This research study sought to determine whether pre-reading assignments have an impact on a student's academic performance. Learning a new topic which oftentimes seems foreign is never easy. However, reading a short article or reviewing a slide-show presentation on the lecture topic before the lecture happens (otherwise known as a pre-reading…

Multimedia in blended learning provides the ability to enhance students' performance and satisfaction. Microlectures are one type of multimedia that comprise of short modular videos that introduce basic theoretical concepts. Literature provides limited insight into how this specific format supports engineering classrooms. This study, therefore,…

Faculty at Rice University are creating instructional resources to support teaching first-year engineering design using a flipped classroom model. This implementation of flipped pedagogy is unusual because content-driven, lecture courses are usually targeted for flipping, not project-based design courses that already incorporate an abundance of…

Interteaching has shown to be an effective alternative to traditional lecture in a number of studies, but thorough analyses of its components, including frequent exams, is limited. Research suggests that increasing the frequency of exams may improve student learning. This study assessed the effectiveness of interteaching's frequent exams component…

Interteaching is a classroom instruction approach based on behavioral principles that offers increased flexibility to instructors. There are several components of interteaching that may contribute to its demonstrated efficacy. In a prior analysis of one of these components, the quality points contingency, no significant difference was reported in…

As schools continue to become more diverse, it is important to look at science teaching methods that will meet the needs of all students. In this study, 172 students in a middle school in Northwestern Illinois were taught using two methods of teaching science. Half of the students were taught using project-based science (PBS) and the other half of…

What impact can interactive engagement (IE) activities using clickers have on students' motivation and academic performance during lectures as compared to attending traditional types of lectures? This article positions the research on IE within the comprehensive model of educational effectiveness and Gagné's instructional events model. For the…

Research has shown that asking conceptually based questions along with a personal response system (clickers) is an effective way of implementing the peer instruction pedagogy. Lecture tutorials are a paper-based method that also incorporates peer instruction. Past research has shown that both methods yield significant learning gains for students…