Contemporary pedagogy encourages instructors to move away from memorization to teaching the ability to "do economics." In such an environment, students are taught to apply knowledge of economic measurement, the economic model, and economic policy to analyze current events and policies. In this article, the authors build on existing…

Although traditional lectures are still the dominant form of undergraduate instruction, there have been relatively few studies comparing various learner-centered and active learning teaching strategies to one another in order to guide professors in making informed instructional decisions. To study the impact of different active learning…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of providing students with access to formatted copies of lecture notes based on the PowerPoint slides used by the instructor. The research question was as follows: "Can first-year students taking the ARTS 1110 Introduction to University course be taught how to make better use of online…

This article describes an effective approach to teaching chemistry by bringing the laboratory to the center of teaching, to bring the excitement of discovery to the learning process. The lectures and laboratories are closely integrated to provide a holistic learning experience. The laboratories progress from verification to open-inquiry and…

This paper provides a brief review of blended learning as a didactic method, and discusses the issues and challenges of using blended learning models in post-secondary education. Blended learning refers to mixed modes of instruction that combine traditional face-to-face classroom teaching methods and online learning materials. The paper will…

We assessed the effectiveness of refutational readings and lecture on decreasing psychological misconceptions for students of high versus low levels of achievement. During the course of a semester we addressed introductory psychology students' misconceptions with refutational readings, refutational lecture, or not at all. From pre- and post-test…

This study identified the teaching beliefs, intentions, and actions of 80 introductory computer programming (CS1) faculty members from institutions of higher education in the United States using the Teacher Perspectives Inventory. Instruction method used inside the classroom, categorized by ACM CS1 curriculum guidelines, was also captured along…

To determine whether a classroom experiment improved the learning of experimental method, at the start of the semester 2 introductory psychology classes took a 10-question multiple-choice pretest on experimental method. Two days later, before the instructor covered the relevant material in the course, 1 class took part in a classroom experiment on…

Active learning has been championed in academic circles as the pedagogical fix to boring lectures typically found in introduction to information systems courses. However, the literature on active learning is mixed. In this paper, we critically examine active learning research and discover a misplaced emphasis leading to paradoxical findings in…

This paper investigates whether there is a difference in student learning in a quantitative business course taught through video streaming with the option of going to a face-to-face lecture, compared to the same course taught only through face-to-face lecture. This topic has been the subject of research in recent years because of the importance of…

As the nation witnesses a distinct decline in civic engagement among young adults, political science instructors across the nation face the formidable task of engaging students in lower-level, general education courses outside students' primary domain of interest. The research presented here seeks to understand if visually enhanced lecture…

Public universities are currently facing a challenge in determining how to deliver quality instruction in the face of severe fiscal constraints. With recent technological advances, courses streamed over the Internet (i.e., lecture capture) are now becoming common. However, little research has been published that specifically examines student…

This research concerns the development and assessment of a program of introductory astronomy conceptual exercises called ranking tasks. These exercises were designed based on results from science education research, learning theory, and classroom pilot studies. The investigation involved a single-group repeated measures experiment across eight key…

A research study conducted at Sam Houston State University (Texas) compared the final grades of students who chose the lecture method of instruction with the final grades of students who chose the self-paced method of instruction in introductory algebra classes. All students were required to take seven tests plus a comprehensive final examination.…

Describes and evaluates a technique used in two science lecture courses (biochemistry and introductory meteorology), in which lectures were interspersed with frequent, brief discussions within spontaneously formed small groups. Some differences were found in the ways the two professors managed the technique, but both felt in-class participation…