This article is a small empirical study based on two assignments, both involving reading and writing, in two physics courses at a Christian college. Students read theological, philosophical, and scientific arguments and produced research papers. By performing interdisciplinary intellectual work, students considered the compatibility of science and…

This case study discusses the integration of information literacy instruction and assessment in a required research course for students of journalism and strategic communication at the University of Kansas. The integration consisted of four components: (1) a unifying threshold concept, (2) an open textbook, (3) a sequence of five assignments, and…

Hands-on learning activities enhance course outcomes in college courses based on increased exam scores and student satisfaction; however, online courses pose challenges for creating hands-on learning opportunities. The objective of this study was to compare online and on-campus students' perception and performance on a soybean processing and…

This report evaluates the use of active, open-ended research problems taken from the instructor's laboratory and assigned as mid-semester projects in Transport Phenomena. Projects are structured in a POGIL [process oriented guided inquiry learning] format and designed to engage students by providing them the opportunity to impact real research…

Faculty at Bethany College, Kansas found that when engaging with controversial topics like social justice, students needed lower-stakes spaces to think--and history and writing, together, provided these needed spaces. When taught in combination, these two subject areas prompted engagement and self-reflection, and the interdisciplinary synergy…

Providing feedback to students in a sustainable way represents a perennial challenge for secondary teachers of writing. Employing artificial intelligence (AI) tools to give students personalized and immediate feedback holds great promise. Project Topeka offered middle school teachers pre-curated teaching materials, foundational texts and videos,…

Much has been written about the benefits of interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity for addressing environmental issues, but how do we teach such collaboration? Here, we describe our experiences attempting to foster collaboration between undergraduate students from sociology, environmental studies, and photography. We describe and reflect on a…

In this article, the authors report on the results of a three-year study they conducted on assessment practices in general education courses at Duke University as part of a three-institution (Duke, the University of Kansas, and the University of Nebraska) research project funded by the Spencer Foundation. At all three institutions, researchers…

This study investigated the effects of task relevance instructions and topic beliefs on reading processes and memory for belief-related text. Undergraduates received task instructions (focus on arguments for vs. against) before reading a dual-position text. In Experiment 1 (n = 88), a reading time methodology showed no differences in reading time…

On September 21, 2012, two astronomers using a telescope in the International Scientific Observing Network (ISON) near Kislovodsk, Russia, discovered a comet that came to be formally known as C/2012 S1 and was popularly called Comet ISON. Just a year later, two honors instructors in Wichita, Kansas, found themselves teaching a course on Comet ISON…

An interest in writing practices in the state of Kansas led to a statewide survey of middle school teachers to examine key writing practices and issues. Questions focused on teacher preparation, beliefs, self-efficacy, and sense of responsibility to teach writing; use of evidence-based writing practices; the role of assessment; technology; types…

Michael Wesch has been on the lecture circuit for years touting new models of active teaching with technology. The associate professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University has given TED talks. "Wired" magazine gave him a Rave Award. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching once named him a national professor…

Thirty-three students of fourth semester German at the University of Kansas participated in the study which sought to investigate whether focused written corrective feedback (WCF) promoted the acquisition of the German case morphology over the course of a semester. Participants received teacher WCF on five two-draft essay assignments under three…

This study investigates the role that a socioculturally grounded university English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program played in shaping teachers' work with English Language Learners (ELLs). Subjects were a group of teachers at "Wheatland Elementary School," a newly designated ESOL site for a school district in Kansas. From an…

To help students meet higher standards, all academic and career/technical teachers need to be willing and prepared to use reading, writing and mathematics as tools for learning across the curriculum. To do so, they must have access to ongoing professional development, literacy and numeracy coaching, shared strategies, and teamwork to make literacy…