This article describes my efforts to improve student skills in solving unstructured problems in a junior-level undergraduate business course by employing a problem-based learning (PBL) design. A rationale for adopting a PBL approach for this course is articulated. A 7-step problem-solving model is then presented. The course's design is described,…

Difficult to teach and learn, information literacy is a set of skills and knowledge that must be mastered through practice. Advances in the learning sciences reveal that students are not receptacles for wisdom deposits. They decide what they will learn. Problem-based learning exploits that insight. It calls for faculty/librarian collaborations.…

Methods courses, the mainstays of preservice teacher education in social studies, are curiously understudied in general terms although there are numerous focused studies on such topics as methods textbooks, problem-based learning, and critical thinking, including an issue focused on reflections on the methods course in the "International Social…

Using a multiple-paper format, this dissertation includes three papers. By providing critiques of instrumental rationality, objectification, and psychologism in instructional technology," this study aims to provide a tentative formulation of a "critical instructional technology that is sensitive to power and ethics. The first article starts by…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the ways in which the experience of learning through an online problem-based learning (PBL) model affect teachers' perceptions of integrating technology. Participant reflections were collected and analyzed to identify the pros, cons, and challenges of learning technology integration through this…

The Environmental Inquiry program supports inquiry based, student-centered science teaching on selected topics in the environmental sciences. Many teachers are unfamiliar with both the underlying science of toxicology, and the process and importance of peer review in scientific method. The protocol and peer review process was tested with college…

This study explores the relationship between online learners and the Web-based learning environments they study within. The extent to which the online learning environment constitutes a cultural influence on the learners, and the manner in which different individuals within the group influence the emergence of a particular cultural identity were…

This work presents a unique education resource for both process engineering students and the industry workforce. The learning environment is based around spherical imagery of real operating plants coupled with interactive embedded activities and content. This Virtual Reality (VR) learning tool has been developed by applying aspects of relevant…

This paper describes a reality-based learning project in which sophomore accounting and engineering students collaborated in interdisciplinary teams to design and build a million-dollar waterslide park. Two weeks into the project, the teams received a briefing from an industrial panel of engineers, bankers, entrepreneurs, and other professionals.…

An important mandate of higher education is to provide students with the skills and strategies required to become self-regulating lifelong learners. This paper analyzes and interprets data gathered from two instructional settings both of which have been structured to promote self-regulated or self-directed learning. It includes an interpretation…

A study explored some of the ways that the members of a medical educational institution make sense out of the radical pedagogical innovation taking place in their school. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with members at "MWCOM" (a pseudonym), then data were analyzed according to three primary themes which revolve around how…

Engineering is the science, art, and business of designing and getting things done; engineers are required to make things happen through interpersonal relationships. At Monash University (Australia), a new course, Management for Engineers, was set up in 1990 to encourage a more holistic approach to the process of engineering. The course included…

Describes problems encountered in teaching a problem-centered undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory course. No text is used for this type of course; the students are encouraged to plan their own experimental routes. (MLH)

In designing and implementing the pilot program of serving principal training, the author of this paper learned the experience from what E. Bridges and P. Hallinger did but didn't imitate fully, rather, created several new strategies because Chinese principals faced different situation from their American counterparts. The pilot program introduced…

This study investigated and described the perspectives of science teachers who integrated a Web-enhanced problem-based learning model into their classrooms. The study examined: (1) teachers' pedagogical beliefs; (2) the roles of teachers; (3) the use of Web resources; and (4) the degree of increased student engagement. This qualitative study used…