This article discusses activities carried out in the virtual world of Second Life (SL) as part of a compulsory class in the first year of an undergraduate programme. The paper identifies the contribution of SL to the students' learning environment and an Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) approach to programme design. The reasons for taking an IBL…

Globally, vocational and lifelong education reform now places greater stress on employability skills rather than only simple technical skills. This study undertakes a thorough review of the vocational education curriculum offered at one institution in Hong Kong so as to explore personal development opportunities that support the development of…

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine teaching and learning in virtual worlds such as "Second Life" (SL). This research is designed to address the following questions: What are the pedagogical practices in virtual worlds? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these practices? How do these practices change at different course levels?…

Background: Almost three decades have passed since the Grunwald Declaration on Media Education was issued by the representatives of 19 nations at UNESCO's International Symposium on Media Education in Germany (UNESCO 1982). Cycles of information revolution and education reform over this period have led to significant changes in the sectors of…

We determined short- and long-term correlates of a revised introductory biology curriculum on understanding of biology as a process of inquiry and learning of content. In the original curriculum students completed two traditional lecture-based introductory courses. In the revised curriculum students completed two new learner-centered,…

We investigated curricular and pedagogical innovations in undergraduate science courses for non-science majors at a Historically Black Institution (HBI) and a Primarily White Institution (PWI). The aims were to improve students' understanding of science, increase their enthusiasm towards science by connecting their prior experience and interest to…

This study examines technological, educational/learning, and social affordances associated with the facilitation of project-based learning and problem solving in technology-mediated distributed teams. An empirical interpretive research approach using direct observation is used to interpret, evaluate and rate observable manifested behaviors and…

In this paper, we are concerned with the role of both teachers and students' questioning in classroom interaction. Bearing in mind that the current guidelines point out to student centred teaching, our aim is to analyse and characterise the questioning patterns of contemporary secondary science classes and compare them to the questioning profiles…

This paper examines the extension of active learning pedagogical practices familiar in preschool settings to the first class of primary school. Policy and practice guidance in the UK is advocating the benefits of experiential learning as a way of engaging young children as they move into primary school but for teachers this means a move to new…

During the past decade, the State of Qatar has positioned itself as a leader of educational reform. In 2004, Education for a New Era (ENE) established internationally benchmarked curriculum in Qatari "Independent Schools". Educational reform was to provide an educated workforce and economic prosperity based on a competitive,…

The purpose of this article is to document how a course in the fundamentals of sociology encouraged students to rethink negative impressions about people with AIDS. Multimethod, active learning processes were utilized to introduce the sociological imagination, critical thinking, and theory and methods in sociology. The intent was to apply basic…

Although there is a need for continued pedagogical advancement in science undergraduate education, what is needed more urgently is more widespread adaptation of pedagogical practices that research has already shown to promote learning. Those practices include interactive engagement pedagogies such as active learning and inquiry-based learning. The…

Small-group learning in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines has been widely studied, and it is clear that this method offers many benefits to students. Less attention has been paid to the ways in which small learning groups differ from one another, and how these differences may affect student learning and…

This study surveyed post-secondary instructors in 15 countries regarding their experiences using the virtual world Second Life as a teaching tool. Qualitative analysis of responses to open-ended questions suggests that Second Life offers a great deal of potential in realizing Grabinger and Dunlap's (2000) attributes of a rich environment for…

We argue that power roles can make a significant difference in how students experience in-class simulations. To test this, students who participated in Congressional simulations in one of the author's introduction to American politics classes were surveyed concerning their views of Congress, the legislative process, and the simulation experience.…