Gamification is the use of game elements in domains other than games. Gamification use is often suggested for difficult activities because it enhances users' engagement and motivation level. Due to such benefits, the use of gamification is also proposed in education environments to improve students' performance, engagement, and satisfaction.…

A primary goal of university instruction is the students' demonstration of improved, highly developed critical thinking (CT) skills. However, how do faculty encourage CT and its potential concomitant increase in student workload without negatively impacting student perceptions of the course? In this investigation, an advanced biology course is…

Why has large-scale standardised testing attracted such a bad press? Why has pedagogic benefit to be derived from test results been downplayed? The paper investigates this question by first surveying the pros and cons of testing in the literature, and goes on to examine educators' responses to standardised, large-scale tests in a sample of low…

Integrating research in the classroom experience is recognized as potentially important in enhancing student learning (Price 2001; Schmid 1992). This article asks if student integration as research subjects augments their learning about political science. A quasi-experimental project focused on media usage, construction, and influences on the…

From 1999 to 2007, the Vanderbilt-Northwestern-Texas-Harvard/MIT (VaNTH) Engineering Research Center focused on improving bioengineering education through the applications of learning science, learning technology, and assessment and evaluation within the domain of bioengineering. This paper discusses results from a survey to explore the impact of…

This paper shares my experiences with the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) framework in my university science methods course. Incorporating SoTL not only enabled me to inquire into my own teaching as a scholarly activity but also engaged my students in critical reflections. I used the principles and characteristics of SoTL to design…

This booklet, compiled by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, lists behavioral objectives for biology in grades 4-6. The major areas of biology objectives presented are relations among plants, animals, and the environment; identifying and classifying plants and animals; and structures and functions of plants and animals. Each major…

This document provides a survey questionnaire for evaluation and description of classroom activities for science and science teaching in the elementary school. The instrument includes 72 items relating to teaching and learning. No data regarding the instrument are provided. (SL)

The purpose of this paper is to provide a set of criteria within a format that teachers, student teachers, and supervisors can use to better understand what inquiry is and how to evaluate the extent to which it is being incorporated into classroom activities. The evaluative criteria are organized into an instrument and are divided into the…

This guide, prepared under the direction of the Instructional Affairs Committee of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), is designed to serve all educators interested in the instructional applications of computers. Its development has been marked by a continuous, conscious effort to address the needs of all educators irrespective…

Most Virtual Learning Environments are designed to be simple to use by staff and students alike. We report a case study where this feature has led academic staff to reject formal centralised training and teach themselves how to use the system. What has resulted is widespread use of the system but with poor pedagogic development, leading primarily…