This study measures the effects of increased faculty-student engagement on student learning, success rates, and perceptions in a Physical Oceanography course. The study separately implemented two teaching methods that had been shown to be successful in a different discipline, introductory physics. These methods were the use of interactive…

This article argues that lecture discourse has the capacity to support students in their transition into modes of social critique and that the lecturer, through an enactment of an academic identity in lecture discourse, plays a crucial role as both model and guide. Certain crucial phases and sub-phases of lectures are used to model an engagement…

Classroom response systems (also referred to as clickers) can enhance learning outcomes and are generally viewed favorably by students and instructors alike. The current study used an alternating treatments design to examine whether discussing questions in small groups before responding to clicker questions during lecture improved accurate…

Personal response systems ("clickers") have become an important means for instructors to gauge student learning in large lecture classes. In addition to measuring students' performance on a particular question, requesting a measure of mental effort from students allows for richer data concerning student learning. This information can be…

A successful lecture that includes meaningful class discussions requires students to be familiar with the topics covered in the assigned reading. However, because college students frequently do not complete such reading prior to class, instructors are faced with the challenge of finding methods that would encourage students to do so. The purpose…

Lectures are a familiar component in the delivery of mathematical content. Lecturers are often challenged with presenting material in a manner that aligns with the various learning styles and abilities within a large class. Students complain that the old-fashioned lecture style of copying notes from a board hinders the learning process, as they…

International students who mainstream into American colleges and universities face complex and varied linguistic, cultural and sociolinguistic challenges. Although the number of Turkish students enrolling in American institutions continues to increase, little research has focused on their academic experience from the perspective of the cultural…

A peer mentoring program was added to an introductory chemistry course at a large university. The introductory chemistry course prepares students with little or no previous chemistry background to enter the mainstream general chemistry sequence and is part lecture and part small-group problem-solving. Faculty instructors are responsible for the…

Much of modern mathematical research requires a serious level of commitment and ability on the part of the researcher and, as a natural consequence, precludes any real involvement by undergraduate mathematicians. However, to put it crudely, Computer Algebra Systems, can make experts of us all. With the use of such systems even the average…

The effectiveness of three tutorial strategies was evaluated by experimentally manipulating the strategies used in a 2 X 3 factorial design. Two tutors taught 48 college undergraduates a basic optics lesson about "how lenses work," using three instructional methods which varied the amount of tutor control. In the lecture condition, tutors assumed…

This pamphlet examines notetaking by college students in a discussion of: (1) student attitudes regarding notetaking; (2) observations of notetaking behavior; (3) the relationship between notetaking, quizzes, and college grades; (4) how notes help test performance; and (5) individual differences and notetaking practices. Based on observations and…

Examines effective teaching techniques using a unique data set that allows matching student and instructor characteristics to assess impact on student interest in economics. Finds devoting more time to discussion is effective but varies by type of student. Determines that a using many teaching techniques appeals to learning styles adopted by good…

Students (N=78) enrolled in either the Fall, 1989 or Spring, 1990 semester of an urban university campus were studied to determine their preference for either the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI or Keller Plan) or the traditional lecture class in an undergraduate self-paced statistics class. (This was also the first self-paced course that…

The Programmatic College of Commerce and Industry at Northwestern University is described as an innovative approach to the study of business as an institution. The program consists of weekly, noncredit, dinner-lecture-discussion meetings attended by students, faculty, and business people. Discussions center on problems facing business, on the…

Despite criticisms in the literature on pedagogy, lecturing continues to be the dominant teaching method on most undergraduate programmes. Drawing on research examining teaching practice in undergraduate Social Policy programmes, accounts of approaches to lecturing are discussed in the context of the arguments in the literature for more active…