Over the past decade, the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) has been documenting what colleges and universities are doing to gather evidence about student learning and helping institutions to productively use assessment data to strengthen undergraduate education. NILOA also has been monitoring how institutions communicate…

Project-based learning (PBL) is an active student-centred form of instruction which is characterised by students' autonomy, constructive investigations, goal-setting, collaboration, communication and reflection within real-world practices. It has been explored in various contexts and in different phases of schooling, from primary to higher…

"Foundations for Critical Thinking" explores the landscape of critical-thinking skill development and pedagogy through foundational chapters and institutional case studies involving a range of students in diverse settings. By establishing a link between active learning and improved critical thinking, this resource encourages all higher…

Here we report on the successful implementation of an online experimental summary sheet that enabled the continual student monitoring of a large cohort of students undertaking a 6 week enquiry-based laboratory project. Students submitted a weekly research summary that contained information about their data analysis and future experimental plans.…

A WebQuest is an Internet-based and inquiry-oriented learning activity. The aim of this work is to outline the creation of a WebQuest entitled "Power Generation Plants: Steam and Gas Turbines." This is one of the topics covered in the course "Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer," which is offered in the second year of Mechanical…

While collaborative learning and collaborative writing can be of great value to student learning, the implementation of a technology-supported collaborative learning environment is a challenge. With their built-in features for supporting collaborative writing and social communication, wikis are a promising platform for collaborative learning;…

In 2011, the Department of Human Biosciences introduced two physiology capstone subjects as part of the Design for Learning Project at La Trobe University. Consistent with the project, the aims of these subjects were to provide an effective culmination point for the Bachelor of Health Science course and to offer students orientation to…

This research develops a narrative of incidents of intentional learning by students studying undergraduate economics as represented in their written reflective journals. The deliberate integration of learner reflection, reflective practice and reflective writing into the pedagogy may facilitate transfer learning (Sousa, 2006). Transfer has been…

The purpose of this paper is to describe and present results from the fourth year of a five-year collaborative research project between an interactive science center and a local college. The purpose of the project is not only to recruit and train approximately 50 highly qualified science teachers who will teach in New York City public schools, but…

Explores the possibility of using inquiry as a way of understanding and assessing learning, reviewing assessment literature; discussing the meaning of learning, knowing, and teaching; considering notions of learning that seem to be excluded from current assessment practices; and uncovering similarities between learning, knowing, and inquiring that…

Demonstrates how student assessment can be embedded in a moon unit that is based on the 5Es (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate) learning model. (SOE)

College-level student inquiry projects are not easy to evaluate within the parameters of the academic grading system. One form of rubric-guided assessment has specific advantages in addressing both performance and product by allowing weighting of criteria, flexibility of criteria and standards based on the project, defining the major aspects of…

Describes a study that compares the performance of introductory physics students on two examination problems. One problem is qualitative and similar to those used in an inquiry approach. The second problem is a typical quantitative problem. Those students enrolled in the inquiry-based introductory course performed significantly better than those…

Incorporating inquiry-based learning in the college-level introductory biology laboratory is challenging because the labs serve the dual purpose of providing a hands-on opportunity to explore content while also emphasizing the development of scientific process skills. Time limitations and variations in student preparedness for college further…

Assessment provides feedback to teachers so that instruction can be modified. It also provides feedback to students during and after the course. Discusses approaches to assessment in geology courses that relate assessment to instruction. Three student assignments are described: (1) Personal Question Sheets; (2) a report on Personal/Social Issues…