachers adopt when questioning, to scaffold dialogic interaction and students' cognitive responses for argumentative practices over time. Teacher questioning is a pivotal contributing factor that shapes the role teachers play in promoting dialogic interaction in…

Student-generated annotated concept sketches provide an alternative approach for instructors to formatively assess students' understanding of environmental topics, such as photochemical smog and ozone layer depletion. The sketches are external representations of students' cognitive models. Results obtained from a group of 150 female students using…

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore and describe the barriers to the integration of information and communication technology (ICT) to support active learning in the classroom as perceived by middle school site principals. Methodology: This was a qualitative phenomenological study using data collected from…

21st Century skills such as critical-thinking and problem-solving skills are very important when it comes to Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics or STEM. But those same skills should be integrated in social studies. The impact of students' learning in social studies as a result of implementing inquiry-based instructional strategies was…

The most challenging parts of teaching mathematics are engaging students and helping them understand the connections between mathematics concepts. In this volume, you'll find a collection of low floor, high ceiling tasks that will help you do just that, by looking at the big ideas at the fourth-grade level through visualization, play, and…

John Dewey's "Democracy and Education" is the touchstone for a great deal of modern educational theory. It covers a wide range of themes and issues relating to education, including teaching, learning, educational environments, subject matter, values, and the nature of work and play. This "Handbook" is designed to help experts…

The abrupt transition to remote instruction in response to COVID-19 posed significant challenges for both students and instructors. This report provides data on the prevalence of the different kinds of challenges college students faced during the shift to remote instruction and the nature of spring 2020 courses from the perspectives of both…

Background Engineering: Faculty members should adopt effective pedagogical approaches in order to maximize student learning. The beliefs of faculty members about instructional practice are an important construct in determining what and how they teach. Purpose: This study investigates the effect of faculty members' involvement in model-eliciting…

Active Learning Classrooms are new learning spaces that allow collaborative learning activities to take place easily over the traditional classroom. However, some features of these rooms could be viewed as "distracting" to students' learning such as the multiple interactive screens. The purpose of this paper is to begin the conversation…

Students measure out their lives, not with coffee spoons, but with grades on examinations. But what exams mean and whether or not they are a bane or a boon is moot. Senior undergraduates (A. Perrella, J. Koenig, and H. Kwon) designed and administered a 15-item survey that explored the contrasting perceptions of both students (n = 526) and faculty…

Progressive schools, by their very nature, need to respond to changing societal conditions. Within that context, learning guided by the teachings of John Dewey will not only make the progressive tradition sustainable but also make it increasingly relevant in a future that will increasingly make demands on students to possess the knowledge to…

This article describes four different mechanisms for preparing teacher candidates from a liberal arts institution to teach in project based learning (PBL) classrooms: Observe it, Experience it, Create it, and Become it. For each of the four mechanisms, the authors also provide concrete examples of candidates' PBL experiences and candidates'…