The goal of this single-phase and convergent mixed methods study was to compare the differences in the effectiveness of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) presences of a community college blended block instructional model with the in-person counterpart. Data were gathered from the Community of Inquiry Survey, Blackboard LMS reports, and course…

This study investigated the relationship learning community participation has with community college students' perceived learning gains and engagement in educationally purposeful activities. Study data were sourced from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) with a total of 694 institutions and over 107,000 participants. To…

Simulation methodology has moved toward using different types of real-world scenario-based learning constructs to improve applied understanding of political science concepts and theories. This type of active learning has become popular in the upper divisions of undergraduate and graduate political science. This reflection addresses the variance in…

Interdisciplinary pedagogy can enhance Introduction to Psychology curricula. We developed an interdisciplinary project to make meaning in a learning community (LC) clustering Introduction to Psychology with Introduction to Criminal Justice. Our purpose is to describe the project as a model and report on students' evaluations of the project and…

Student anxiety is a growing concern for colleges and universities. As science classrooms transition from traditional lecture to active learning, researchers have sought to understand how active learning affects undergraduate anxiety. However, although community colleges educate nearly half of all undergraduates, no studies have explored the…

The purpose of this study was to compare community college students' learning experiences and performance for lecture-based, active learning, and flipped classroom teaching approaches. Participants were second-semester computer programming students (n = 103) at a mid-sized college of applied arts and technology. Garrison's (2011) Community of…

High-structure course designs have reduced achievement gaps for low-income and underrepresented minority students at research universities. But do community college students have time to do the preclass preparation required for intensive active learning, given their work and family commitments? We asked introductory majors biology students at two…

Interdisciplinary education offers a collaborative approach to multifaceted topics, such as environmental sustainability. In this article, we present the conceptual framework and lessons learned from a team-taught course, entitled Sustainability, Energy, and the Green Economy (SEGE). Faculty from the departments of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology…

The author reflects on his 44-year career as a science instructor, during which he gradually implements new active learning strategies in the classroom and shifts to integrating science and literature in the teaching of learning communities. The author describes three learning communities to show how the disciplines of science and literature can…

Research has shown that a moderate to high level of Active Learning (AL) is helpful for all students, especially for disadvantaged students. In this study we measured student perceptions of case-based learning (CBL), a type of AL, in anatomy and physiology courses at a four-year university and a community college. We compared perceptions of CBL to…

This study explored whether gender and active learning and student-centered pedagogies such as project-based and peer-led in introductory science "gatekeeper" major courses; BIOL 1306 and CHEM 1311 had an impact on student success rates, student perceptions, and student persistence in STEM fields at a community college in South Texas…

Service learning has grown in popularity within higher education as a teaching pedagogy shown to foster student engagement as well as strengthen the relationships between the community and community college. Research has demonstrated that service learning places a focus on students gaining the hands-on experience tied closely to course objectives…

This Dissertation in Practice (DiP) uses an action research (AR) methodology to answer a research question pertaining to the impacts of implementing a multimodal-based assessment project in the introductory, General Biology I (BI 114) classroom at East-State Junior College. A mixed-methods approach will be utilized to ascertain the impacts on…

Active learning, an engaging, student-centered, evidence-based pedagogy, has been shown to improve student satisfaction, engagement, and achievement in college classrooms. There have been numerous calls to reform teaching practices, especially in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM); however, the utilization of active learning is…

Objective: In community colleges, achieving competence in math is critical to students' timely progression through coursework and eventual educational success; yet, it remains unclear when the optimal timing to complete required math courses is in order to maximize the chance of completing a credential on time. This study examines the timing of…