The various ways natural resource agencies and programs are structured and how that impacts leadership style and products is an important concept for students to understand. Leadership style and organizational structure determine visions, missions, goals and objectives that set the tone for organizations. This exercise demonstrates organizational…

The purpose of this study was to explore group forming strategies by examining participation behaviours during whole class discussions associated with active participation in a following small group activity. Written communication data, posted in class discussion forums (843 messages/70,432 words) and small group forums (732 messages/59,394…

This paper explores what work readiness means for two cohorts of graduate engineers, one from a traditional curriculum, the second from a largely project-based curriculum. Professional bodies and employers have defined a set of attributes for engineering graduates so that graduates will be "work ready". Problem-based learning (PBL) is…

Project-based learning is one of the main successful student-centered pedagogies broadly used in computing science courses. However, this approach can be insufficient when dealing with practical subjects that implicitly require many deliverables and a great deal of feedback and organizational resources. In this paper, a worked e-portfolio is…

The design of the drive system for an automatic machine and its correct sizing is a very important competence for an electrical or mechatronic engineer. This requires knowledge that crosses the fields of electrical engineering, electronics and mechanics, as well as the skill to choose commercial components based upon their technical documentation.…

The Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) program recently released the program guidelines (NSF 09-529) for the next round of the program. There are several changes to the CCLI program and a new program opportunity that invites proposals for projects that would provide leadership and contribute to transforming undergraduate STEM…

This paper describes radio frequency identification (RFID) projects, designed and implemented by students in the College of Engineering at the University of North Texas, as part of their senior-design project requirement. The paper also describes an RFID-based project implemented at Rice Middle School in Plano, TX, which went on to win multiple…

Working within the context of a school improvement project, a kindergarten moved from its use of a theme approach in the classroom to a project-based learning approach in which the children were asked to seek relevant information and materials based on their daily interests and exploration. The children were encouraged to integrate drawing and…

Oregon State Univ. has offered FST 102 "Maraschino Cherry" as a 1-credit orientation course since 1994. The maraschino cherry serves as a vehicle from which faculty give their disciplinary perspective, for example, the chemistry of the maraschino cherry, processing unit operations, microbiology and food safety, food law, sensory…

Ed Ruscha's exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco presented a fantastic and challenging teaching approach not just to art creation, but also to the whole definition of art. Ruscha painted with pastels and drew with pencils, but he also made art using Pepto Bismol, carrots, and spinach. In this article, the author describes an art…

While an empty cardboard box from a ream of copy paper may be the most coveted box among teachers in the author's school, for other people, brass boxes from India, Khokhlova lacquer boxes from Russia, and puzzle boxes from Japan are more the type that are collected and admired. Whether it is used for storage or decoration, a box can evoke a sense…

We describe two short group projects for finite mathematics students that incorporate matrices and linear programming into fictional consulting requests presented as a letter to the students. The students are required to use mathematics to decrypt secret messages in one project involving matrix multiplication and inversion. The second project…

This is a collaborative writing project that is ideally suited for introducing longer narrative writing to second-year students. It involves collaborative learning, group dynamics and extended narrative writing. In the "Rockgruppe-Semesterprojekt", groups of students form fictional rock bands, develop tour itineraries through the German-speaking…

Researchers and statistics educators consistently suggest that students will learn statistics more effectively by conducting projects through which they actively engage in a broad spectrum of tasks integral to statistical inquiry, in the authentic context of a real-world application. In keeping with these findings, we share an implementation of…

The study was used to develop an understanding of the nature of a creative learning experience that incorporated the foundational elements of Reggio Emilia, place-based education, and experience design. The study took place in an urban high school with eight students in an advanced placement art class. The qualitative research project revolved…