The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of a one-year regular robotic toys (lego) training on school pupils' performance. The underlying pedagogical perspective is the "constructionist theory," where the main idea is that knowledge is constructed in the mind of the pupil by active learning. The investigation has been made…

Discusses self-learning exercises (SLEs) incorporated into the Medical Physiology course for first-year students at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA. Twenty to thirty percent of course material is presented in these exercises instead of in lectures. The exercises develop active learning and problem-solving skills. Formal analysis…

Describes the implementation of a modular approach and some of the active learning strategies it employs, plans for evaluating the effectiveness of this approach, and plans for disseminating it broadly within the undergraduate chemistry community. (DDR)

There is a growing consensus that traditional instruction in basic science courses, in institutions of higher learning, do not lead to the desired results. Most of the students who complete these courses do not gain deep knowledge about the basic concepts and develop a negative approach to the sciences. In order to deal with this problem, a…

Free, open, online homework help sites appear to be extremely popular and exist for many school subjects. Students can anonymously post problems at their convenience and receive responses from forum members. This mode of tutoring may be especially critical for school subjects such as calculus that are intrinsically challenging and have high…

Project-based learning taps into students' interests by allowing them to create projects that result in meaningful learning experiences. The method requires teachers to identify projects that challenge students to work individually or in groups to create plans, solve problems they encounter, test their ideas, and present their projects to peers.…

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) describes a learning environment in which problems drive the learning; that is, learning begins with a problem to be solved and the problem is posed in such a way that students need to gain new knowledge before they can solve it. This ERIC Digest discusses many aspects of PBL including a brief history, implementing…

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) describes a learning environment in which problems drive the learning; that is, learning begins with a problem to be solved and the problem is posed in such a way that students need to gain new knowledge before they can solve it. This ERIC Digest discusses many aspects of PBL including PBL and problem solving, PBL and…

Argues that drama is one of the most powerful teaching strategies available in the classroom, in all subject areas. Notes reasons drama is not used much. Describes two drama activities used with seventh-grade students, and how they used it (with excitement) as a way of experiencing, thinking through and representing new understandings. (SR)

We examined the relation between self-explaining and encoding among kindergartners. For 5 days, children (n = 27) took turns solving addition problems with an adult expert who always used an advanced addition strategy. During the game, children explained the expert's answers (Explain-Expert), explained their own answers (Explain-Novice), or did…

Constructivism emphasizes the learner as an active meaning maker and problem solver. This article reviews constructivism's basic principles, analyzes implications for curriculum work, and explores a constructivist unit-development process. Planners must decide degree of curricular integration, establish unit parameters, identify the problem, draft…

In a recent attempt to infuse her instructional design course at Penn State with the problem-based approach, the author began using real-world cases as the centerpiece for the class. This article describes the course requirements, how cases work, and probably pitfalls to this approach. Two sidebars include an Occupational Hearing Conservation…

Applies Benson's think-pair-share and Mazur's peer instruction techniques to enhance student involvement during the respiratory component of the medical physiology class. Investigates changes in students' level of understanding and ability to synthesize and integrate material. Includes 15 references. (Author/YDS)

Many educational development resources recommend making conventional lectures more interactive. However, there is little firm evidence supporting either the acceptability (to students) or efficacy of doing so. This research examined the use of short 'interactive windows' (discussions and problem-solving exercises) in first year evolution lectures…

This article argues that the merger of simulations and problem-based learning (PBL) can enhance both active-learning strategies. Simulations benefit by using a PBL framework to promote student-directed learning and problem-solving skills to explain a simulated dilemma with multiple solutions. PBL benefits because simulations structure the…