Over the last decade, remote instruments have become widely used in astronomy. Educational applications are more recent. This paper describes a program to bring radio astronomy into the undergraduate classroom through the use of a remote research-grade radio telescope, the MIT Haystack Observatory 37 m telescope. We examine the effectiveness of…

This article presents the authors' perspectives on Electronic Collaborative Educational Learning Laboratory (ECELL), an innovative summer school experiment conducted over 5 years from 1997 to 2001. The authors offer a detailed picture of the ECELL as a philosophy of professional development, as an organizing framework, and as a community of…

Newborn screening has existed as a state-based public health service since the early 1960s. Every state and most territorial jurisdictions have comprehensive newborn screening programs in place, but in the United States a national newborn screening policy does not exist. This results in different administrative infrastructures, screening…

As students apply their knowledge of scientific concepts and of science as a method of inquiry, learning becomes relevant. This laboratory exercise is designed to foster students' understanding of the genetics of quantitative traits and of the nature of science as a method of inquiry by engaging them in a real-world business scenario. During the…

This qualitative study looked at how early childhood teachers talk about and interact with the most powerful children in their classrooms--the student leaders. Relying primarily on interviews with six teachers in early childhood classrooms (infants, toddlers, and preschoolers) within a University-affiliated center, this paper reconsidered…

We report on the development of students' ideas of probability and probability density in a University of Maine laboratory-based general education physics course called "Intuitive Quantum Physics". Students in the course are generally math phobic with unfavorable expectations about the nature of physics and their ability to do it. We…

The paper focuses on educational projects developed in the ETSII (Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales) of the Polytechnic University of Madrid during the past few years. These projects were developed as new tools for enhancing the active role of students, for improving practical teaching, especially by means of virtual laboratories…

General math students--the first quartile in math--are having trouble passing the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), and there are several reasons why: (1) They have poor math skills and not much aptitude; (2) They never see all of the needed curriculum; (3) Their learning style directly conflicts with the organizational patterns in…

Some learning scientists are beginning to investigate social and cultural aspects of learning by examining the interactions between a learner and the environment as well as with other people in the learning environment. This article proposes conversational analysis (CA) as a tool to analyze interactions between learners and instructors in…

Since the 1970s, both authors have been involved in the school reform movement, sharing a passion for improving public education, particularly urban public education. Their experiences as teacher and professor in an urban magnet laboratory school reinforced their belief in the ability of all children to learn. They state that, within the magnet…

Graduate students from a variety of agricultural and natural resource fields are incorporating geographic information systems (GIS) analysis into their graduate research, creating a need for teaching methodologies that help students understand advanced GIS topics for use in their own research. Graduate-level GIS exercises help students understand…

This study aimed to identify the types of arguments promoted in various contexts common to a high school chemistry classroom, including lecture-discussion and laboratory activities. The study was guided by the following research question: What types of argument structures and schemes, if any, are promoted and engaged by students within various…

Preservice elementary teachers in a conceptual physics course were given multiple resources to use during several inquiry activities in order to investigate how materials were chosen, used, and valued. These students performed significantly better on assessment items related to the inquiry physics activities than on items related to traditional…

This study aimed to explore the effect of computer assisted language learning (CALL) on the undergraduate students' achievement on the TOEFL exam. The study was designed as quasi-experimental research. The participants in the study were 34 sophomore students in the Department of Foreign Language Education in Middle East Technical University. The…

Supplemental instruction classes have been shown in many studies to enhance performance in the supported courses and even to improve graduation rates. Generally, there has been little evidence of a differential impact on students from different ethnic/racial backgrounds. At San Francisco State University, however, supplemental instruction in the…