Many U.S. colleges and universities have emphasized the value of student-driven undergraduate research as one way to augment the traditional classroom experience. For undergraduate students, human subjects-based research, which typically requires review by an institutional review board (IRB), can have a particularly profound impact on their…

Classroom questions represent a potentially powerful tool for interacting with students and stimulating critical thinking. However, the efficacy of the question-and-answer approach to teaching is influenced by many factors, such as the type and cognitive level of questions asked as well as students' response time. To examine these factors and…

Introductory biology courses form a cornerstone of undergraduate instruction. However, the predominantly used lecture approach fails to produce higher-order biology learning. Research shows that active learning strategies can increase student learning, yet few biology instructors use all identified active learning strategies. In this paper, we…

This paper gives an account of a teaching experiment on absolute value inequalities, whose aim was to identify characteristics of an approach that would realize the potential of the topic to develop theoretical thinking in students enrolled in prerequisite mathematics courses at a large, urban North American university. The potential is…

This article explores a teaching approach that aims to engage learners more fully in the deep learning process that is characterised by the development of critical thinking skills. The concept of critical thinking skills is reconsidered in the context of the need to shift focus away from teaching teachers about learning to teaching students about…

This paper reports on a quasi-experimental study comparing a "productive failure" instructional design (Kapur in Cognition and Instruction 26(3):379-424, 2008) with a traditional "lecture and practice" instructional design for a 2-week curricular unit on rate and speed. Seventy-five, 7th-grade mathematics students from a…

Qualitative inquiry has gained importance in the evaluation of educational settings because it provides in-depth information, shedding light on context, situations, or processes. In this study, a qualitative inquiry was undertaken in order to evaluate a pedagogical course from the prospective teachers' points of view. In this case study, data were…

Many under-prepared university students do not know how to study (Martin and Arendale 1993) because they have not yet developed the abstract reasoning skills that allow them to learn new ideas simply by reading a text or listening to a lecture. This article draws from selected findings from a PhD study currently being undertaken at a university in…

The purpose of the study is to compare problem based learning (PBL) and lecture-based learning (LBL) in Hong Kong secondary students' science achievement. Secondary One students were divided into two groups: group A (n = 37), was taught two topics: "Human Reproduction" and "Density" through PBL; group B (n = 38) was taught the…

In this study, the authors explore the "apparent gulf between professionals' advice and actual teachers' practices." Their study recognizes the imperviousness of teacher practice to the efforts of researchers and curricular reformers. For over a century, the authors argue, "best practices" in social studies have always included…

National stakeholders are becoming increasingly concerned about the inability of college graduates to think critically. Research shows that, while both faculty and students deem critical thinking essential, only a small fraction of graduates can demonstrate the thinking skills necessary for academic and professional success. Many faculty are…

In recent years, many European countries have witnessed a rapid implementation of the CLIL approach at tertiary level. In Spain, although English has been introduced as the language of instruction in some master and doctoral courses, the application of the CLIL approach is still isolated. Similarly, little research has been done into CLIL…

Compares the effectiveness of traditional lecture methods of instruction to group discussion methods of instruction in developing critical thinking. Finds no significant difference in the two instructional methods, but significant gains were found from the pretest to the posttest for both instructional strategies. Concludes that face-to-face…

Tomorrow's "digital" classrooms will still have to develop analogal reading and thinking skills, keep kids grounded in the real world, distinguish style from substance, impart knowledge via lectures, promote linear and synthetic thinking, stress meaningful over fun-filled learning, and provide essential human contact. (MLH)

Teaching strategies that overcome the brain's natural tendency to limit information can open students' minds to new ideas and creative mental habits. Seven strategies to provoke divergent thinking and deepen understanding are hypothetical thinking, reversal, application of different symbol systems, analogy, viewpoint analysis, completion, and web…