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…

Applies Benson's think-pair-share and Mazur's peer instruction techniques to enhance student involvement during the respiratory component of the medical physiology class. Investigates changes in students' level of understanding and ability to synthesize and integrate material. Includes 15 references. (Author/YDS)

States that various studies have revealed excellent recognition memory of pictures when participants are asked to remember what has been presented. Explores unpracticed memory for the English five pound bank note. States that results point to dramatic memory failure and to misrepresentations in memory. (CMK)

Discusses how a "disruptive" kindergarten student in a summer school program blossomed in a different classroom environment where there was an atmosphere of love and trust. Notes that the student was an active learner, and his new classroom environment encouraged that type of learning. (RS)

Describes an attempt to systematically incorporate "active learning" into the structure of an elective course designed to instruct students in computer-based approaches to statistics. Concludes that this approach to statistics instruction resulted in both high student learning and high student motivation to learn. Contains 15 references.…

Proposes that presenters at conventions should be performers amidst an active audience and demonstrate the ideas as they might actually appear in the classroom using a hands-on, visual approach. Highlights various presentation introductions that illustrate this visual presentation approach. Provides suggestions for convention presenters. (CMK)

Inquisitiveness is what drives children's learning. Cognitive scientists have devised constructivist theory to explain how an individual progresses from curiosity to new knowledge. Formal schooling has struggled unsuccessfully to simulate real-life learning situations. Emerging brain research supports bringing the community into the learning…