Quantitative reasoning is a key intellectual skill, applicable across disciplines and best taught in the context of authentic, relevant problems. Here, I describe and assess a laboratory exercise that has students calculate their "carbon footprint" and evaluate the impacts of various behavior choices on that footprint. Students gather…

College instructors often teach scientific thinking by asking students to review and analyze a primary research article. The main purpose of this study was to explore how classroom response systems (CRS) could help impact the quality of written analysis papers submitted for this assignment by students taking 100-level biology courses at a…

Although academic writing is a complex interplay of comprehending and producing text the aspect of collecting information from source texts is hardly addressed in writing research. This study examined the impact of instructions supporting the collection process on writing quality, as well as the role of prior motivation and computer experience.…

This study examines the ways in which college students in Japan overcame sensitivity to external evaluation and increased their willingness to communicate in English. It is not uncommon for university students in Japan, who are otherwise proficient speakers of English and motivated to learn, fail to exhibit English competency in real communication…

Twenty-first century organizations are increasingly becoming global information networks where the emphasis on written communication is growing exponentially. Effective writing skills are becoming more essential to workplace success and thus a central focus in business programs across the country. This article addresses writing issues in business…

The comparative effectiveness of graphic novels, heavily illustrated novels, and traditional novels as reading teaching tools has been sparsely researched. During the 2011-2012 school year, 24 mixed-ability fifth grade students chose to read six novels: two traditional novels, two highly illustrated novels and two graphic novels. Students…

This article reports on an action research project conducted with six ninth grade students in a rural public school in Colombia. The purpose of the study was to determine how the implementation of three reading strategies (skimming, scanning, and making predictions), when reading topics selected by learners, helps them to improve their reading…

For decades, group work scholars have described a discrepancy between student preparation for group work practice and opportunities to work with groups in the field practicum and professional practice. Educators in related disciplines such as counseling and psychology have expressed similar concerns. This article reports findings of a study of MSW…

Field-based undergraduate geography courses provide numerous pedagogical benefits including an opportunity for students to acquire employable skills in an applied context. This article presents one unique approach to teaching geographic field methods using paleoecological research. The goals of this course are to teach students key geographic…

This study draws on the experience of a cohort of 22 students from 09 tutorial centers enrolled in a Master of Education (M Ed) distance learning program administered by the Bangladesh Open University (BOU). It's purpose is to locate the aims and philosophies of distance learning within the experiences of actual distance learners in order to see…

A growing body of research in recent years has supported the value of emotional intelligence in both effective teaching and student achievement. This paper presents a pre-post, quasi-experimental design study conducted to evaluate the contributions of a 56-h "Emotional Intelligence" training model. The model has been developed and…

Despite the critical importance of writing proficiency for success in higher education and the workplace (National Commission on Writing, 2003, 2004, 2005), writing achievement has remained stagnant for a number of years. Despite being firmly grounded in tenets of effective instruction (Graham & Perin, 2002) the widely used writer's workshop…

This paper describes utilizing wiki technology, small group workshops, and reflective writing assignments to "flip" a community engagement/service-learning course for college undergraduates who are tutoring culturally and linguistically diverse students in K-12 schools. Flipped classrooms are gaining popularity in the teaching of…

To test the feasibility of Wikipedia editing in large undergraduate psychology classrooms, we engaged groups of students in a large introductory-level Human Development course (N = 110) in editing Wikipedia articles to improve psychology-related content. Students attended in-class workshops and received online support to develop skills. They…

Spring 2015 marked the end of a three-year pilot program that the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) and the NAIS Commission on Accreditation sponsored on school use of the High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE), created and administered by Indiana University. To better understand the student experience, HSSSE…