This paper presents the application of the problem-based learning (PBL) method as an innovative approach to teaching engineering. This paper supports the idea that the PBL method is aptly suited to teaching the engineering disciplines, as its methodology nurtures critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which are central to a graduate's…

This study examines the effects of the Community Action service learning project, part of the Learn and Serve America program, on gifted adolescents and their community. Using a case study design, the author investigates this service learning project grounded in creative problem solving. The importance of service learning to the participants is…

This article looks at how the discipline of rhetoric may be helpful when thinking about methods for social justice. Specifically, it explores how rhetoric and composition can help those interested in social justice to construct knowledge that is both multidisciplinary and intercultural, to view the constructive processes of research participants,…

For all the fractious debate in America over the state of public schools, those on the political Left and Right agree that the "achievement gaps" are real. But what do most people mean when they say "achievement gaps"? Gaps in standardized test scores, of course. The gaps consist of the differences between the test scores of…

On December 3, 2004, President Bush signed into law the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA, 2004). The revised law is different from the previous version in at least one important respect. Whereas practitioners were previously encouraged to use IQ-achievement discrepancy to identify children with learning disabilities…

The purpose of this study was to examine (a) the reports of conflict strategies and goals in response to hypothetical conflict situations, (b) generation of solutions to hypothetical conflicts, and (c) conflict in observed dyadic exchanges in children with high and low depressive symptoms. Children from Grades 4, 5, and 6 were divided into high…

An important outcome of Singapore's education system is the development of creative thinking skills. This project investigates the impact of a creative dance unit on a class of Primary One (seven-year-old) children's usage of bodily kinaesthetic intelligence to solve problems. One key objective was for the researchers to observe something new,…

We previously conducted a curriculum analysis of third-grade mathematics textbooks aimed at investigating the extent to which teaching the recommended methods for problem solving adhered to the 2000 National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards and instructional design criteria. In this article, we extend the previous findings by…

Enzyme kinetics is a difficult subject for students to learn and for tutors to teach. During the practicals included in the biochemical courses at the Faculty of Chemistry of Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, we found that the students acquire good training in the calculations to obtain kinetic parameters such as K[subscript m], V[subscript…

Although they are a useful resource, textbooks provide students with only a terse account of facts and concepts. In contrast, historical literature allows students to experience a humanistic and detailed view of historical figures and important events. Historical fiction and nonfiction give children the opportunity to explore alternative…

A family systems framework was used to examine associations between stressors/hassles, problem-focused coping, and marital adjustment in 67 families of young children with disabilities. Most of the couples were experiencing average to above average marital adjustment. When daily stressors/hassles were higher, husbands and wives viewed their…

Teacher educators routinely encounter middle grades teachers who like to include more environmental literacy in their curricula. These educators of children in grades four through nine believe that it might be considered "fluff," take away from the class time needed to meet varying state mandates or standards, be difficult to implement, or all of…

Undergraduate science students took an Inquiry course in their second (sophomore) year. The course was designed to explore the social life of scientific knowledge. They were given a set of eight assessment options: personal logs, targeted oral examinations, commentaries, mini-lectures, individual explorations, research proposals, book reviews, and…

The research issue in this study is how to structure collaborative learning so that it improves solving physics problems more than individual learning. Structured collaborative learning has been compared with individual learning environments with Schoenfeld's problem-solving episodes. Students took a pre-test and a post-test and had the…

This microgenetic study investigated similarities and differences in use and discovery of addition strategies in children with and without mild mental retardation across 24 sessions. Nine children with mild mental retardation in third through fifth grade classrooms and 14 children without mental retardation in kindergarten classrooms were tested…