Biomedical engineering (BME) spans a wide range of research fields and professional activities. Most BME departments use a seminar series to introduce graduate students to exciting research conducted outside their own university, learn about professional opportunities, and enhance their understanding of related topics (e.g., ethics in BME,…

In this kindergarten lesson about pushes and pulls, the authors used the SHARE strategy to embed effective questions throughout each phase of the 5E learning cycle (Engage, Explore, Explain, Evaluate, Elaborate). The thoughtfully worded and open-ended questions shared in this article can help students generate ideas and focus their thinking…

This activity provides students with a way of understanding expectancy violations theory (EVT) by examining incidents that occurred during televised award shows. In this activity, in small groups, students will delve into well-known award-show incidents, such as Will Smith's slapping of Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards, to understand the…

The research-based principles, strategies, and practical ideas shared in this article guide and support student engagement as a means for enhancing learning and retention.

Özge Yol is a former composition instructor and ESL/EFL teacher. Currently a doctoral candidate in the Educational Theory and Practice program at Binghamton University, she describes a "write a letter to your friend" activity she designed using peer-feedback to facilitate student engagement through the use of guiding questions. The task…

Teaching large classes of students who aren't familiar with communicative activities can be challenging. One of the biggest challenges is to ensure that all students participate actively, especially if the teacher isn't able to pay close attention to them. One useful and simple strategy to help students stay on task for longer when doing…

Leadership is filled with concepts that often do not have an agreed upon definition. The purpose of this paper is to share a learning activity that provokes students' thinking about the nature of leadership using six leadership definitions. This activity is a dynamic starting place to explore what leadership is and is not, how it differs from…

The Reggio-inspired approach often leads a teacher down unexpected paths, as many class explorations originate from students' observations of problems or phenomena. Students then work collaboratively with the teacher; the teacher consistently observes and questions the students to discover what the students are thinking and why. The teacher…

In an age where getting an answer is as easy as a well-chosen phrase typed into a search engine, it is important for teachers to be more interested in "how" students know, rather than "what" students know. In the sea of available information today, students must provide answers based on evidence. A student's ability to explain…

By developing a relationship of trust and respect with children, educators create a classroom culture that supports questioning. One strategy to extend children's thinking is to provide unfamiliar materials to provoke questioning. This column discusses resources and science topics related to students in grades preK to 2. This month's column…

How can we teach inquiry? In this paper, I offer practical techniques for teaching inquiry effectively using activities built from routine textbook exercises with minimal advanced preparation, including rephrasing exercises as questions, creating activities that inspire students to make conjectures, and asking for counterexamples to reasonable,…

The 2016 presidential election was the first since the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in which full voting protections were not in place for historically marginalized voters. This shift was largely due to a 5-4 decision in "Shelby v. Holder" (2013) in which the Supreme Court ruled that states with a history of voter discrimination…

Over the course of a year, the first author met with the teachers at Holden Elementary School in Kent, Ohio as they explored each dimension of the C3 Framework's Inquiry Arc, focusing on the creation of compelling questions, understanding each of the disciplinary pathways in depth for grades K-5, and appreciating the value of taking informed…

In this article, the author describes a classroom activity for use in introductory economics courses to motivate the study of international trade. The learning activity highlights the importance of international trade in students' everyday lives by having students inventory their on-hand belongings and identify where the items were manufactured.…

"Memorizing facts is boring. Drill-and-practice is boring. But thinking, for most students most of the time, is actually fun," writes Susan M. Brookhart. The author recommends that teachers build interest and engagement into every lesson plan by creating opportunities for deep thinking. She describes three strategies to accomplish this.…