This study investigated the influence of longhand (paper and pen), keyboard, and stylus note-taking on academic performance in college classes. Students attended mini-lectures and took notes using longhand, keyboard, or stylus. Students took quizzes after each mini-lecture and reported their engagement. Final course grades were recorded.…

Many students who enroll in introductory statistics courses do not have positive attitudes about the subject. A 2012 wide-ranging study by Schau and Emmioglu showed that student attitudes do not tend to improve after completing an introductory statistics course. However, there is a need for more studies about attitudes in introductory statistics…

Undergraduate students benefit from academic-centered peer interactions, especially in large lecture courses. However, little is known about how students come together and form relationships around a course. I conduct a mixed-methods study of students' peer networks to explore how students choose peers for academic-focused interactions. The…

Background: Research illustrates that student motivations influence learning engagement, persistence, and achievement in powerful ways and that positive motivations are linked to deeper learning, critical thinking, pro-social behavior, and better performance. Most studies of learner motivation, however, are conducted outside of STEM and are…

Especially, during the first year in university, absenteeism can have detrimental effects on grades and social integration of the student in the university community. According to pedagogical literature, altering teaching methods from lecturing toward engaging teaching, which applies various active teaching methods in the university classroom, can…

Taking notes is a popular activity for students attending instructional lectures and has been linked to achievement. Research on note-taking has shown that the contents and usefulness of student notes depends on several factors, including the pace of the lecture and the presence of organizational and selection cues. However, this research has…

Vision and Change states that one of the major changes in the way we design biology courses should be a switch in approach from teacher-centered learning to student-centered learning and identifies active learning as a recommended methods. Studies show performance benefits for students taking courses that use active learning. What is unknown is…

This study investigated students' attitudes, engagement, satisfaction, and performance in Introduction to Environmental Science after it was transformed from a typical large lecture to a student-centered learning environment. The instructors of the course collaborated with the Office of Teaching, Learning & Technology and radically redesigned…

Most research about reformed teaching practices in the college science classroom is based on instructor self-report. This research describes what is happening in some introductory geology courses at multiple institutions across the country using external observers. These observations are quantified using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol…

Collaborative exams, with subsections in which students have an opportunity to work with each other, are not yet widely used in introductory geoscience courses. This type of exam structure, with other participatory teaching strategies, was employed in two different courses, and results were found to provide a sensitive and revealing tool for…

At Dickinson College (Pennsylvania), a workshop approach to teaching introductory physics, in which students alternate hands-on experience and theoretical discussion, has been effective in improving student attitudes toward the subject, helping students master concepts considered difficult to teach, making students comfortable with laboratory…

Four different methods of teaching--cooperative learning, class discussions, concept maps, and lectures--were integrated into a freshman-level general chemistry course to compare students' levels of participation. Findings support the idea that multiple modes of learning foster the metacognitive skills necessary for mastering general chemistry.…