Uses environmental impact analysis as a unifying theme to provide students with real problem-solving experiences without neglecting the principles and theories of the basic scientific disciplines undergirding environmental science. Provides information about stressed stream analysis, which connects environmental impact analysis and Great Lakes…

Describes problem-based learning, in which students encounter and solve a problem through reasoning and identifying learning needs, typically through a group process. Provides a rationale and guidelines to use problem-based learning effectively to strengthen service learning curricula. (SLD)

Points out the importance of the ability to apply knowledge in a problem-solving manner to real-life situations for biology students rather than possessing an exhaustive accumulation of facts. Describes a teaching approach that employs three-dimensional animal models to teach the student how to use deductive reasoning and critical analysis to…

Argues that high school teachers have given up on trying to teach equations and mathematics to poorly prepared, inner-city, or very average students. Describes a mathematical problem-solving physics course for all types of students from average to honors. (CCM)

A narrative-centered nurse practitioner curriculum combines case study analysis, problem-based learning, and a teaching philosophy focused on narrative pedagogy and interpretive research. The curriculum challenges the medical model and develops clinical reasoning skills as well as skills for individualized nursing care. (SK)

Discusses how service courses in technical writing and their user departments, motivated by calls from industry for students with problem-solving abilities, have incorporated higher-level thinking modes into their assignments. Considers how teachers are changing their pedagogical methods from simple transference of information from teacher to…

Examines the role of metacognition, particularly problem solving strategies, in how second language students learn in a multimedia environment, studying problem solving strategies used by students completing exercises in Mydlarski and Paramskas' program, Vi-Conte. Presents recommendations for training teachers, noting that the flexibility of…

Presents a prototype of an instructional task that aims at improved problem-solving skills based on the understanding of domain knowledge. (Author/CCM)

Physics problems presented by teachers or in textbooks are usually quantitative and offer only one solution. Suggests that getting students to solve qualitative problems and confronting them with multiple solutions can help them develop conceptual understanding and robust problem-solving strategies. (Author/ASK)

Describes task-based learning (TBL), a study module for fourth-year medical students (n=85), and experiences with implementing it at the University of Tampere in Finland. Indicates that this method works and that it leads to learning. Students evaluate their skills connected with a general practitioner's work in health center hospitals as better…

Describes the two-course engineering design graphics sequence on introductory design and graphics topics. The first course focuses on conceptual design and the development of visualization and sketching skills while the second one concentrates on detail design and parametric modeling. (Contains 28 references.) (Author/ASK)

Points out student struggles with the determination of empirical and molecular formulas and introduces a teaching approach to increase student understanding. Uses scenarios to present the experimental data before presenting the problem. (YDS)

Discusses traditional problem solving approaches. Reports that both high school students and college freshmen struggle with proportional reasoning and introduces a new method for quantitative problem solving at the high school level. (Contains 33 references.) (YDS)

Brainstorming may be the best-known tool for group idea generation and is widely taught in gifted and talented programs. Many empirical studies have been conducted regarding the effectiveness of brainstorming, and they have provided useful insights into the salient barriers facing groups who use this tool. Although a great deal of this literature…

Musicians practice to build endurance, flexibility, and dexterity. They practice to maintain good performance, to sight-read better, to memorize, and simply, to enjoy music making. There are other motivations for practice, but one, more than others, is a catalyst for consequential change in musical development--practicing to solve performance…