The main aim of this study was to examine how a group of elementary students perceived their engagement in a project-based science intervention investigating the water quality of a local lake. The students collaborated with a scientist to conduct various experiments and used handheld computers to collect and analyze data in order to examine the…

Online learning environments offer new opportunities for learning and over the last decade or so a variety of online learning environments have been developed by researchers to facilitate collaborative learning among students. In this paper we will present a case study of a successful collaborative learning design. This involves a near synchronous…

This action research was a form of "appreciative enquiry" into my practice with my group of Bachelor in Education (TESL) students. I have adopted a postmodernist approach to research as narrative; that is "research as it is experienced" and not just "research as it is described". I used a project as an approach to…

In this paper, a course on applied superconductivity is described. The course structure is outlined and the learning objectives and the learning activities are described. The teaching was multidisciplinary given by four departments each contributing with their expertise. Being applied superconductivity, the focus was on an application, which could…

The introduction of problem-based learning (PBL) as an innovative strategy is often challenging to both teaching staff and students. This is particularly the case when it is only used on one module within a programme. This case study reports on an evaluation of the experiences of students and staff in the first cohort introduced to problem-based…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional approach that formed in medical school and holds students responsible for their learning as they solve a hypothetical real-world problem. Research on this instructional approach in K-12 settings is emerging, with most of the existing literature utilizing high school students and science. Few studies…

Youth civic engagement in the United States is at an all time low (Barber 1998; Galston, 2004, Owen, 2008). Youth are routinely characterized as civically apathetic, disengaged, and ignorant (Niemi & Junn, 1998; Putnam, 2000; Ravitch & Finn, 1987). Or, as Owen (2008) succinctly puts it, "young people in America have long anchored the…

This paper seeks to compare the reflective writings of two cohorts of students (Year 4/5 and Year 8/9) participating in mathematical modelling challenges. Whilst the reflections of the younger cohort were results oriented, the older cohort's reflections spoke more to the affective domain, group processes, the use of technology and the acquisition…

Despite a profusion of popular misinformation about the left brain and right brain, there are functional differences between the left and right cerebral hemispheres in humans. Evidence from split-brain patients, individuals with unilateral brain damage, and neuroimaging studies suggest that each hemisphere may be specialized for certain cognitive…

Approaches to classroom instruction have evolved considerably over the past 50 years. This progress has been spurred by the development of several learning principles and methods of instruction, including active learning, student-centered learning, collaborative learning, experiential learning, and problem-based learning. In the present paper, we…

One of the key features that draws many people to play video games is the fact that they are interactive. Video games allow the user to be actively engaged and in control of the action (Prensky, 2006). Seventh grade students at Canonsburg Middle School are actively engaging in the creation of video games. The students are engaged at a much deeper…

For the forty-first time, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two volumes. Volume 1 contains twenty-seven…

Problem-based learning and technology support for students in higher education investigates the new perspectives of education in connection with the change of life paradigm. The present research seeks to find out what study methods and technology support can be used for developing students' creative experience in the context of education for…

The results from the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) revealed that the scores of fourth grade students in the 90th percentile showed no measurable change from the results of the first TIMSS assessment in 1995. Contrarily, the scores of the lowest performing fourth graders showed statistically significant…

This paper describes a tutorial programme developed at the University of Western Australia (UWA) to enhance medical students' learning processes within problem-based learning contexts. The programme encourages students to use more effective learning approaches by scaffolding the development of effective problem-solving strategies, and by reducing…