Twenty-first century problems have forced international policymakers to consider how education might be reimagined so that citizens have the knowledge and skills to respond to the known and unknown challenges ahead and take an active role in the creation of future societies. While it has been suggested that problem-oriented curricular and…

METRICS was a 5-year grant program funded by the U.S. Department of Education designed to immerse elementary school students in computer science. METRICS components included 1) creation and implementation of rigorous computer science curriculum units and assessments to support STEM coursework connected across all subjects through problem-based…

In an effort to motivate language students and to promote real engagement, a long-running project has taken root at Newcastle University. For over 12 years, the Real Translation Project (RTP), an extracurricular initiative in the School of Modern Languages, has been offering opportunities to language students to use their linguistic skills to…

In 2016 Georgia Southern University Institute for Interdisciplinary STEM Education (i 2 STEM e ) was approached by a collaborative group of educators from India now living in the US. They noticed a need for teachers in India to have access to the Interdisciplinary STEM Education pedagogical techniques through focused professional development. Over…

One of the characteristics of effective science teachers is a deep understanding of science concepts. The ability to identify, explain and apply concepts is critical in designing, delivering and assessing instruction. Because some teachers have not completed extensive courses in some areas of science, especially in middle and elementary grades,…

STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) disciplines are considered key to the scientific and economic improvement in the United States. As noted by the Carnegie Corporation of New York (2011), we need a nation in which "all" teachers and thus, all students, are "STEM-capable" (p. 2), that is, equipped with a broad…

This study sought to examine the impact of teachers' participation in an extended period of embedded professional development (PD) emphasizing teachers' use of assessment for learning practices (AFL) in extended problem based units of instruction within a comprehensive AFL framework. The extended and comprehensive approach of using both course…

Engaging teachers in discussing and analyzing problems of practice has great potential for teacher professional development, yet little is known about how to facilitate such discussion. This study examined the strategies that experienced facilitators used to promote productive discussion among science teachers. Participants were 6 facilitators and…

Educational transformation in higher education places new demands on academics, especially in terms of shifting from traditional methods of teaching and learning to the application of innovative methods. Whereas outcomes-based education leans towards a philosophy, problem-based learning (PBL) offers a structured methodology in which teaching and…

As the wave of educational transformation sweeps across the higher education landscape, few academics have been unaffected by its impact. It has been well documented that academics are ill-prepared to cope with the challenges of educational transformation, yet training and development that would provide the appropriate support to meet the demands…

How can teachers be helped, at relatively little expense, to improve their professional practice? This problem was addressed in "Improving Formative Assessment in Vocational Education and Adult Literacy, Language and Numeracy Programmes"--the IFA project. Adopting a specific problem-based methodology as part of an action research…

Aim: In a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum, tutor's feedback skills are important. However, evaluation studies often show that students rate many tutors as ineffective in providing feedback. We explored whether this is related: (a) to tutors' skills, and hence a teaching intervention might improve their performance; (b) to the formulation…

Participants (n = 156) were involved in the teacher preparation program at a large Research university located in the mid-west. The faculty (n = 21) participated in a two-year individualized professional development process to: 1) develop technology knowledge and skill efficacy and 2) integrate technology in teaching. The pre-service teachers (n…

Problem-based learning (PBL) has gained credibility and some use in institutions of higher education. This paper provides a brief conceptual discussion of PBL and the idea of "problem," and describes one learning model that incorporates PBL as a method for moving students to high levels of learning. The second portion of the paper describes one…

This article analyses the nature of learning in three long-term professional development approaches from different disciplines--teacher research as used in educational contexts, action learning as used in business contexts, and problem-based learning as used in medical contexts. The lens used for analysis focuses on three dimensions or influences…