The authors describe a social approach to learning in community service learning that extends the contributions of three theoretical bodies of scholarship on learning: social constructionism, critical pedagogy, and community service learning. Building on the assumptions about learning described in each of these areas, engagement, identity, and…

This article advances the consideration of resilience as an important concept in the transitional process of learning to adapt to life with chronic illness, by utilising interactional processes inherent in participatory action research (PAR) that may strengthen a person's capacity to live well with long-term illness. Sharing experiences and…

This paper focuses on young men's views on the school sex education they have received, the influence of this sex education on their intended or actual behaviour, and the extent to which other sources of information complement or supplement school sex education. Thirty-five in-depth interviews and eight group discussions were conducted with male…

This study investigated how two groups of Guatemalan Mayan mothers varying in schooling experience organized children's participation in a problem-solving discussion. Twenty-eight foursomes of mothers and three children (ages 6-12 years) were videotaped discussing how to solve the shortage of drinking water in their town. Mayan mothers with no or…

Educators are becoming increasingly sensitive to accommodating the needs of students from diverse backgrounds in their classes while ensuring that learning occurs. Group work often is the vehicle chosen to stimulate participation and positively affect learning. In this paper, we describe the development of parallel case studies related to…

Proven to be powerful learning tools, literature and song can spark students' interests and are resources with great potential for fostering learning. The use of literature and song in history classes can be a stand-alone instructional strategy or a supplement to more traditional means of teaching. Once students' interest and imagination have been…

Instructional components in the training of graduate-level group workers are presented, evaluated, and discussed. The four components are asynchronous and synchronous discussions, presentation on technology uses in group work and ethical considerations, and evaluation of Web resources related to groups. An evaluation questionnaire completed by…

This article proposes a model that integrates the traditionally conflicting objectivist and constructivist approaches to instructional design. I argue that these two approaches are complementary rather than oppositional. I present and analyze two learning programs in order to show how learning events can contain both objectivist and constructivist…

Role-playing is a well regarded learning activity. By participating in this activity, students can apply their knowledge through their assigned roles in a realistic but risk-free situation. The role play stimulates class discussion, dramatizes rhetorical principles about purpose, shows how to adapt a text to an audience of employees in a…

All business communication professors struggle with anxiety-ridden students when discussing public speaking. To alleviate students' fears of speaking in public a process was designed to allow business communication students to acknowledge, address, and annul their presentation fears. A six-year comparative study using qualitative methods and…

Bechtel and O'Sullivan suggest that teacher change within the context of professional development (PD) is influenced by the design and content of PD initiatives. This paper examines the influence of an initiative designed to stimulate reflection and discussion among experienced teachers. It has been argued in the physical education literature and…

Incubation studies are traditionally used in soil microbiology laboratory classes to demonstrate microbial respiration and N mineralization-immobilization processes. Sometimes these exercises are done to calculate a N balance in N fertilizer-amended soils. However, examining microbial responses to environmental perturbations would appeal to soil…

Often, students repeat the mistakes they have made in answering exam questions, even after classroom discussion of their errors. They do not appear to have "learned from their mistakes". One possible solution is to guide students through a more active process of addressing their mistakes. We will describe a classroom study focused on the…

A professional development case in college science teaching bridges the gap between educational theory and practice. A good case poses an interesting dilemma involving instructors, students, and administrators. Case discussions can help instructors take charge of their own professional development and create a community of shared professional…

This article contributes to the research training environment literature by presenting a method to guide the development of a dissertation research question. The method relies on 2 essential components: (a) informal doctoral student research team meetings to provide a mentoring environment in which conversation and discussion about dissertation…