We implemented two different approaches of using peer review to support undergraduate essay assignments for students taking large second-year courses in life sciences and biology: a web-based online peer review (OPR) approach and a more traditional face-to-face peer review (FPR) approach that was conducted in tutorial settings. The essays…

Most faculty will agree that students must learn to write well (Emerson, MacKay, MacKay, & Funnell, 2006), and in the sciences, a variety of approaches have been taken. In the College of Physical and Engineering Science at the University of Guelph, we have developed a way of embedding research, writing, and analytical skills into an…

There is increasing pressure to incorporate information technology into schools and increasing interest in evaluating the effects of this technology on students. There has been a growing literature on the assessment of the success of using information technology in schools. This study is timely and potentially valuable because it investigated…

This article describes instructor use of tablet computers for personal use, research activities and teaching practices within the Faculties of Science and Engineering at UOIT. The benefits of tablet use were evaluated on the basis of types of usage, personal and professional productivity and the "richness" of the overall computing…

Reports on a case study that examines the teaching and learning impact of technology from the perspective of students participating in a long-term study of technology implementation. The study is situated within the context of the Technology Enhanced Secondary Science Instruction (TESSI) project. Contains 65 references. (DDR)

Reported are the results of a study at the Royal British Columbia Museum where an interactive computer program, "Explore the Seashore," was added to an exhibit to test its effects on visitor enjoyment and learning. Details of the presentation and structure of the hypercard media are presented. (CW)

This report presents a literature review of elementary science and design technology education research. The review is intended to provide direction to the elementary science working groups charged with the responsibility to revise the "Alberta Elementary Science Program" (1996) by reflecting current ideas reported in research…

This study describes cognitive and social aspects of children's development of scientific literacy in a Schools For Thought (SFT) classroom. SFT is an educational reform project that applies cognitive research about the active, reflective, and social nature of learning into classroom practice. Participants were fourth graders from a…

Discusses remote sensing technology use in teaching elementary school students about science and social studies. Reviews findings dealing with the use of remote sensing and considering children's abilities, teacher training, computer applications, gifted children, and sex-related differences. Concludes that children as young as grade three can…

TACTICS (French and Spanish acronym standing for Collaborative Work and Learning in Science with Information and Communications Technologies) is an ongoing project aimed at investigating a distributed community of learning and practice in which information and communications technologies (ICT) take the role of collaborative tools to support social…

This paper describes a 4-month discourse in Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE) databases and the resulting classroom curriculum to identify potential factors for consideration when implementing a knowledge-building environment utilizing overlapping communities of inquiry. The study was part of a larger study of fifth and…

Discusses the questions of if, what, when, and how to teach about acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Describes a pilot project in AIDS education conducted in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada), which used interactive video as the method of addressing those questions. Warns of several issues that need to be considered in such a program.…

This review of research on gender differences in computer use at the elementary and secondary levels outlines the problems, discusses reasons for these problems, and gives suggestions for interventions to improve the situation. The research reviewed was conducted, for the most part, in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.…

Compared the science attitudes of tenth-grade students from British Columbia, Canada, in 1986 with those from tenth-grade students in 1989 after a three-year science-technology-society instructional period. No positive change in students' attitudes toward science was registered. (13 references) (MDH)