Proportional reasoning is an important type of reasoning that students need to develop and was thus chosen as the context for my research of multiple-choice (MC) items. My investigations of ways to improve the function of MC items so that they reduced guessing, better addressed higher order thinking and assessed partial knowledge, influenced my…

Data science and informatics tools are developing at a blistering rate, but their users often lack the educational background or resources to efficiently apply the methods to their research. Training resources and vignettes that accompany these tools often deprecate because their maintenance is not prioritized by funding, giving teams little time…

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the status quo across higher education, including in the domain of pedagogy. The author of this article provides a case study of the changes made to one course, "Behavioral Economics," at Swarthmore College, in response to a set of unique, pandemic-related challenges. He begins by providing details on…

The authors have experienced increasing demand from undergraduate students, particularly those in the early years of study, to be able to access more "test-style" material to help with revision, as well as guidance on how to approach their university assessments. With increased use of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) in university…

This report provides information about an interactive computer-based game named Nomenclature Bets and its utilization in the form of a tournament as a didactic strategy to enhance the students' interest in their studies of nomenclature of organic compounds. The game allows high school and first-year undergraduate students to review, in pairs, the…

M3CA is a model of mastery learning developed in a college classroom, and an acronym for Mastery, Concept Maps, Critical Thinking, Collaboration and Assessment. The M3CA model is a formative model of skill based mastery learning and assessment that produces high levels of academic achievement and empowers students with a feeling of fairness.…

An astronomy "experiment" composed of three parts is described in the article. Being given necessary data a simple model of inner planets of the solar system is made in the first part with planets' circular orbits using appropriate scale. In the second part revolution of the figurines used as model representations of the planets along…

Various forms of Peer-Learning Environments are increasingly being used in post-secondary education, often to help build repositories of student generated learning objects. However, large classes can result in an extensive repository, which can make it more challenging for students to search for suitable objects that both reflect their interests…

Multiple-choice questions draw criticism because many people perceive they test only recall or atomistic, surface-level objectives and do not require students to think. Although this can be the case, it does not have to be that way. Susan M. Brookhart suggests that multiple-choice questions are a useful part of any teacher's questioning repertoire…

Passive, lecture-based forms of instruction are often ineffective in helping students develop deep conceptual understanding of scientific concepts. Student-centered forms of instruction based in a constructivist framework, where students are guided toward actively constructing their understanding, have been met with greater success. However,…

The goal of the present article is to provide the teacher with an alternative perspective in writing multiple-choice questions. To the techniques and advice available in the literature on the topic, three further aspects are added whose provenance is an emerging line of research--the exemplification of concepts. The objective is to expand…

Active learning in class helps students develop deeper understanding of chemical engineering principles. While the use of multiple-choice ConcepTests is clearly effective, we advocate for including student writing in learning activities as well. In this article, we demonstrate that word clouds can provide a quick analytical technique to assess…

The first step in teaching-to-understand economics is not teaching "the rules," but working with fundamental economic models from the outset. Many of the concepts in economics are illustrated through models. Students must: (1) be able to draw these models; (2) understand the assumptions of the models; and (3) use the models for analysis.…

We demonstrate that student engagement with PeerWise, an online tool that allows students to author and answer multiple-choice questions (MCQs), is associated with enhanced academic performance across diverse assessment types on a second year Genetics course. Benefits were consistent over three course deliveries, with differential benefits…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) provide teachers with the expectations and requirements that are meant to prepare K-12 students for college and the workforce (CCSSI 2010b). The Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMPs) emphasize the development of skills and conceptual understanding for students to become proficient in…