The paper describes the development of an Integrated Curriculum Science and Technology subject offering as part of the Bachelor of Education (Teaching) degree for primary pre-service teachers at Massey University in New Zealand. The paper discusses some of the difficulties and concerns which arise when pursuing this type of endeavour. This paper…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional approach in which students in small groups engage in an authentic, ill-structured problem, and must (1) define, generate and pursue learning issues to understand the problem, (2) develop a possible solution, (3) provide evidence to support their solution, and (4) present their solution and the…

One challenge that middle school teachers commonly face is finding insightful, hands-on applications when teaching basic mathematical concepts. One concept that is a foundation of middle school mathematics is the notion of "linear functions." Although a variety of models can be used for linear equations, such as temperature conversions,…

Combining an overview of the history of communication scholarship with lessons learned from 20 years of experience as a prison abolitionist and peace activist, Hartnett argues that the discipline of communication can be enriched intellectually and made more politically relevant by turning our efforts toward community service, problem-based…

Designing Problem-Driven Instruction with Online Social Media has the capacity to transform an educator's teaching style by presenting innovative ways to empower problem-based instruction with online social media. Knowing that not all instructors are comfortable in this area, this book provides clear, systematic design approaches for instructors…

At Aalborg University (AAU) we are known to work with problem-based learning (PBL) in a particular way designated "The Aalborg PBL model." In PBL the focus is on participant control, knowledge sharing, collaboration among participants, which makes it interesting to consider the integration of social media in the learning that takes…

This paper presents the details and examines the outcomes of a professional development program created for instructors who are beyond the novice stage as online instructors, but desire and require further support to develop their online teaching expertise to meet their students' learning needs and their own teaching goals. This program…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a small-group pedagogical technique widely used in fields such as business, medicine, engineering, and architecture. In PBL, pre-written cases are used to teach core course content. PBL advocates state that course material is more likely to be retained and applied when presented as cases reflecting "real life"…

In a unique school-university partnership, methods students collaborated with fifth graders to use the engineering design process to build their problem-solving skills. By placing the problem in the context of a client having particular needs, the problem took on a real-world appeal that students found intriguing and inviting. In this article, the…

Two commercial self-heating food products have been used to apply chemical concepts such as stoichiometry, enthalpies of reactions and solutions, and heat transfer in a classroom activity. These products are the self-heating beverages sold in Europe and the Meals, Ready to Eat or MREs used primarily by the military in the United States. The main…

Teaching engineering studies students about diversity issues as part of the curriculum in engineering programs is an essential part of preparing the students for their professional life. By teaching them what this is and what it means for their (professional) lives sensitises them towards more responsibility. The idea is to connect diversity…

This article discusses how the author used an integrated course design model to create new learning activities in her course on federal taxation. The shoebox case--a simulation where students are given realistic documents to use in preparing a tax return--gave her students an opportunity to construct new knowledge. This activity supported the…

Engaging students with real-world activities can be effective in supporting the learning of mathematics, "whenever possible, real-world situations will provide a context for both introducing and applying geometric topics" (NCTM 1989). Tool making is a way to bring real-world mathematics into the classroom and using the tool is a way of…

This article describes a structure to help preservice teachers get invaluable field experience by aligning theory with practice supported by the integration of elementary school children into their university mathematics methodology course. This course structure allowed preservice teachers to learn about teaching mathematics in a nonthreatening…

Teamwork and problem-solving skills have frequently been identified by business leaders as being key competencies; thus, teaching methods such as problem-based learning and team-based learning have been developed. However, the focus of these methods has been on teaching one skill or the other. A key argument for teaching the skills concurrently is…