The COVID-19 pandemic led to an abrupt suspension of face-to-face teaching activities in higher education institutions across the globe. The instructors and faculty at most institutions have had to adapt, invent, and implement adjustments quickly to adopt an online learning environment. This has been an extraordinarily challenging time for both…

Passive, lecture-based forms of instruction are often ineffective in helping students develop deep conceptual understanding of scientific concepts. Student-centered forms of instruction based in a constructivist framework, where students are guided toward actively constructing their understanding, have been met with greater success. However,…

Dimensional analysis is traditionally one of the first topics covered in a general chemistry course. Chemists use dimensional analysis as a tool to keep track of units and guide them through calculations. Although unit conversions are taught in a variety of subjects over several grade levels, many students have not mastered this topic by the time…

The aim of the International Society for Technology, Education, and Science (iHSES) conference is to offer opportunities to share ideas, discuss theoretical and practical issues, and connect with the leaders in the fields of "humanities," "education" and "social sciences." It is organized for: (1) faculty members in…

These proceedings contain papers of the 3rd International Baltic Symposium on Science and Technology Education (BalticSTE2019) held in Šiauliai, Lithuania, June 17-19, 2019. This symposium was organized by the Scientific Methodical Center "Scientia Educologica" in cooperation with the Institute of Education, Šiauliai University. The…

As educators, the authors continually strive to improve the quality of time spent in class with their students. As chemistry teachers, they know that lectures are necessary to convey content, but experiential learning is more effective at constructing and solidifying knowledge. Podcasting and vodcasting their lessons at first proved to be an…

A tablet PC is a versatile computer that combines the computing power of a notebook with the pen functionality of a PDA (Cox and Rogers 2005b). The authors adopted tablet PC technology in order to improve the process and product of the lecture format in their chemistry, engineering, and physics courses. In this high-tech model, a single tablet PC…

These proceedings contain the papers of the 14th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA 2017), 18-20 October 2017, which has been organized by the International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) and endorsed by the Japanese Society for Information and Systems in…

Describes a strategy designed to alleviate two major problems of the lecture system in chemistry. The strategy involves presenting "station breaks" of historical and practical information during lectures to reduce boredom and the ignorance of the history and commercial importance of chemistry. (JN)

Describes the uses of finite element methods in solving problems of heat transfer, fluid flow, etc. Suggests that engineers should know the general concepts and be able to apply the principles of finite element methods. (Author/WB)

Reports on a project designed to develop an inquiry-based approach to curriculum and instruction in a general chemistry course. Reports that a major objective, met in various ways, was to develop a laboratory curriculum that meshes intimately with lecture. (Author/MM)

Describes research into student attention patterns during lectures that suggests that student attention declines steadily during a lecture, and that the rate of decrease is dependent upon several variables including subject difficulty. (MLH)

Discovery and expository learning were compared in a study of independent and dependent learners enrolled in a college chemistry course. Discovery learning was found to be superior for both groups of learners, with independent students performing better than dependent students using discovery learning. (Author/DF)

Because of drawbacks to the traditional lecture method, general chemistry lectures were stopped at appropriate times to allow students to complete prepared worksheets on problems related to current lecture material. Discusses rationale for and mechanics of the approach, including sample-problem worksheets used. (JN)

Heat changes in a lecture setting can be safely shown on an overhead projector using a simple and inexpensive apparatus. Heat evolution can be observed on a projector with adapted digital thermometers or by illuminating the red fluid in nonmercury thermometers. Describes a setup for doing this as well as a collection of demonstrations involving…