Study after study documents the skills the American workforce needs to stay competitive in a global marketplace, yet increasingly employers are compelled to look overseas for those skills. The authors advocate for a different manner of thinking, focused on engaging students in work that is relevant to the world they see, encouraging them to take…

This study was set up in a Chinese university in Beijing by implementing a Flemish e-learning course in a Chinese setting. A main feature of the e-learning environment is the asynchronous "task-based" online group discussion. The purpose of the study is to understand Chinese students' perceptions of a collaborative e-learning environment…

In this study, the effects of teacher-directed and self-directed problem-solving strategies on students' attitudes toward physics were explored. Problem-solving strategies were used with the experimental group, while the control group was instructed using traditional teaching methods. The study was conducted with 270 students at various high…

Problem-focused interventions are considered to be one of the most effective group counseling strategies with adolescents. This article describes a problem-focused group counseling model, Solving Problems Together (SPT), with a small group of adolescent African American boys struggling with anger management. Adapted from the teaching philosophy of…

Problem-based learning has been at the core of significant developments in engineering education in recent years. This term refers to any learning environment in which the problem drives the learning, because it is posed in such a way that students realize they need to acquire new knowledge before the problem can be solved. This paper presents the…

The rewriting of a first-year university sociology course provided the opportunity to introduce the use of digital narratives into the classroom. This technological change in course delivery led the authors to consider the ramifications of the "digital native" debate in teaching university-level youth studies. The focus of this article…

In this paper we present a general framework, called NUCLEO, for the application of socio-constructive educational approaches in higher education. The underlying pedagogical approach relies on an adaptation model in order to improve group dynamics, as this has been identified as one of the key features in the success of collaborative learning…

Background: Constructivist views of learning have brought conceptions of learning to attention again. Conceptions are considered important determinants of effective learning. Students can differ in their conceptions depending on their educational experience. Aims: The present study investigated students' conceptions of constructivist learning. Do…

This paper reports on a design-based research (DBR) process for designing, implementing, and refining a problem-based learning (PBL) course on educational digital video (DV) use and production at the University of Lapland's Faculty of Education. The study focuses on the students' learning processes and outcomes from the viewpoint of meaningful…

This article explains the need for comprehensive education in problem solving in primary and secondary schools. The article then describes strategies for providing comprehensive education in problem solving. These strategies include embedding problem solving training in classes across the curriculum and making minor adjustments to current efforts…

To be successful in the workplace of the 21st century, individuals must not only have an extensive store of knowledge, but also must know how to keep that knowledge current, apply it to solve novel problems, and function as a member of a team. This modern view of the workplace has compelled many educators to rethink the ways in which students are…

We developed the Med-e-Conference, an online tool to teach clinical skills to medical students, which integrated problem-based learning with collaborative group tasks. The final task asked students to consider what they had done (reflection). These comments were analysed using content analysis, and 10 themes were elicited. The number of agreements…

This research study aims to examine the effectiveness of a problem-based learning (PBL) on 9th grade students' understanding of intermolecular forces (dipole-dipole forces, London dispersion forces and hydrogen bonding). The student's alternate conceptions about intermolecular bonding and their beliefs about PBL were also measured. Seventy-eight…

While delivering the Intelligent Systems course, an elective course in the Master of Business Information Technology program at RMIT University, it was felt that there was a learning issue as students' learning seemed to be superficial. This perception was based on the questions students asked in class and the mechanical attitude they adopted…

The present study investigated relationships between students' conceptions of constructivist learning on the one hand, and their regulation and processing strategies on the other hand. Students in a constructivist, problem-based learning curriculum were questioned about their conceptions of knowledge construction and self-regulated learning, as…