"WeBWorK" CLASS combines the best features of online homework and digital whiteboards to create a system that provides instructors with information on students' problem-solving processes, as well as their final answer. The system's utilization of tools that can sort students based on correct and incorrect homework and quiz answers and…

One way to create more class time and not lose education time is to have students take notes at home and do the work in class. This article describes "flipping the classroom," a new instructional model that allows an educator to record a lesson plan on video in the same fashion it would be presented to students. The structure of the…

Physics teachers are most effective when their students are active learners who think and participate in every class. This extends beyond the classroom too: ideally, students would tackle challenging questions and exercises after every class--not just before the exam or the night before the weekly homework is due. Just-in-Time-Teaching was…

Traditional ways of teaching--working from a textbook, designing quizzes, and assigning seat work--are predicated on the idea of students' ability and desire to self-regulate. However, these sedentary techniques are ineffective with unmotivated students and poor readers. Teachers commonly invoke fear of failure in an attempt to engage students in…

One of the most important concepts being taught in principles classes is the idea of "thinking on the margin." It can also be one of the most difficult to get across. One of the most telling examples, according to this author, comes in trying to get students to learn the profit maximizing condition for perfectly competitive firms. She…

Teachers know what a daunting job it can be to ensure that all students in a class learn effectively. In addition to the usual difficulties of gaining everyone's attention at once, instructors also run into the issue of preferred learning styles. In any classroom environment, the same topic is taught to multiple students, and each student may…

Overburdened with athletics, play rehearsals, band practice, volunteer work, after-school jobs, friendships, and--if their parents are lucky--quality time with their families, it is hardly surprising that even the most dedicated students resent homework as an incursion on their time. Meanwhile, their teachers watch the growing stacks of unread…

Provides ways for teachers to make ninth-grade general mathematics courses more pleasant and productive. (MD)