Presents a rationale for acknowledging the importance of movement to learning to help children understand abstract concepts. Includes seven activities that employ movement to enable students to understand the nature of the solar system. (DDR)

Service learning is positioned at the intersection of two major concerns of education: the balance between active and traditional learning and the axis of public and private sectors. As such, it can be used to address a variety of educational issues, including instructional strategy, undergraduate research, diversity, civic and social…

Faculty who introduce active learning methods often perceive striking changes in student competence. Describes an assessment strategy designed to determine whether such changes in student skills are observable by independent and unbiased observers. Contains 16 references. (DDR)

Provides an example of a directed case on human anatomy and physiology. Uses brief real life newspaper articles and clinical descriptions of medical reference texts to describe an actual, fictitious, or composite event. Includes interrelated human anatomy and physiology topics in the scenario. (YDS)

Not all learning activities are worth keeping. For kids to know and understand important curriculum concepts, hands-on activities should also be "minds-on." Backward Design is a three-step curriculum model that helps teachers identify desired results, determine acceptable evidence of student learning, and plan learning experience and…

Describes an algorithm for planning college-level mathematics lessons based on the identification and achievement of student learning objectives. Discusses the ways in which this algorithm can help novice instructors to include opportunities for active learning in their lessons. (Contains 50 references.) (Author/ASK)

Transfers the environment of a large enrollment oceanography course by modifying lectures to include cooperative learning via interactive in-class exercises and directed discussion. Results of student surveys, course evaluations, and exam performance demonstrate that learning of the subject under these conditions has improved. (Author/SAH)

Discusses inquiry and how asking questions, answering the questions, and arguing the answer should be. Provides examples of inquiry investigations and make recommendations for inquiry-based teaching approaches. (YDS)

Proposes that classrooms that encourage critical thinking possess distinguishing features that can assess whether critical thinking is a regular occurrence. Suggests that a critical thinking classroom commonly reflects the following attributes: frequent questions, developmental tension, fascination with the contingency of conclusions, and active…

Discusses problems that arise when computer software users have to learn a new system while maintaining productivity. Highlights include active learning; a constructivist view; Vygotsky's zone of proximal development; and a model called Design for Learnability (DesiL) that focuses the performance technologist on an ethnomethodological study of…

Describes a laboratory activity investigating important concepts in microbiology and ecology in which students design and carry out their own experiments and learn about microorganisms. Points out that all microorganisms are not dangerous and studies the relationship between Methylobacterium and plants. (YDS)

Describes a program at Tomsk State University in Russia to incorporate more active, student-driven teaching methods. Discusses the difficulties and successes experienced by both teachers and students with the new mode of instruction. (EV)

States that educators find themselves facing reduced resources and a body of students whose diversity is unprecedented. Suggests that an effective approach to education lies in regarding the "content" of courses not as a body of information to be imparted by the knowledgeable to those seeking it, but as an active, experiential "learning process."…

Questions the goals of high school to college science education and compares what is achieved with traditional teaching strategies. Describes how science majors and non-science majors alike are based on an authentic field-based research. Explains the principles of best practices in undergraduate science education. (YDS)

Suggests that using K-W-L as an active learning strategy in a traditional lecture classroom setting can facilitate interaction between professor, students and subject matter. Considers how this method fosters a sense of community between professor, the discipline, and students even in large classes. Concludes that one of the advantages of active…