Finding appropriate interactive exercises to increase students' learning in technical topic courses is always challenging to educators. In this study, several paper plane hands-on simulation exercises were developed, used, and tested in a lean manufacturing course for beginning college students. A pretest and posttest was used to assess the…

This article looks at a process of integrating real-life data investigation in a course on descriptive statistics. Referring to constructivist perspectives, this article suggests a look at the potential of inculcating alternative teaching methods that encourage students to take a more active role in their own learning and participate in the…

The classroom activity described here allows mathematically mature students to explore the role of mean, median and mode in a decision-making environment. While students discover the importance of choosing a measure of central tendency, their understanding of probability distributions, maximization, and prediction is reinforced through active…

The purpose of this article is to report on empirical work, related to a techniques module, undertaken with the dental students of the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. I will relate how a range of different active learning techniques (tutorials; question papers and mock tests) assisted students to adopt a deep approach to learning in…

Although the idea of using a workshop to educate potential users about a set of materials or techniques is not new, the workshops described here go beyond simple dissemination and create ongoing communities of practice that support widespread and sustained improvement in the biochemistry classroom. The degree to which pedagogical innovations…

This study followed an innovative introduction of mobile technology (i.e., BlackBerry® devices) to a graduate level business program and documented students' use of the technology from the time students received the devices to the end of their first term of study. Students found the BlackBerry® device easy to use, and were optimistic regarding its…

The National Research Council's most recent report "Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8," (2007) has suggested a redefinition of science proficiency. "This framework rests on a view of science as both a body of knowledge and an evidence-based, model building enterprise that continually extends,…

This study offers an innovative and sustainable instructional model for an introductory undergraduate course. The model was gradually implemented during 3 yr in a research university in a large-lecture biology course that enrolled biology majors and nonmajors. It gives priority to sources not used enough to enhance active learning in higher…

Geographical inquiry involves collecting, using and making sense of the data to investigate some geographical phenomena. With the increasing number of mobile devices equipped with Internet access capabilities, there is a wide scope for using it in field inquiry where learning can take place in the form of social interactions between team members…

This paper focuses on the patterns of teaching styles and active teaching across subjects and between low and high performing schools in an attempt to examine what accounts for differences in performance between schools which are within the same locality. It uses data collected in 72 primary schools spread across six districts in Kenya. Video…

A literature review of 121 peer-reviewed articles, books, and conference proceedings was conducted to determine the signature pedagogies of social studies education and technology integration. The authors found that the signature social studies pedagogy is based on two primary instructional models: direct-instruction and inquiry-based,…

This article investigates the role of the arts in enabling prisoners to engage with learning and improve their literacy, and the impact this has on their rehabilitation and desistance from crime. It draws on data collected from prisoners who participated in arts interventions in three different Scottish prisons. It argues that participating in the…

In 2006, Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) launched a major initiative, the Top 25 Project, to embed inquiry-guided learning (IGL) into its largest-enrollment courses across the university. These are generally entry-level classes and thus affect many students: 75 percent of incoming students on its main campus in 2010 were in at least one Top 25…

In this study, researchers investigated the influence of modeling active learning strategies in an introductory foundations teacher preparation course: 1) on teacher candidates' perceptions of participating in active learning in the college classroom, 2) on participants' acquisition of course content, and 3) on participants' later use of active…

Current e-learning forms are commonly based on improving the learning process through the enhancement of certain skills in students, such as collaborative, competitive or problem-based learning. However, it seems that there is still no e-learning "formula" that gathers the implementation of a number of more generic educational principles in a…