The ability to access, evaluate and synthesise high-quality research material is the backbone of critical thinking in academic and professional contexts for Engineers and Industrial Designers. This is the premise upon which teaching and library staff developed Information Literacy (IL) components in Engineering & Industrial Design Practice--a…

The use of blended learning, face-to-face contact alongside e-based activities, provides academic staff with an opportunity to match their teaching strategies with the changing student cohort. This study report students' perceptions of e-learning activities early in bioscience modules; students from all three levels of undergraduate study were…

Studies and commentary from the United States suggest that current undergraduates, part of the so called Net Generation, are high end users of emerging technologies such as mobile devices and new communication tools. This paper reports results from an Australian study of first year undergraduates which confirms these assertions: ownership of…

This investigation is an ethnographic case study of the literacy learning opportunities of a fifth-grade Hmong child (pseudonym Deng) who came to the United States from Laos via Thailand at the very end of his third-grade year in school. Deng was one of 25 students in a mainstream urban classroom in the Midwest during his fifth grade in school…

This study explores how high school students learn from their experiences in an extracurricular adventure program and illustrates how students' narrative inquiries relate to experiential learning. Twelve canoe trips were studied by participant observation methods. Data were collected from recorded interviews with students and staff, field notes,…

Findings from a study that examined the effects of homogeneous ability grouping on the attitudes of secondary students toward themselves and their learning experiences are presented in this paper. Methodology involved administration of an attitudes questionnaire to 110 students enrolled in the 10th- and 11th-grade English classes at a high school…

Constructivist theory asserts that children learn through interaction with and adaptation to their environment. Social constructivism emphasizes social interaction in learning, particularly language and the use of language in interaction between the student and his peers or an adult. This paper discusses the relevance of social constructivism,…

According to the philosophy of John Dewey, the goal of education is to provide students with an increased capacity for having worthwhile experiences. This paper draws on Dewey's writings to develop a theory of worthwhile experience, termed "idea-based experience." A model is proposed of how individuals are apprenticed into having an…

This paper describes an interdisciplinary approach to environmental education for students in grades 6 through 9. This approach emphasizes the importance of students' understanding of nature through hands-on experience in out-door settings and the verbal or artistic expression of their experiences. The first principle of effective environmental…

Strange as it may seem, the classroom is not, by and large, accepted within the composition discipline as a scene for genuine knowledge-making and theory-building. Teachers should go back to the "concrete materials" from which knowledge and theory are made. An example of what can be learned in the classroom comes from an effort to…

A knowledge base to guide the development of educational leadership programs is suggested in this report. The first part reviews sources of the educational leadership knowledge base, which include the traditional sources of school administrator experience and statutory specification, and recent sources, such as research on administrator induction…

Changing the school environment to enhance student motivation and achievement is described in this paper, which focuses on broad structural change within the school. Current motivation theory is applied at the school level for lasting school reform. A collaborative project among university researchers, school leaders, and school staff in one…

Returning adult students enrolled in graduate programs at the University of Wisconsin's School of Education and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences were studied. The sample of 25 male and 48 female students were 25 years of age and older, U.S. citizens, and had been out of school for 3 years. Students completed a biographical assessment,…

This article describes the Executive High School Internship Program which is an educational developmental experience that permits the qualified high school student to enter, on a full-time basis, the top-management level of the world of work in a real rather than a theoretical way. (Author)

The active learning approach promotes student achievement of higher-order skills such as independent reasoning, problem solving, and critical assessment. Active learning has been shown to foster student retention and encourage a more positive attitude toward school. The goal of the consumer decision-making class for university students and adults…