This paper describes the design of an educational module which aims to raise awareness and change the attitudes of elementary school students about focal endangered species in protected areas. The proposed design builds on, and extends the General Teaching Model. The educational module which was developed through this approach was pilot-tested in…

When describing activities in today's K-12 science classrooms, the word inquiry often causes some confusion. As a result, many of us find ourselves asking the same questions: How do we know when inquiry is authentic? What should happen in an inquiry-centered science classroom? What is the teacher's role in an inquiry-centered class and what is the…

This article distinguishes three dimensions to learning design: a technological infrastructure, a conceptual framework for practice that focuses on the creation of structured sequences of learning activities, and a way to represent and share practice through the use of mediating artefacts. Focusing initially on the second of these dimensions, the…

This article focuses on the development of decision-making skills and environmental concern by 11- and 12-year-old students through computer-based, scaffolded learning activities. The enacted activities provided necessary scientific information and allowed for the consideration of multiple aspects of the problem, the study of the effects of every…

The study of the human form is fundamental to both science and art curricula. For vertebrates, perhaps no feature is more important than the skeleton to determine observable form and function. As Leonard da Vinci's famous Proportions of the Human Figure (Virtruvian Man) illustrates, the size, shape, and proportions of the human body are defined by…

Robert Perrin emphasizes the active and playful power that can be discovered from specificity of language. Students observe the impact carefully chosen words have in their daily lives by examining names of products and colors used for particular contexts and audiences, as well as names given to inventions, highlighting the vibrancy of…

This paper reports a project in which researchers at universities in Japan explored the use of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) practices by developing a learning module intended to help improve students' scores on the TOEIC Listening and Reading Tests. MALL practices are currently being developed at universities in Japan because almost…

Policy interest in international surveys on Adult Learning (AL) has increased strongly. AL survey data are used as benchmarks for a country's educational system. However, results of key indicators like participation in learning activities often vary remarkably between different data sources. Stating that these differences are due to varying…

This article investigates the "preferred learning styles" and their relationship with grades for students undertaking sports-related undergraduate programmes at a higher education institution in the UK. Preferred "learning styles" in students in this discipline have been identified as auditory, kinaesthetic and group, although…

This article describes the extension of a simple activity into an exploration of multiple NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) Standards. It includes the solution process undertaken by a combination fifth-sixth-grade class. In teaching students to attain Standards, all classroom activities should purposefully address one or more…

Helping young children avoid developing deeply held misconceptions and promoting developmentally appropriate Nature of Science (NOS) ideas will establish a foundation for students from which they will later develop more accurate and sophisticated NOS understanding. This article delineates important NOS ideas and practical K-4 classroom teaching…

Games have a long history of being used for instructional purposes. Games can be defined as playful activities, with or without a computer, that have some essential characteristics. Game characteristics can include competition and goals, game rules, challenging activities, choices, and fantasy elements. Games that take advantage of these…

The most effective pedagogies are those that foster students' metacognition and their learning effectiveness. This paper presents a new model of activity-based learning in which students construct knowledge using practices that include constructs of engagement, motivation, and affect that drive deeper processing and higher levels of metacognitive…

This study sought to investigate student diversities in terms of learning styles and linguistic competence, and the extent to which students change as regards participation, interaction and achievement through Cooperative Learning activities embracing their diversities. 77 first-year EFL students from from the two reading classes, one treated as…

Since the early 1980s, policy makers and educational leaders have pinned high hopes on mentoring as a vehicle for reforming teaching and teacher education (Feiman-Nemser, 1996). A review of literature written throughout the evolution of mentoring illustrated that researchers focused most of their attention on a relatively narrow aspect of…