This study was conducted to investigate eighth-grade science teachers' self-efficacy during the implementation of a new, problem-based science curriculum. The curriculum included applications of LEGO® robotics, a new technology for these teachers. Teachers' responded to structured journaling activities designed to collect information about their…

Engineering and integrated STEM experiences are being promoted at the K-12 level to increase interest and retention in STEM and to reinforce learning of mathematics and science content. However, research is still emerging regarding best practices for curriculum development, student impacts, and transfer of knowledge across disciplines. The purpose…

Through the learning of physics, students will acquire problem solving skills which are relevant to their daily life. Determining the best way in which students learn physics takes a priority in physics education. The goal of the present study was to determine the effect of problem based learning strategy on students' problem solving skills and…

This study incorporated the problem-based learning (PBL) approach into a web-based English reading course. The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of PBL on the participants' English reading comprehension (RC) and to explore the participants' perceptions of PBL. The present study conducted a comparison of two teaching methods. Two…

The effectiveness of problem-based learning (PBL) in terms of increasing students' educational attainments has been extensively studied for higher education students and in nonexperimental settings. This paper tests the effectiveness of PBL as an alternative instruction method in secondary education. In a controlled experiment at the class level,…

Three-dimensional multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) have the potential to provide experiential learning qualitatively similar to that found in the real world. MUVEs offer a pedagogically-driven immersive learning opportunity for educationalists that is cost-effective and enjoyable. A family of digital virtual avatars was created within…

This study investigates the effects of problem-based learning (PBL) on students' academic achievements in studying "Electrochemistry" within a course on Analytical Chemistry. The research was of a pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design and it was conducted with second year students in the Chemistry Teaching Program at…

Enabling pre-service teachers to develop a critical view of their practice and to acquire the higher order inquiry skills necessary for pedagogic research has been and continues to be a challenge. The present study presents a unique intervention in the training of pre-service teachers in research literacy (RL) skills using a Problem Based Learning…

Project-Based Learning (PBL) has been implemented in the first year of the Industrial Engineering and Management programme at the University of Minho, Portugal, since 2004/2005. The purpose of this paper is to analyse and discuss teachers' experiences in PBL in this programme and to explore its implications for student learning and for teaching…

The primary aim of this study was to determine whether levels of student engagement, higher order skill proficiency, and knowledge acquisition demonstrated by medical students would differ when completing the same course in three diverse learning environments. Following Institutional Review Board approval, 56 first-year medical students,…

This study adopted a longitudinal retrospective case study approach to investigate Chinese business students' transitional learning experience in a problem-based learning (PBL) course with innovative assessment practices. The study focused on students' beliefs and strategy use in a constructively aligned PBL course for business communication.…

Background: Students' motivation for science declines over the early teenage years, and students often find school science difficult and irrelevant to their everyday lives. This paper asks whether creating opportunities to connect school science to authentic science can have positive effects on student motivation. Purpose: To understand how…

The paper describes the development of four learning modules that focus on technical details of how a person's privacy might be compromised in real-world scenarios. The paper shows how students benefited from the addition of hands-on learning experiences of privacy and data protection to the existing information technology courses. These learning…

The purpose of this study is to investigate how students' high school experience, math and science efficacy, and student, parent, and teacher expectations affect their plans for college major choice after controlling for students' gender, ethnicity, and parental variables. Over 1500 9th grade students participated in the study. Using logistic…

This study investigated whether an English reading course integrated with the problem-based learning approach could foster foreign language learners' reading comprehension ability, strategy use, and their active learning attitudes. The pedagogy was featured with the small group scaffolding. Two intact English classes in a Taiwanese university were…