This dissertation is a qualitative practitioner research study in which I explore how my students and I engage in critical literacy using sociopolitical Articles of the Week (AoWs). Critical literacy is the ability to read, write, and speak about texts in a reflective manner to better understand power, inequality, and injustice that prevails in…

This guide is a revised and updated edition of "Making It Count." This version contains much of the information from the earlier publication but also includes strategies for using project-based learning and Web-based instructional programs to support the development of mathematics proficiency for youth in short-term juvenile correctional…

What if you could challenge your 12th graders to understand car crashes in the context of physical forces, manufacturing challenges, government safety standards, and individual rights? With this volume in the "STEM Road Map Curriculum Series," you can! "Car Crashes" outlines a journey that will steer your students toward…

Diverse learners with particular needs require a specialized curriculum that will help them develop socially and intellectually. As educational technologies and theoretical approaches to learning continue to advance, so do the opportunities for exceptional children. "Instructional Strategies in General Education and Putting the Individuals…

A chemometrics course is offered to students in their fifth semester of the chemistry undergraduate program that includes an in-depth project. Students carry out the project over five weeks (three 8-h sessions per week) and conduct it in parallel to other courses or other practical work. The students conduct a literature search, carry out…

Research in team science suggests strategies for addressing difficulties that groups face when working together. This dissertation examines how student teams work in project based learning (PBL) environments, with the goal of creating strategies and technology to improve collaboration. The challenge of working in such a group is that the members…

This article describes a project related to babies undertaken by preschoolers in a university-affiliated child care center in the Midwest. Following a description of the class, the author discusses the three phases of the project. Photographs taken during the project are included throughout the article. The article concludes with the author's…

One of the things that many post-secondary graphic-design schools look for in student portfolios is one or two typography projects with hand-rendered type. At Merivale High School, junior graphic-design classes work with traditional media, and every year they receive an assignment that encourages them to play with letter forms. In this article,…

The University of Mary Washington (UMW) in Fredericksburg, Virginia, was founded in 1908. This article describes the process that led to the UMW preservation plan. Unlike most preservation plans, the UMW plan was developed in-house with limited funds. Furthermore, the catalyst for the plan was a grassroots effort on the part of students and alumni…

A solar power collector optimization design project has been developed for use in undergraduate classrooms and/or laboratories. The design optimization depends on understanding the current-voltage characteristics of the starting photovoltaic cells as well as how the cell's electrical response changes with increased light illumination. Students…

A design challenge is all about planning first and understanding the problem before diving in and looking frantically for a solution. Any experienced engineer or designer will tell one to think first and plan the steps before acting. An experienced carpenter friend of the author always said to "take many measurements and cut once." There is great…

The educational applications of wikis are becoming very popular among instructors and researchers and they have captured their attention and imagination. This paper reports on the investigation of a wiki project designed to support university students' collaborative authoring and learning. The design framework of the wiki-based project is outlined…

Introduction: Information literacy instruction is often undertaken in schools as collaborative source-based writing assignments. his paper presents the findings of a study on collaboration in two school assignments designed for information literacy. Method: The study draws on the models of cooperative and collaborative learning and the task-based…

We describe a semester-long active learning project in which students practice the skills of synthesis and analysis by developing portfolios organized around a topic of their own choosing (relevant to their substantive course). We build on prior contributions in four ways. First, we offer a project that is indicative of basic skills in the…

A graduate course in enterprise architecture had a team project component in which a real-world business case, provided by an industry sponsor, formed the basis of the project charter and the architecture statement of work. The paper aims to share the team project experience on developing the architecture specifications based on the business case…