Common over-the-counter medicines can be an exciting entry point for introducing students to the interesting chemistries that they encounter in their daily lives. In this inquiry-based activity, students are tasked with using a list of given supplies and information about four medications (Aspirin, Tums, Pepto-Bismol, and Tylenol) to design three…

This study presents a structured hybrid framework integrating Design Thinking (DT), the Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate (CDIO) methodology, and Root Assessment (RA) to enhance project-based learning (PBL) in engineering education. The framework addresses limitations in conventional PBL by embedding iterative ideation, structured engineering…

This paper describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of an inquiry-based laboratory for sophomore-level organic chemistry into a mostly cookbook, existing laboratory curriculum. For the laboratory, students were required to generate their own procedures and use their own recorded data from prior laboratory assignments to identify an…

In this essay from a teacher in Argentina, Valeria Vincent describes how she employed Multiple Literacies in Project-based Learning (MLPBL) (Krajcik, Palincsar, and Miller 2015). ML-PBL, an open education free resource, has three design principles that support teacher and student learning and satisfaction. ML-PBL builds on teacher ingenuity and…

Project-based innovation and entrepreneurship curricula encourage learners to approach challenges in an agile, iterative way, allowing for flexibility to respond to new information throughout the research and idea development process. This approach often clashes with traditional ethical approval processes designed for a more predictable set of…

The changing landscape of science and science education has provided an impetus to re-imagine how science can be taught in schools. The dawn of the Big Data era, especially in astronomy, and the notion of "Science as Practice" are some of the developments driving this need for a re-imagination of science education. This current work…

In this article, the authors unveil the Trade Book Inquiry Design Model (IDM) blueprint. Anchored in a compelling question inspired by a trade book, the new blueprint is broken into two instructional blocks: "Reading and Comprehension" and "Living Social Studies." The inquiry template is designed to be instructionally efficient…

Real-world design settings can be complex, ill-structured, open and typically uncertain and/or ambiguous about their goals and solution paths. This study contributes to understanding how to work with these types of problems in a course project setting. The main objective of the study is to identify, propose and validate a set of practical…

Contribution: This article demonstrates the impact of today's Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in teaching software engineering (SE) course with design-based learning (DBL) and project-based learning (PBL). The results show a positive influence of integration of DBL and PBL in reducing industry gaps with improved student…

Student-led design projects undertaken within healthcare settings raise considerable ethical challenges, primarily resulting from collaboration with service users. This article emerged out of the experiences of design from a New Zealand university undertaking real world projects in acute health care contexts. A human-centred approach to design is…

The 21st century is characterized by new technological developments and a rapid pace of change, challenging the academy to educate students for a future employment market characterized by change and uncertainty. This market requires practitioners to develop a broad set of skills, so-called "21st-century skills," along with more focused…

This article considers the epistemological consequences of interdisciplinary, collaborative pedagogy through the lens of a practitioner whose goal is to theorize and contextualize her practice. The author traces connections between interdisciplinary pedagogy and the idea of Making or makerspaces. Giving in-depth examples of interdisciplinary,…

In the spring semester of 2015, Morgan Ebbs made the bold decision to take a class called "The Rhetoric of Gaming." Having only really played games during childhood, Ebbs now thinks that choice was a bit naive. He is not ashamed to admit that he was the definition of what some like to refer to as "casual," "plebe," or…

The Wearable Device Challenge was developed at the Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies (ASSIST). The Challenge is rooted in the research and innovation ecosystem of the Center and its vision: to have a transformational impact on the way doctors and patients manage…

In a contest featuring hands-on projects, college students were required to design a simple crawling worm using planning, self-monitoring and self-evaluation processes to solve contradictive problems. To enhance the efficiency of problem solving, one needs to practice meta-cognition based on an application of related scientific concepts. The…