Students connect to science in multiple ways. For some students, learning how real people have developed and defended their scientific ideas makes science relevant and interesting. Tracking the changes in scientific thought over time can be fascinating for students as they see how scientists based their growing understanding on empirical data that…

This classroom narrative proposes a process for reinventing academic research and writing in secondary schools for the 21st Century. We build on Macrorie's (1988) I-Search paper, drawing on affordances of Web 2.0 technologies and culture, to initiate the iSearch 2.0 process. iSearch 2.0 consists of four phases: 1) messing about and trying on…

Exploratory learning is recognized as a developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood education. During exploration, exposure to new things guides children in the acquisition of knowledge, while interactions with a range of familiar and unfamiliar artifacts can support developmental integration. Exploratory activity may occur…

In order to better understand how to design hands-on child-computer interaction, we explore how different styles of interaction facilitate children's thinking while they use their hands to manipulate objects. We present an exploratory study of children solving a spatial puzzle task. We investigate how the affordances of physical, graphical…

Throughout history the oceans have directly or indirectly influenced humans. The importance of knowing how to protect this valuable resource and insure it for future generations is vital. Underwater Vehicles are tools essential for this process, and therefore research and development to perfect these devices is needed. However, the main goal of…

David C. Geary's thesis has the potential to alter our understanding of those aspects of human cognition relevant to instruction. His distinction between biologically primary knowledge that we have evolved to acquire and biologically secondary knowledge that is culturally important, taught in educational institutions and which we have not evolved…

This paper discusses the connection between age and strategies for learning new technology related tasks. Many users have to learn about new devices and applications on a frequent basis and use a variety of strategies to accomplish this learning process. Approaches to learning new technology related tasks vary and can contribute to a user's…

This article reviews Appreciative Inquiry (AI) as a process used in organizational creation and change and then outlines steps for an in-class exercise titled "The Preferred Classroom," to be used to design and organize a college classroom for the term. The exercise also prepares business students for future exposure to AI. A brief literature…

This note discusses the introduction of Fourier series as an immediate application of optimization of a function of more than one variable. Specifically, it is shown how the study of Fourier series can be motivated to enrich a multivariable calculus class. This is done through discovery learning and use of technology wherein students build the…

This reflective essay explores the relationship between wonder and learning. Building on the belief that child-like wonder is a precursor to growth, the author discusses four ways to encourage wonder in her college students: getting straight on "who we are" as learners, providing opportunities for discovery and surprise, asking and inviting…

Providing exploratory activities prior to explicit instruction can facilitate learning. However, the level of guidance provided during the exploration has largely gone unstudied. In this study, we examined the effects of 1 form of guidance, feedback, during exploratory mathematics problem solving for children with varying levels of prior domain…

Past research in both the transitions to adulthood literature and cultural sociology more broadly suggests that the working class relies on traditional cultural models in their construction of identity. In the contemporary post-industrial world, however, traditional life pathways are now much less available to working-class men and women. I draw…

A variety of leadership theories are examined to support the idea that school nurses can be positive deviants in the school setting. Transformational leadership, situational leadership, and complexity theory can all be used by school nurses to create positive change in the school environment because all recognize the need for flexible leadership…

This study investigated older adults' peer teaching experiences at a Lifelong Learning Institute through interviews with eight teachers and observations of their classes. Thematic analysis revealed themes of peer-to-peer teaching, volunteer teaching, and explorative teaching. Discussion of the themes examines the meaning of older adults' peer…

In this article, the author relates his unhappy experience in learning about prime numbers at secondary school. To introduce primes, a teacher first told students a definition of a prime number, then students were taught how to find prime numbers. Students defined and listed them and at some later point were tested on their memory of both the…