The authors report on a pilot project designed to integrate habits of mind into a skills-based first-year seminar. This project featured the development of a curriculum map outlining the primary learning objectives for seven habits of mind--curiosity, perseverance, introspection, courage, humility, empathy, and civility--and this study shares that…

Studio-based learning is gaining currency in university engineering education programmes. It is widely argued that this practice-oriented, collaborative approach to developing professional, teamwork and interpersonal skills is needed to prepare the future workforce. In this paper, students' expectations and perceptions of a first-year studio were…

In the wake of the so-called fourth industrial revolution, computer programming has become a foundational competency across engineering disciplines. Yet engineering students often resist the notion that computer programming is a skill relevant to their future profession. Here are presented two activities aimed at supporting the early development…

We do not learn through experiences alone; we learn by thinking about our experiences. But after disappointing exam results, students can reflect on their performance in unproductive ways, circulating scripted beliefs about why they did poorly: "The professor talks too fast," "The test didn't cover the lectures in class,"…

Looking to the possibility that interdisciplinary, thematic courses can build student confidence in the writing process, this essay argues that a first-year writing course that combines close attention to rhetorical skills, readings about an interdisciplinary field, and a carefully scaffolded assignment sequence enhances the potential transfer of…

In 2012, Randy Bass challenged educators to "disrupt" themselves expanding the notion of teaching to include multiple high-impact practices (HIP). First-year seminars are a HIP that, when done successfully, encourages retention and persistence in students. On our campus they function similarly, but they also create opportunities for…

This study uses the concept of gamification to engage first-year students in the act of summary writing. The researcher argues that writing instructors should consider ways to gamify concepts in their curriculum to bring novelty and active involvement to course materials. The researcher uses Robson et al.'s (2015) mechanics, dynamics, and emotions…

In this study, we analysed a mathematician's teaching journals on eigenvalues and eigenvectors in a first-year linear algebra course. The research team employed Tall's ["How humans learn to think mathematically: Exploring the three worlds of mathematics." Cambridge University Press] three-world model of embodied, symbolic and formal as a…

It is commonly accepted that future art teachers bring well-formed ideas about teaching to their art teacher education, including what good art teachers and good art teaching are like. Over the years, these ideas are built up through experiences that include interacting with art teachers, hearing ways people talk about art and art education, and…

Teaching classes concerned with justice and equity led us to understand that we must model justice and equity in all of our work. In order to ask students to be vulnerable in talking about how they have been exposed to, and impacted by, society's messages about race, gender, and sexual identity, we have a responsibility to first demonstrate that…

Research indicates that peer interaction in the online classroom engages students in academic reflective deliberations. This study assesses student peer interactions on a purposefully designed collaborative website in an American politics course offered across two courses. Significant evidence reveals that students are open, candid, and…

Forcing education institutions to rely on online learning exclusively, the recent pandemic has brought lifelong learning (LLL) to the forefront. The effects of the recent education approaches on students' LLL skills merit investigation. First-year students may be at a greater risk because of their limited tertiary education experience and…

This study is aimed at determining first-year university students' reflections when Fibonacci tiling, the ancient Chinese fang cheng procedures, and the ancient Indian meru prastara recursions were introduced as historical snippets in an adventure pedagogy for basic mathematics. Seventy-eight first-year students enrolled in a course in basic…

This paper proposes using video-supported reflection to facilitate EFL students' reflective practice of oral presentations. Based on reflective learning theory, four teaching stages are designed and used in an intensive oral presentation training project: creating reflection scenarios, providing reflection scaffolds, guiding collaborative…

This article reports on a qualitative study that explored the learning outcomes from an innovative instructional method, visual narratives, used in a first-year seminar. Fifty-three students enrolled in a mandatory first semester student success course were instructed to use visual images to tell the story of the first-year experience. Data…