This article describes the preferences expressed by 16-year-old and 17-year-old boys when they were asked what they want to learn from sex and relationship education classes and how they want to be taught. Research was carried out in eight secondary schools with boys in year 12. Qualitative responses from questionnaires issued to 307 boys were…

This two-part series describes the structure of the stoichiometry course at North Carolina State University. The course had a variety of learning objectives, and several nontraditional pedagogies were used in the course delivery. The first paper outlined the course structure and policies, the preparation given to the teaching assistants who played…

Many teachers find developing a new lesson or course quite difficult. It would be nice to have all necessary information, lesson plans and assessment materials ready at hand. But most often, they find themselves on their own when it comes to lesson and course development. The author faced this situation when he was asked to develop a lesson on…

What kinds of ideas and issues do teachers, students, and citizens in general need to think about at this time in the history of society? And how can we in higher education address these important matters? This article offers one means by which such issues might be approached, in and through teacher education. Drawing on the critical work of Paulo…

This study aims to investigate the role of mediation in the learning process from a sociocultural perspective, activity theory in particular. This study was carried out in a primary English immersion school within the CCUEI Programs in Mainland China. Data were collected mainly through observations and interviews, which were then supplemented by…

Teacher educators may need to pay attention to pre-service elementary teachers' motivation to learn mathematics in order to help them develop a deep level of understanding from their mathematics content courses for teachers (content courses) and to help them develop the disposition to learn mathematics throughout their careers. In this…

As a nation reliant on scientific and technological innovation for the health of our economy and national security, it is imperative that both educators and education policy create learning pathways that will successfully support current and future undergraduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.…

This article describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of an online professional development course designed to develop an understanding of the foundations, perspectives, and strategies used by key disciplines (e.g., occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language pathology, early childhood special education, visual…

This article provides results from a research project investigating how Master's level teacher training programs address the education of immigrant students at-risk and those with special needs. We surveyed Master's programs in nine states with significant populations of immigrant students. Results suggest that graduate level programs in special…

Randy Shilts (1987), author of "And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic," uses the analogy of the sinking ship and the "band playing on" to draw attention to America's false sense of security in the midst of the growing AIDS crisis. We describe a doctoral curriculum in which students examine the conflicts inherent in their…

Students are well served by course simulations that employ active learning styles and student-driven interaction. For debate on political issues, particular public policies are quite effective in stimulating that discussion. We developed an in-class simulation of political debate on the issue of Social Security. We describe the simulation itself,…

This digest summarizes a larger document of the same title which takes the position that because American democracy is founded on the premise that citizens need to engage in free and open discussion of opposing points of view, it is important that intellectual conflict become part of college instruction. It suggests several ways in which…

The thesis of this book is that intellectual conflict is an important and powerful instructional tool which should become part of day-to-day student life in colleges and universities. Properly structured academic controversy results in increased achievement, better problem-solving and decision-making skills, more positive interpersonal skills, and…

In this scoping study we have investigated the integration of subject-specific software into the structure of visual communications courses. There is a view that the response within visual communications courses to the rapid developments in technology has been linked to necessity rather than by design. Through perceptions of staff with day-to-day…

This article examines the relative perceived importance of 19 instructor actions in online courses according to both instructors and students. The instructor actions were culled from guidelines in the online learning literature base and then reviewed and rated by 14 experts. Thirty-two online instructors and 170 students from their classes at a…