Math and science and the related technology and engineering are natural pairings. These four disciplines form the acronym STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and can be readily combined into an integrated curriculum for early childhood classrooms. Many educators believe that children learn best when disciplines are interconnected. An…

In today's teaching and learning approaches for first-semester students, practical courses more and more often complement traditional theoretical lectures. This practical element allows an early insight into the real world of engineering, augments student motivation, and enables students to acquire soft skills early. This paper describes a new…

Attaining excellence in technical education is a worthy challenge to any life goal. Distance learning opportunities make these goals easier to reach with added quality. Distance learning in engineering education is possible only through successful implementations of remote laboratories in a learning-by-doing environment. This paper presents one…

This article describes an extension to project-oriented learning to increase social construction of knowledge and learning. The focus is on: (a) maximising opportunities for students to share their knowledge with practitioners by joining communities of practice, and (b) increasing their intrinsic motivation by creating conditions for student's…

These proceedings contain the papers of the 18th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA 2021), held virtually, due to an exceptional situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, from October 13-15, 2021, and organized by the International Association for Development of the Information Society…

Effective evidence-based action requires getting the right data into the right hands at the right time to help make decisions. The Data Quality Campaign (2011) has provided suggestions to state education agencies for effectively using data within state longitudinal data systems. One suggestion is to identify "the variety of ways available…

While the great scientists of the past recognized a need for a multidisciplinary approach, today's schools often treat math and science as subjects separate from the rest. This not only creates a disinterest among students, but also a potential learning gap once students reach college and then graduate into the workforce. "Cases on…

This paper discusses a sophomore-level course that teaches engineering design and technical writing. Historically, the course was taught using semester-long design projects. Most students' overall approach to design problems left considerable room for improvement. Many teams chose a design without investigating alternatives, and important…

This paper not only aims to present the feedback received from the students, but also evaluate the feedback by reviewing the teaching practice. It analyses the teacher should be aware of the importance that feedback, both to and from the students, has upon the teaching and learning process. Through a case study about the feedback from the students…

Video-heavy distance learning programs can put a strain on the campus network. This article describes how three institutions are managing bandwidth to ensure high-quality service for eLearning students.

The Meyerhoff Scholarship Program, which celebrated its 20th year in 2008, is considered a successful intervention program for increasing the number of underrepresented minorities who earn Ph.D.s or M.D./Ph.D.s and pursue research careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This article examines the relationship between…

Two types of students at our university college were combined with the aim of bringing different knowledge together and in this way improving the learning environment. Based on observations and interviews, the project only partly turned out as expected. In this paper we try to ascertain what went right and what went wrong, explain why, and suggest…

A hybrid introductory course was developed and piloted during the Fall 2007 semester in three laptop sections (i.e., all of the students owned and brought laptops to class each day). The online portion of the course included voiced-over content presentations, software demonstrations, and sketching examples as well as online assessments. Sections…

The Bologna process has triggered an important change in the course outline towards a sustainable, transparent and quality-driven European education system. In Belgium, engineering education had to be completely revised. The transformation of the former system, leading to the degree of academic engineer after five years of study, into the typical…

The decline in engineering degree enrolments in many western nations poses a range of challenges that are easy to identify but difficult to address. There have been at least 30 major reports on the issue of engineering enrolments in universities and a great many more on an allied issue, enrolments and achievement in science and maths areas at a…