Learning through inquiry is a widely advocated pedagogical approach. However, there is currently little systematic knowledge about the practice of inquiry-based learning (IBL) in higher education. This study examined descriptions of learning tasks that were put forward as examples of IBL by 224 university teachers from various disciplines in three…

Contests are usually applied in the academic environment to simulate real professional situations that require from the participants a more pro-active attitude than the one shown in conventional coursework. Although they are commonly applied in the scope of a unique course, the contest described here was an extracurricular experience applied in an…

This study aimed to identify salient problem characteristics perceived by students in problem-based curricula. To this end, reflective essays from biomedical students (N = 34) on characteristics of good problems were text-analyzed. Students identified eleven characteristics, of which they found the extent to which the problem leads to desired…

Police educators, that is, police and non-police teachers involved in recruit education and training, have traditionally suffered from a lack of organisational focus on developing their teaching and learning practices. The New South Wales (NSW) Police College, which is currently implementing Problem Based Learning (PBL), has begun to take a more…

This study reports on the success of using a problem-based learning approach (PBL) as a pedagogical mode of learning open inquiry science within a traditional four-year undergraduate elementary teacher education program. In 2010, a problem-based learning approach to teaching primary science replaced the traditional content driven syllabus. During…

This study investigated the students' learning process of the concept of concentration at the elementary school level in Taiwan. The influence of different representational types on the process of proportional reasoning was also explored. The participants included nineteen third-grade and eighteen fifth-grade students. Eye-tracking technology was…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional approach that is organized around the investigation and resolution of problems. Problems are neither uniform nor similar. Jonassen (1997, 2000) in his design theory of problem solving has categorized problems into two broad types--well-structured and ill-structured. He has also described a host of…

The main aim of this study was to examine how a group of elementary students perceived their engagement in a project-based science intervention investigating the water quality of a local lake. The students collaborated with a scientist to conduct various experiments and used handheld computers to collect and analyze data in order to examine the…

This action research was a form of "appreciative enquiry" into my practice with my group of Bachelor in Education (TESL) students. I have adopted a postmodernist approach to research as narrative; that is "research as it is experienced" and not just "research as it is described". I used a project as an approach to…

In this paper, a course on applied superconductivity is described. The course structure is outlined and the learning objectives and the learning activities are described. The teaching was multidisciplinary given by four departments each contributing with their expertise. Being applied superconductivity, the focus was on an application, which could…

This paper seeks to compare the reflective writings of two cohorts of students (Year 4/5 and Year 8/9) participating in mathematical modelling challenges. Whilst the reflections of the younger cohort were results oriented, the older cohort's reflections spoke more to the affective domain, group processes, the use of technology and the acquisition…

For the forty-first time, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two volumes. Volume 1 contains twenty-seven…

Problem-based learning and technology support for students in higher education investigates the new perspectives of education in connection with the change of life paradigm. The present research seeks to find out what study methods and technology support can be used for developing students' creative experience in the context of education for…

This paper describes a tutorial programme developed at the University of Western Australia (UWA) to enhance medical students' learning processes within problem-based learning contexts. The programme encourages students to use more effective learning approaches by scaffolding the development of effective problem-solving strategies, and by reducing…

Medical practitioners need the skills to find relevant information and evaluate its authenticity, validity, and reliability. The learning of information literacy has been embedded in the University of Western Australia (UWA) medical course since 2000. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the enhanced information literacy…