Learning by teaching is a pedagogical technique that encourages mastery of a topic by having students teach each other. Student presentations, group discussions, and face-to-face teaching are frequently used to have students teach their peers. In this paper, we describe the use of a novel assignment to implement learning by teaching. In a course…

This Teaching Note reports on an initiative designed to increase the number of students who undertake homework in the absence of formal rewards, such as additional marks. While the initiative was successful in increasing the number of students who attempted the homework each week, preliminary findings suggest it may have been accompanied by a fall…

The adoption of active learning instructional practices in college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses has been shown to result in improvements in student learning, contribute to increased retention rates, and reduce the achievement gap among different student populations. Descriptions of active learning strategies…

Previous work has established that a narrated animation is more effective at communicating a complex biological process (signal transduction) than the equivalent graphic with figure legend. To my knowledge, no study has been done in any subject area on the effectiveness of animations versus graphics in the long-term retention of information, a…

Discusses the role and activities of student tutors in an undergraduate organic chemistry course. Points out that such tutors must be used as a complement to the classroom lecturer, not as a substitute. (JN)