This study reports on a multi-year effort to create and evaluate cognitive-based curricular materials for secondary school science classrooms. A team of secondary teachers, educational researchers, and academic biomedical engineers developed a series of curriculum units that are based in biomedical engineering for secondary level students in…

In this paper we propose a view of instructional design practice in which the instructional designer is an agent of social change at the personal, relational, and institutional levels. In this view designers are not journeymen workers directed by management, but act in purposeful, value based ways with ethical knowledge, in social relationships…

This paper presents an analysis of papers delivered at the ICALT 2004 conference, in order to understand the current research issues relating to Learning Objects (LOs). The major research results are summarized, and the papers are classified according to the definition of LO used and the approach taken (technical, pragmatic or pedagogic). The…

The American education system and its rigorous accountability and performance standards continually force educators to explore new ways to increase student achievement. The improvement in computer technology and intelligent computing systems may offer new tools for student learning and higher academic achievement. These systems have the potential…

Joseph Schwab (1909-1988) is known for his scathing critique of curriculum theory and its over reliance on quantitative models derived from social science theories. From the late 1950's through the middle 1960's, Schwab was instrumental to efforts to create a new and more educationally sound curriculum for weekday religious schools in synagogues…

Adaptive Hypermedia Systems (AHS) can be developed to accommodate a variety of individual differences, including learning style and cognitive style. The current research is an attempt to examine some of the critical variables, which may be important in the design of an Adaptive Educational System (AES) based on student's cognitive style. Moreover,…

Environmental management in South Africa is constrained by a lack of capacity for effective stakeholder engagement and environmental decision-making. The country's excellent environmental legislation demands that environmental professionals be appropriately trained at the higher education level. To this end, a Bachelors level learning programme in…

Addressing educational change through systems design allows disciplined inquiry into the complex and emerging social structures of this dynamic system. One such method, narrative story, provides a way to examine the historical and current-lived practice of those engaged in the educational system. As a design conversation, it encourages the…

Learning communities can emerge spontaneously when people find common learning goals and pursue projects and tasks together in pursuit of those goals. "Bounded" learning communities (BLCs) are groups that form within a structured teaching or training setting, typically a course. Unlike spontaneous communities, BLCs develop in direct response to…

Purpose: This study investigates: what kind of e-moderation is more effective in the formation of successful web-based courses, and the essential characteristics of synchronous communication (SC) that have a positive contribution in the formation of successful courses. Design/methodology/approach: The previously mentioned issues investigated a…

There has been an unmistakably more cosmopolitan approach to American history among scholars of the past two decades. This essay addresses the issue concerning the future of United States survey course as American history moves toward internationalization. Proponents of internationalization themselves disagree about the future of the United States…

Curriculum-Based Assessment for Instructional Design (CBA-ID) provides data used to ensure an appropriately challenging learning task. One aspect of appropriate challenge measured by CBA-ID, called the acquisition rate (AR), involves the amount of new information a student could acquire and retain during initial learning. Previous research…

In this paper we consider the aspect of teacher education which takes place, not in the school, but in the university classroom. Teaching about teaching, it is argued, must be grounded in students' understanding of the present, but must foster both hope and critique. Beginning from Maxine Greene's (2000) concept of imagination, this paper develops…

This article presents a study that aims at constructing a teaching framework for software development methods in higher education. The research field is a capstone project-based course, offered by the Technion's Department of Computer Science, in which Extreme Programming is introduced. The research paradigm is an Action Research that involves…

Design methodology (DM) is defined by the procedural path, expressed in design models, and techniques or methods used to untangle the various activities within a design model. Design education in universities is mainly based on descriptive design models. Much knowledge and organization have been built into DM to facilitate design teaching.…