This paper presents a qualitative case analysis of a new and unique, high school, student-directed, project-based learning (PBL), virtual reality (VR) class. In order to create projects, students learned, on an independent basis, how to program an industrial-level VR machine. A constraint was that students were required to produce at least one…

The purpose of this study was to examine the application of anatomy and neuroanatomy knowledge to current practice of speech-language pathology (SLP), based on the perceptions of practicing SLPs, and to elicit information on participants' experiences of learning these subjects in their primary SLP degree with a view to inform potential…

Asian teachers' reluctance to empower students has been claimed to be an significant barrier preventing their students from practising student-centred learning. To promote student-centredness in Asian classrooms, this study aimed to develop strategies that could enable Asian teachers to delegate part of their authority to students. Twelve college…

Educators are at the heart of educational reforms, such as the introduction of mental health promotion initiatives into early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. Good quality implementation of reforms requires educators to engage in high quality professional learning: If educators have not had opportunities to gain appropriate knowledge…

This paper presents a series of novel project-based learning labs for an introductory robotics course that are developed into a semester-long Robotic Decathlon. The last three events of the Robotic Decathlon are used as three final one-week-long project tasks; these replace a previous course project that was a semester-long robotics competition.…

This article describes how teachers address issues and tensions that students meet in learning division of fractions. First, students must make sense of division of fractions on their own by working individually and in small groups, using concrete or pictorial representations, inventing their own processes, and presenting and justifying their…

This study focused on the learning experiences of 50 undergraduate students undertaking a residential field trip (RFT) to Sweden as part of their Early Childhood Studies degree. Three dimensions were examined: the physical and emotional value afforded to the students from the active learning context; how this was interpreted and reflected in their…

Anecdotal accounts from science educators suggest that few teachers are teaching science as inquiry. However, there is little empirical evidence to support this claim. This study aimed to provide evidence-based documentation of the state-of-use of inquiry-based instruction and explicit instruction about nature of science (NOS). We examined the…

Continuing our work from a previous study (Coble et al. 2013), we examine undergraduates' ideas on the composition of the Universe as they progress through a general education astronomy integrated lecture and laboratory course with a focus on active learning. The study was conducted over five semesters at an urban minority-serving institution. The…

A number of studies have reported on the positive impact of social constructivist approaches on learning in introductory chemistry courses. However, the widespread use of such approaches is being hampered to a certain degree by uncertainty as to whether one needs a special type of classroom. In this study, we investigated student learning in two…

Teaching service courses such as the first year composition courses and an introduction to literature is often a primary mission for English departments on campuses in the United States. Sometimes specific departments request specialized additional English classes such as Writing for Business, basic grammar courses, composition courses focused for…

This article explores the experiences of students who participated in a series of seminars that employed active learning methodologies. The study on which the article is based involved two parts. First, students completed a questionnaire after each seminar, resulting in 468 questionnaires. Second, nine students participated in a focus group where…

This quantitative action science research study utilized a causal-comparative experimental research design in order to determine if the use of student response systems (clickers), as an active learning strategy in a community college course, improved student performance in the course. Students in the experimental group (n = 26) used clickers to…

A review of the research on teacher professional development identified an emerging consensus on important contextual and implementation characteristics that can promote or inhibit teachers' use of new knowledge and skills in their classroom practice. Findings suggest that professional development is best viewed as one component in an overall…

Although most business students participate in team-based projects during undergraduate or graduate course work, the team experience does not always teach team skills or capture the team members' potential: Students complete the task at hand but the explicit process of becoming a team is often not learned. Drawing from organizational learning…