Infinite series are known to be challenging for Calculus II students, perhaps because they lack intellectual need for the content. In their analysis of Calculus textbooks found few instances of potential intellectual needs for infinite series. This study combines a textbook analysis with interviews of four professors and observations of their…

A 3-year study (2017-2019) was conducted to obtain the views of nonmajor undergraduate students about discussions in learning physiology. The teaching methods used were lecture only (lecture), group discussion alone (discussion), and a combination of lecture and discussion (lecture + discussion). Students were assigned homework in a textbook, and…

Definitions are fundamental to any mathematics classroom. We consider how definitions are presented in textbooks and instructors' lecture notes, and whether students are positioned to gain a full understanding of new terms. Four textbooks, covering precalculus, calculus, and analysis, as well as three professors' Calculus I lecture notes are…

In this work, we studied the use of open education resources (OER) in the form of online modules combined with an open textbook as it relates to student performance and perceptions in a Linear Algebra course. In this approach, we compared student performance and perceptions from three sections of this intermediate level mathematics course. One was…

While proof is often presented to mathematics undergraduates as a well-defined mathematical object, the proofs students encounter in different pedagogical contexts may bear salient differences. In this paper we draw on the work of Dawkins and Weber (2017) to explore variations in norms and values underlying a proof across different pedagogical…

This quasi-experimental study seeks to improve the conceptual quality of summary essays by comparing two conditions, essay prompts with or without a list of 13 broad concepts, the concepts were selected across a continuum of the 100 most frequent words in the lesson materials. It is anticipated that only the most central concepts will be used as…

This study assessed the impact of an "active learning" strategy employed alone or in combination with traditional lectures on the learning of mammalian physiology by undergraduate students. The study investigated the impact of three teaching strategies, namely (1) traditional lecture, (2) group discussion alone, and (3) combination of…

Japanese graduate school students in the field of science and engineering need to read academic research in their second language (L2), and such tasks can be challenging. Studies showed a strong (0.78) correlation between vocabulary size and reading comprehension (McLean et al., 2020), and providing high-frequency word lists could enhance…

Among all college students, students with disabilities are particularly at risk due to a high percentage of underreporting. We conducted a survey across many undergraduate courses in engineering and computing at the University of Illinois to identify course components that engage students with and without disabilities. We were motivated to find…

In a flipped classroom model, learning of basic content is shifted before class while in-class time is used for concept application. Empirical and controlled research studies are lacking on the best strategies to provide the necessary pre-class content instruction. In this study, we tested three methods of pre-class content learning--interactive…

Despite the wealth of inquiry focused on the first-year seminar (FYS), little research has examined the pedagogical components of such courses. There is also a lack of research that assesses the extent to which FYS influence students' intrapersonal, interpersonal, and epistemological development. The goal of this study was to qualitatively explore…

The course materials students are expected to utilise in online instruction vary. Studies have shown that students tend to enjoy online courses with lecture videos more than those without, but few studies have measured the impact of lecture videos on student outcomes. Do lecture videos increase student understanding and retention, thus improving…

Getting students to ask questions in class, about the content, can be a difficult undertaking especially once students get to university. The nature of the lecture format makes it problematic for students as they often feel like they can't ask questions. When children are small they ask questions all the time. Sometimes we get tired of them asking…

Given that most humanities courses in higher education are already interactive and constructive, it is not clear whether a flipped model of learning adds any additional value to student learning. This study assessed the impacts of flipped learning on EFL learners' performance and perceptions of a two-semester linguistics course in a Taiwan…

Human anatomy has usually been taught in a didactic fashion in colleges and universities. However, recent calls from United States governmental agencies have called for the transformation of undergraduate life sciences education to include active learning in the classroom. In addition, high structure courses have been shown to increase student…