Introduction to Computer Science is traditionally the first course that all computer science and software engineering majors take. The course introduces many problem-solving techniques which can be challenging for many freshman students. In order to mitigate some of the issues of this course, we, at the Higher Education Institute, introduced a new…

We describe a long-standing weeklong K-12 STEM teacher workshop that shifted to a virtual platform in 2020. We re-engaged former participants during this STEM Institute with goals of (1) modeling ways to connect best practices for STEM education gained in previous workshops to a virtual environment, (2) providing space for teacher reflection on…

Research suggests that learning is situated, social, and constructed. Teachers, as well as their students, learn through collaborative participation in meaningful activity. This study investigates the impact of a Writing Project Institute on teachers' learning and instruction, considering characteristics of professional learning that influenced…

Recent developments in information communication technology (ICT) have resulted in a paradigm shift in e-Learning and there is a growing interest in developing design-based research (DBR) focusing on learners and their involvement in knowledge sharing in a contextualized mode. The present study reports a mobile-assisted language learning (MALL)…

This study of four case studies looks at how secondary math, music, science, and social studies teachers' attitudes and classroom practices were affected by their participation in the Central Utah Writing Project (CUWP) summer institute. Participant interviews, observations, and artifacts were analyzed by looking at themes for effective…

Numerous studies are demonstrating that engaging undergraduate students in original research can improve their achievement in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and increase the likelihood that some of them will decide to pursue careers in these disciplines. Associated with this increased prominence of research in…

We offered four annual professional development workshops called STAR (for Scientific Teaching, Assessment, and Resources) modeled after the National Academies Summer Institute (SI) on Undergraduate Education in Biology. In contrast to the SI focus on training faculty from research universities, STAR's target was faculty from community colleges,…

Effective professional development programs for science teachers provide opportunities for active learning and teacher self-reflection on beliefs about science teaching, learning, and practice. One model that fosters active learning and promotes reflection is collaborative curriculum development, in which teachers work together with university…

The concept map tool set forth by Novak and colleagues is underutilized in education. A meta-analysis has encouraged teachers to make extensive use of concept mapping, and researchers have advocated computer-based concept mapping applications that exploit hyperlink technology. Through an NSF sponsored geosciences education grant, middle and…

From 2008 to 2010, project-based learning (PBL) was a major focus of the Teacher Leadership Institute (TLI), undertaken by the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE), as a method for teaching 21st century skills. Beginning in January 2011, a summative evaluation was conducted to investigate the effect of PBL implementation on teachers'…

The decade since publication of "Place as Text: Approaches to Active Learning" has seen an explosion of interest and productivity in the field of experiential education. This monograph presents a story of an experiment and a blueprint of sorts for anyone interested in enriching an existing program or willing to experiment with pedagogy…

This article reports on the 2004 National Academies Summer Institutes on Undergraduate Education in Biology. The second Summer Institute was held at UW-Madison on August 16-20, 2004. There were three dominant themes of the meeting: (1) active learning--ways to promote interactive student engagement during class in place of standard lectures; (2)…

Several years of experience in training lecturers for developing and tutoring project-based learning (PBL) courses have resulted in a 'practise as you preach' based and flexible training programme. This programme was successfully incorporated in the teacher training programmes of the University of Twente and other universities and polytechnics in…