To make the concept of biomes fresh for high school students and help them achieve more conceptual depth, the author Amy Slack created the "Who's in the Zoo?" project. Working in groups, students design a zoo that represents five of Earth's biomes and the climate found in their respective habitats. These groups prepare a proposal and a poster of…

An abstract art project can be challenging or not, depending on the objectives the teacher sets up. In this article, the author describes an abstract papier-mache project that is a success for all students, and is a versatile project easily manipulated to suit the classroom of any art teacher.

Every graphic design course has a unit of instruction that focuses on logo design. It is an interesting exercise to have students relate why they recognize certain trademarks or symbols. In this article, the author describes an assignment that examines logos. For this assignment, students were asked to make a visual inventory of at least five…

Whether masks are made from cardboard, papier-mache, metal, wood, leather, fabric, clay or any combination of these materials, they bring out the artist in people. Young children like to wear masks when they play to pretend they were another person or animal. Masks let them fantasize and be creative. The author's students made masks representing…

It seems like everybody's "going green" these days. People do what they can to save the environment. Their cars are greener, their buildings are greener, even their clothes are greener. But what about going "brown"? It's cheap, it's readily available, and it has endless uses--especially in art. It's cardboard. The author describes a project that…

This paper reports the results of a study of the extent to which processes and procedures from the discipline of project management can scaffold online project-based learning in a graduate-level instructional technology course, by facilitating intra-team interaction, enhancing project outcomes and promoting a positive project team experience. With…

Problem Statement: Preservice teachers acquire the knowledge and skills needed for elementary mathematics education by themselves obtaining quality university educations and by being actively involved in mathematics. Thus, it is essential to make room in teacher education for student-centered projects and activities. Purpose of Study: This study…

This study is a continuation of previous work by the authors. Most of the NSSE (National Survey of Student Engagement) scales are positively related to higher Business ETS MFT (Major Field Test) scores. The NSSE scales are Active and Collaborative Learning, Enriching Educational Experiences and Integration of Diversity into Coursework. In…

The author served as facilitator of a group of graphic design college students at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). These students embarked on a collaborative, 24-hour+, work-around-the-clock, creative blitz and used design thinking to serve the needs of Dalewood Middle School in Chattanooga. Students collaborated with industry…

"Children as Researchers in Primary Schools" is an innovative and unique resource for practitioners supporting children to become "real world" researchers in the primary classroom. It will supply you with the skills and ideas you need to implement a "children as researchers" framework in your school that can be adapted for different ages and…

The purpose of this research was to investigate the differences in perceptions of learning and achievement of students and teachers in "Project-Based Learning" and Balanced Mathematics classrooms. The study utilized quantitative and qualitative surveys or a mixed method approach to gathering data relative to the perceptions of students…

Purpose: Collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) have become increasingly popular in educational settings and the role of 3D content is becoming more and more important. Still, there are many challenges in this area, such as lack of empirical studies that provide design for educational activities in 3D CVEs and lack of norms of how to support…

This study proposed a novel instructional approach, a two-stage LED simulation of Project-based learning (PBL) course with online peer assessment (OPA), and explored how to apply OPA to the different structured problems in a PBL course to enhance students' professional skills in LED design as well as meta-cognitive thinking. The participants of…

This paper describes research on the use of journals in a general education chemistry course for elementary education majors. In the journals, students describe their understanding of a topic, the development of that understanding, and how the topic connects to their lives. In the process, they are able to engage in reflection about several…

This work explores the impact of teacher-led heterogeneous group formation on students' teamwork, based on students' learning styles. Fifty senior university students participated in a project-based course with two key organizational features: first, a web system (PEGASUS) was developed to help students identify their learning styles and…