Inquiry methods have been successful in improving science literacy in students of all ages. Model-Based Inquiry (MBI) is an instructional model that engages students in the practices of science through the collaborative development of scientific models to explain an anchoring phenomenon. Student ideas are tested through engagement in content-rich…

By many accounts, developmental writing courses in community colleges fail to teach students skills needed to be successful in college-level coursework. In the current study, an identity-based pedagogical approach aimed at Promoting self-Relevance, triggering identity Exploration, facilitating a sense of Safety, and Scaffolding identity…

The purpose of this article is to describe a model for teaching introductory biology coursework within the Vision and Change framework (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2011). The intent of the new model is to transform instruction by adopting an active, student-centered, and inquiry-based pedagogy consistent with Vision and…

This chapter tells a story of course reform, describing in a fresh and candid way the steps taken toward change and the results achieved. The authors emphasize that instructors need considerable support in order to teach differently, as well as underscore the need to consider scalability of reform even at the pilot stage.

This volume has offered both the theory and practice for a model of contemplative teaching and learning in community colleges--a way of teaching, of learning, of thinking that has often been missing in higher education. Contemplative teaching and learning, with its focus on community, reflection, and mindfulness--in short, on what it means to be…

Since MIT and Harvard started edX, their joint experiment with free online courses, the venture has attracted enormous attention for opening the ivory tower to the world. But in the process, the world will become part of an expensive and ambitious experiment testing some of the most interesting--and difficult--questions in digital education. Can…

This chapter explores the correlation between human services practice and stress and examines the use of contemplative practices in the classroom as a way to teach self-care. The chapter also discusses ways in which contemplative practices can be incorporated as a critical component of human services education. Examples include stillness practices…

Colleges are facing an increasing population of students who begin their college experience in developmental education classes in reading, math, and/or English. Many of these students are unsuccessful in attaining a degree, sometimes because they are deterred by their lack of preparation and the delay of two or more semesters before they begin…

Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) opened its doors in 2006 and accepted its inaugural class of first-year students in 2007. During the 2007-2008 academic year, faculty members and administrators worked together to develop a model for Partners in Active Learning, or PALs--an initiative designed to fit the GGC vision and mission to build an…

Confluent education is the intentional integration of the affective and the cognitive domain in curriculum design and classroom teaching. The purpose of this study was to define, operationalize, and empirically evaluate a confluent reading/English fundamentals curriculum for community college students. A theoretical model was developed to describe…

Laney's Success Model for First-Year Students attempts to increase retention by accommodating students and encouraging learning. It requires an institutional commitment for student academic success and tries to dispel the forces of attrition: academic boredom, difficulty adjusting to college life, and academic underpreparedness. The first-year…

Assesses the present state of the art in the teaching of Spanish at the community college level, based on the paradigm developed by Arthur M. Cohen and on an investigation into foreign language teaching in community colleges in the Southwest. Found that most programs meet the main criteria of Cohen's model. (SED)

Describes a successful internship program at the University of Washington in which graduate students of English have the opportunity to observe a community college teacher in the classroom. Explains the internship model and its benefits. (KEH)

Argues for learning communities as a fruitful milieu for cognitive development and knowledge construction. Provides a metaphor of a constructivist learning community organization grounded on French scientist and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's theory of evolution. Asserts that Teilhardian thought is useful for conceptualizing a…

This article describes the initiatives of one community college district and its individual colleges to engage faculty in the scholarship of teaching and learning. The authors also discuss how these models take the step from effective and scholarly teaching to a scholarship of teaching and learning by encouraging faculty not only to reflect on…