We describe the development and implementation of an instructional design that focused on bringing multiple forms of active learning and student-centered pedagogies to a one-semester, undergraduate introductory biology course for both majors and nonmajors. Our course redesign consisted of three major elements: 1) reordering the presentation of the…

As Jackson and Davis noted, "the main purpose of middle grades education is to promote young adolescents' intellectual development. It is to enable every student to think creatively, to identify and solve meaningful problems, to communicate and work well with others, and to develop the base of factual knowledge and skills that is the essential…

Despite the widely-held acknowledgment of the great potential of the Internet for improving social studies instruction, the available research tells us that most social studies teachers who use the Internet in their classroom do so without changing much in their traditional approach to teaching. This article suggests using the NCSS Position…

This paper presents a collaborative educational experiment "The Death of the Dead Sea: A Problem Based Learning" that was applied in two governmental high schools in Ramallah, Palestine in the school year 2006-2007. The students' role was to raise awareness to the phenomenon of the saltiest lake that shrinks towards extinction. In spite…

As the method we use to measure the effectiveness of educational institutions changes to focus more on learning outcomes rather than learning processes, teaching styles may need to adapt to facilitate this approach to evaluation. This paper proposes several strategies to build a more student-focused classroom including the…

The research examined the effect of a teaching strategy emphasizing on instructional congruence on students' interests towards learning science. This study was conducted in three "low performing" secondary schools in Penang, Malaysia. There were 214 students involved in this study. A questionnaire was utilized to collect data on…

Some of the author's most valuable experiences as a library media specialist (LMS) were not in a school library. Rather, they were on the streets of Chicago, in community gardens, and on the rooftops of buildings in Humboldt Park, where she was hired by the University of Illinois Community Informatics Initiative as a graduate assistant and LMS in…

Project-based learning engages students in problem solving through artefact design. However, previous studies of online project-based learning have focused primarily on the dynamics of online collaboration; students' knowledge construction throughout this process has not been examined thoroughly. This case study analyzed the relationship between…

This note describes an interdisciplinary project designed to enhance students' knowledge of the basic techniques taught in a multivariable calculus course. The note discusses the four main requirements of the project and then the solutions for each requirement. Concepts covered include differentials, gradients, Lagrange multipliers, constrained…

This article takes as its starting point the ongoing downturn in student interest in, and engagement with, the enabling sciences. We make a case that embedding of creative pedagogies in science education has significant potential to arrest the flight from modern science. Five propositions are explored in order to argue the case: that young people…

As biology teachers, we should embrace the ever-increasing appearance of biology in movies and other media as an opportunity to engage students in active learning and to facilitate critical-thinking and investigative skills in the classroom. In this article, the author provides examples and strategies from his experience using popular movies in…

The advantages of active learning methodologies have been suggested and empirically shown by a number of IS educators. Case studies are one such teaching technique that offers students the ability to think analytically, apply material learned, and solve a real-world problem. This paper presents a case study designed to be used in a database design…

In a world where systems are increasingly larger, where their boundaries are often difficult to identify, and where societal rather than technical issues play increasingly bigger roles, problems cannot be solved by applying a technical solution alone. It thus becomes important for engineers to be skilled not only in terms of their particular…

While the remarkable accomplishments of Benjamin Franklin are unparalleled, the means of their attainment can be considered more accessible to ordinary people and not necessarily attributable to a special genius. The steady development of Franklin's knowledge and skills is traced in light of a new model of "dynamic learning," which is a method…

Project-based science (PBS) instruction can simply be defined as a student-centered science teaching approach, in which students produce tangible learning outcomes by posing and answering research questions that are relevant to their own lives and communities. In a PBS classroom, students are encouraged to take responsibility for their own…