Group work can engage students in active learning, yet students often resist working with peers in class. We investigated the impact of five minimally structured, easily implemented group work strategies used during weekly problem-based discussion sections in two introductory chemistry courses through student surveys and quiz score analyses.…

Programming is an important skill for different areas of knowledge. While in the past, programming skills were much more related to fields of computer sciences and engineering, today, professionals from different areas benefit from the ability to write codes for different applications. Furthermore, programming stimulates logical thinking, which…

Collaborative, project-based learning models have been shown to benefit student learning and engagement in the STEM disciplines. This case study evaluates the use of highly collaborative project- and problem-based learning models in introductory courses in the geosciences and biology. In the geosciences, we developed project-based modules with a…

For several decades, scholars have studied the role of cooperation and its outcomes in educational contexts. Yet we lack a complete understanding of how different instructional strategies impact the relationship between cooperation and learning. In this paper we present results from a field experiment with 82 first-year students in an introductory…

This article reports on a study that investigated student perceptions of the effectiveness of collaborative mapping as a teaching strategy to facilitate interdisciplinary learning. Forty-five students enrolled in an introduction to interdisciplinary studies course participated in the study. Qualitative data, collaborative maps and student…

Problem-based learning using authentic material from the web was used to teach metabolism in a biochemistry course. In place of traditional lectures, students' analyzed health or nutrition articles from newspapers and magazines, which were debatable from a scientific point of view, following the principles of problem-based learning. A mixed method…

This paper describes the problem-solving studio (PSS) learning environment. PSS was designed to teach students how to solve difficult analytical engineering problems without resorting to rote memorization of algorithms, while at the same time developing their deep conceptual understanding of the course topics. There are several key features of…

Study group meetings (SGMs) are voluntary-attendance peer-led team-learning workshops that supplement introductory biology lectures at a selective liberal arts college. While supporting all students' engagement with lecture material, specific aims are to improve the success of underrepresented minority (URM) students and those with weaker…

In educational research, it is well-known that collaborative work on core conceptual issues in physics leads to significant improvements in students' conceptual understanding. In this paper, we explore collaborative learning in action, adding to previous research in engineering education with a specific focus on the students' use of free body…

While pedagogical and technological affordances of three-dimensional (3D) multiuser virtual worlds in various educational disciplines are largely well-known, a study about their effect on high school students' engagement in introductory programming courses is still lacking. This case study presents students' opinions about their participation in a…

Based on the assumption that wellbeing, positive emotions and engagement influence motivation for learning, the aim of this paper is to provide insight into students' emotional responses to and engagement in different learning designs. By comparing students' reports on the experiential qualities of three different learning designs, their…

Teaching computer programming to freshmen students in Computer Sciences and other Information Technology areas has been identified as a complex activity. Different approaches have been studied looking for the best one that could help to improve this teaching process. A proposed approach was implemented which is based in the language immersion…

Year 1 of the chemistry degree at the University of Leicester has been significantly changed by the integration of a problem based learning (PBL) component into the introductory inorganic/physical chemistry module, "Chemical Principles". Small groups of 5-6 students were given a series of problems with real world scenarios and were then…

This study was conducted on informal aspects of an inquiry-based physics course and reports findings about learning interactions and discourse observed during the first three semesters the course was offered. The course offered an alternative to the large lecture instruction typical in introductory university physics and promoted learning in an…

Student performance in two different introductory biochemistry curricula are compared based on standardized testing of student content knowledge, problem-solving skills, and student opinions about the courses. One curriculum was used in four traditional, lecture-based classes (n = 381 students), whereas the second curriculum was used in two…