This edited volume is an invitation to redesign STEM higher education. It shows the way to active learning in diverse scenarios and provides educators, leaders and policymakers with a visionary approach to active learning and hands-on examples of how education can help students navigate complexity and unpredictability--the challenges of…

Blended synchronous learning enables online learners to participate in class activities from geographically separated sites. Due to various challenges, however, online learners are often harder to be engaged and their engagement levels are lower than that of classroom counterparts. This review summarized and synthesized the challenges that led to…

Classroom response systems (CRS) represent an innovative educational technology that can be used to promote active learning and student engagement. This study explores the effectiveness of CRS in enhancing student learning and performance across various engineering courses related to heat engines. During five academic years, CRS have been used…

There has been a declining interest in science by adolescents as they mature in the American school system (Anderman & Young, 1994). Inquiry-based teaching is a supported practice with the aim of shifting science teaching to better engage students. This study offers a qualitative analysis of teachers' perceptions and implementation of…

Laboratory practicals in life science subjects are traditionally assessed by written reports that reflect disciplinary norms for documenting experimental activities. However, the exclusive application of this assessment has the potential to engage only a narrow range of competencies. In this study, we explored how multiple modes of laboratory…

This article introduces this special issue by addressing the types of assessment practices that are possible within STEM inquiry classrooms, where the focus is on noticing, developing, and improving inquiry competencies. Three domains are explored: informal formative assessment occurring in classroom interactions; structured formative assessment…

Inquiry skills are universally recognised as being integral to a contemporary science education where students need to understand the nature of scientific practices as well as concepts. Although inquiry learning is a common practice among primary educators, the development and assessment of inquiry skills is far less practised. There is a need for…

Calligraphy is the treasure of traditional Chinese culture and it is ubiquitous in China. Because of the unique aesthetic characteristics of calligraphy, the difficulty of calligraphy teaching lies in the assessment of calligraphy works. The major problems concerning calligraphy assessment are the low time efficiency of calligraphy assessment and…

This critical ethnographic case study explores the impact of Performance-Based Assessment Tasks (PBATs) on high school dynamics and instructional practices, particularly in schools serving immigrant communities. PBATs, considered alternatives to standardized testing, have shown promise in enhancing student engagement, critical thinking, and…

HyFlex is the new model that has emerged in education, combining traditional classroom instruction with online instruction, thus offering learners more flexibility and freedom in their learning life cycle. This paper discusses the background, principles, benefits, and challenges, and whether it can transform higher education. Based on the current…

Student engagement is key to successful teaching and learning, irrespective of the content and format of the content delivery mechanism. However, engaging students presents a particular challenge in online learning environments. Unlike face-to-face courses, online courses present a unique challenge as the only social presence between the faculty…

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) OpenCourseWare (OCW) was launched in 2001. It is one of the earliest Open Educational Resources (OER). MIT OCW has published more than 2,400 courses which are available at no cost, the majority of which are STEM related. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the pedagogical strategies…

Social annotation and role-play are two pedagogical approaches that promote active, student-centred learning. In this paper, we report on how the two approaches were combined in a senior-level university course that aimed to reveal the multiple dimensions and complexity of policy development and decision-making for natural resource management. We…

Purpose: This paper aims to develop a model of measuring student engagement in a blended-massive open online course (MOOC) context. MOOCs are those that are delivered, usually by leading universities, with a promise to provide free high-quality education to an unlimited number of learners. They offer an opportunity for "blended" course…

Student engagement is a multidimensional construct that includes four distinct, though interrelated, aspects: behavioral, emotional, agentive, and cognitive engagement. The present study investigates students' perceptions about the impact of Padlet as a learning and assessment tool on the four aspects of class engagement. Padlet is a virtual wall…