Team-based learning (TBL) is a proven teaching technique that has been employed in many disciplines and may improve performance of lower-performing students. However, much of the TBL literature involves graduate students in the health professions. The purpose of this study was to determine whether students in an undergraduate, introductory…

Background: Social loafing (SL) has a detrimental impact on cooperative learning. SL dysfunctionalities are causing more faculty to avoid assigning group projects as part of their course work. Aims: This qualitative case study examines how students' personalities are expressed in social loafers' behavior during university-level group assignments…

This study analyzes Deeper Learning (DL) opportunities and the correlation between multiple DL measures on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) career orientation in out-of-school time (OST) STEM programming. Additionally, this study examines the presence and validity of the American Institutes for Research (AIR) DL measures in OST…

A community partnership between the Collins Academy, Jefferson, Texas, and the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas, developed a plan to manage the 38-acre Port Jefferson History and Nature Center, located on Big Cypress Bayou. Students used knowledge of the resources, GPS…

This article provides an account of a group of adult Chinese immigrants learning English at a cultural center serving the local Asian community. The focus of this teacher-research descriptive case study is on learner experiences as they relate to "transition" theory and "Confucian learner" principles and as these materialized…

Although many have suggested the use of games to motivate active learning, studies that evaluate the learning outcomes of games with high school students are scarce. Here, we present the evaluation of the board game "Taphonomy: Dead and Fossilized" as an active learning tool to teach fossilization and Earth systems thinking with rising…

Effective collaboration in small teams is valued by employers. Group projects can be a valuable experience in academics to apply knowledge, solve problems, and develop teamwork skills. Students frequently encounter group work in academic classes but are often not taught how to facilitate effective group collaboration and left to "figure it…

Research indicates multi-section coordination improves the academic performance of students in STEM education. This paper describes the process of coordination in Precalculus, Calculus 1, and Calculus 2 courses undertaken by a large department that grew from the merger of two institutions through a pilot program and a project grant. Components…

Until recently, many colleges provided academic support to students by requiring students to complete one or more developmental education courses in a subject area before they could enroll in college-level coursework. As early as 2010, research indicated that very few students were making it out of these developmental education courses and into…

Active learning spaces form an important part of university learning environments and have the potential to enhance student learning, yet studies on student and faculty perceptions of collaborative learning pedagogies indicate that many remain resistant. To overcome this resistance, an academic department developed and implemented an active…

The importance of the research related to the existence of collaborative learning in higher education for Latinos, specifically pre-service teachers, has been substantiated. It has been defined that while teacher retention rates for Latinos are lower than for whites, using teamwork in the classroom might make Latinos teaching more rewarding. Most…

This article presents the research findings of a multidisciplinary team's collective research effort at one university over a five-year period as funded by the National Science Foundation's "Improving Undergraduate STEM Education" (IUSE) program. A collaborative learning and retention action research effort at a large Hispanic Serving…

Via a multi-domain, multi-response classroom observation instrument, we observed and analyzed treatment and control teachers' pedagogical differences when applying cooperative, collaborative, and peer-tutoring (CCP) strategies in Grade 1 bilingual classrooms with English learners (ELs). We found that with the support of ongoing, structured, and…

In this study, we examined the enactment of formative assessment by administrator-selected master teachers in large, urban, public school districts in three regions of the United States. Furthermore, this study also included an investigation of the perceptions and frequency of use for all teachers within the same districts to gather a snapshot of…

Recent theoretical conceptualizations of student engagement have raised questions about how to measure student engagement and how engagement varies not only across schools, but also within school and within classrooms. The authors build on existing research on student behavioral engagement and extend this research to emphasize a continuum of…