In the present study, we analyze activities on the topic of sound, which are performed in the science education laboratory lessons in the third-year students of the Department of Early Childhood Education at the University of Ioannina. The analysis of the activities is based on one of the most modern learning theories of CHAT (Cultural Historical…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present an improved concept of software-based laboratory exercises, namely a Virtual Laboratory for Engineering Sciences (VLES). Design/methodology/approach: The implementation of distance learning and e-learning in engineering sciences (such as Mechanical and Electrical Engineering) is still far behind…

The Index of Learning Styles (ILS) generates reliable data. Its ability to characterize learning preference has been validated. However, the ILS has had very limited application in biology education. In 2009, students in an introductory biology laboratory completed the ILS. Overall academic performance (2009) was negatively associated with…

Immunological detection of proteins is an essential method to demonstrate to undergraduate biology students, however, is often difficult in resource and time poor student laboratory sessions. This method describes a failsafe method to rapidly and economically demonstrate this technique using biotinylated proteins or biotin itself as targets for…

Human rhinovirus (HRV) is one of the most common human respiratory pathogens and is responsible for the majority of upper respiratory illnesses. Recently, a phylogeny was constructed from all known American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) HRV sequences. From this study, three HRV classifications (HRVA, HRVB, and HRVC) were determined and techniques…

Do you have an idea for a new activity or laboratory exercise that you would like to incorporate into your course but feel unsure as to how it will be received by your students? This was our concern when developing first-year biology labs for a biology majors' course at University of Windsor. Through a Centred on Learning Innovation Fund (CLIF)…

Checklists have been widely used in the aviation industry ever since aircraft operations became more complex than any single pilot could reasonably remember. More recently, checklists have found their way into medicine, where cognitive function can be compromised by stress and fatigue. The use of checklists in medical education has rarely been…

This three-year Virtual Measurements Environment curriculum development project for higher education within the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union is the result of intense collaboration among four institutions, teaching applied sciences and technology. It aims to apply the principles and possibilities of evolved distance and…

In evaluating whether the laboratory guides for Project Physics and for PSSC are consistent with the goals of their designers in demonstrating the interplay between experiment and theory in the development of physics, a system was developed for analyzing physics laboratory investigations, and the laboratory activities in the "PSSC Physics…