This study examines student perceptions regarding the effectiveness of small-group work in a large lecture class. The article considers and illustrates from students' perspectives the ways in which small-group activities could enhance comprehension of course material, reduce anonymity associated with large lecture classes, and promote student…

The notion of quality in undergraduate mathematics lectures is examined by using theoretical notions and research results from the literature and empirical data from a case study on lecturing on limits of functions. A systemic triangular model is found to catch critical quality aspects of a mathematics lecture, consisting of mathematical…

This study extrapolated from Liberman's (2004) calibration model and Kimball and Metcalfe's (2003) conceptualization in order to evaluate students' judgment of learning (JOL) of material presented in either an expository or a constructivist format. The purpose of this study was to determine if students have differing degrees of JOL based on the…

This study examined students' preferences for lecturers' personalities on three continents. Two-hundred and 35 university students in Malaysia, 347 university students in Britain and 139 university students in the United States provided ratings of 30 desirable and undesirable lecturer trait characteristics, which were coded into an internally…

In this article, we present an overview of a suite of light and spectroscopy education materials developed as part of Project LITE (Light Inquiry Through Experiments). We also present an analysis of how introductory college astronomy students using these Project LITE materials performed on the Light and Spectroscopy Concept Inventory (LSCI)…

Through an examination of one undergraduate American history course at a large university in the southeastern United States via interview, observation and content analysis, we attempted to discern if the pedagogical methodology was relating to the students in such a way as to foster students' ability to construct meaning beyond simply…

Rice University has created a team-taught interactive biology course for nonmajors with a focus on cutting edge biology in the news--advances in biotechnology, medicine, and science policy, along with the biological principles and methodology upon which these advances are based. The challenges inherent to teaching current topics were minimized by…

We face a world in which a college degree increasingly dictates the likelihood of life success. At the same time, there has been an ever increasing population of students who have not been prepared adequately through their high school education to meet the rigors of college/university-level content. The present study investigated the effects of a…

This paper aims to investigate students' likes and dislikes of the teaching that they have experienced and its effects on students' perceptions of the learning environment, student learning and academic performance. The study compares a lecture-based setting to a student-activating learning/teaching environment, considering both instructional and…

Twenty years of research shows that using interactive techniques more often can make a class more effective. For example, a study of six thousand physics students compared classes using passive lecture to classes using interactive techniques that allowed for discussion among students and between the professor and students. The study showed that…

Will a combination of lecture plus teaching demonstrations produce better learning than when equivalent information is presented through lecture alone? The present field experiment directly addressed this question. (Author)

Author reviewed his feelings about a teacher who was a model of critical dissent and who brought his own unusual stamp of analysis to American literature. (RK)

A presentation on how visuals can be integrated into university lectures. (HB)

As educators, we often take ourselves a bit too seriously, so veteran educator and illustrator Aaron Bacall offers a little perspective with these lighthearted cartoons. Whether used as overheads for meetings or as an individual break in a busy day, this collection of whimsical glimpses at staff development will provide a moment to laugh and add a…