To develop a simulation is to construct a new reality, one where students can safely engage with the course materials, so as to achieve the intended learning outcomes. While there are a wide range of studies that review the utility of simulations in the classroom, the construction of the alternate reality--the pseudo-reality--is a less discussed…

Notwithstanding the importance and relevance of gamification as a topical methodology in education, and after a literature review, there are just a few studies using role-playing games. In order to motivate and facilitate English as second language (ESL) learning of first year of Bachillerato (year 12) students at a public high school in the…

Students engaged in systems engineering education typically lack experience and understanding of the multidisciplinary complexity of systems engineering projects. Consequently, students struggle to understand the value, rationale, and usefulness of established systems engineering methods, often perceiving them as banal or trivial. The paper…

Employers often complain that students leave school unequipped with the real-world skills needed, including problem-solving, teamwork and effective communication. Conversely, school-based education often suffers from limited perceived authenticity leading to low student engagement. Work experience is one solution, but it is labour-intensive and…

Although field education is considered the signature pedagogy of social work education, there is a paucity of research examining how Bachelors of Social Work (BSW) and foundation year-Masters of Social Work (FY-MSW) students perceive strategies designed to prepare them for field placement. To enhance readiness for practicum, an interactive role…

Although many professors realize that note taking while listening to a lecture results in shallow learning and a lack of student engagement (Hartley & Davies, 1978), lecturing remains the primary mode of instruction. A recent challenger to the dominant notetaking/PowerPoint paradigm is Reacting to the Past (RTTP). To capitalize on the…

Role-playing activities, as a form of active learning, enable instructors to teach difficult concepts in ways that better facilitate student learning. This note tests the effectiveness of a role-playing activity that simulates the job market: Most students play job seekers seeking employment, and a few play the employers who make employment…

Inside sales is a fast-growing sales profession, with the increase in inside sales positions skyrocketing beyond outside sales positions. Unfortunately, instructors lack the resources to adequately prepare students for inside sales careers. This study provides an innovative, short-term module that introduces the topic of inside sales,…

This study investigated preservice teachers' (PTs) conceptions of how math is well-taught, their ability to design lessons that employ reform-based practices, and relations between their conceptions and lesson plans. We developed a survey and a rubric, in relation to the most recent standards and practices in U.S for the teaching and learning of…

This study aimed to develop, introduce, and conduct an inquiry-driven creative drama activity. The activity, for elementary students, related to the transmission of light and full shadow. In the activity, which consisted of a warm-up, dramatization, and evaluation stages, two inquiry-based experiments were added to the dramatization stage. Thus,…

Peer learning, a pedagogical approach whereby students are partnered together to have one student actively help another student learn predetermined content or skills, has long been utilized as an effective complement to more traditional instructional methods across a wide range of educational disciplines. This approach has been found to reduce the…

Reacting to the Past (Reacting) is an active-learning pedagogy utilizing elaborate historical roleplaying games. This study examined the effect of Reacting on student academic self-efficacy, perspective taking, engagement, and perceived learning, and considered whether these outcomes were impacted by the type of role a student assumed. Students…

In L2 pragmatics, only a few studies have examined task complexity. Furthermore, the existing studies have predominantly focused on the cognitive dimension and have lacked consistent findings. González-Lloret and Ortega (2018) and Pallotti (2019) have thereby contended that socio-interactional features be incorporated into task design. Along this…

Blended instruction integrating off-line and on-line teaching has become an important instrument for promoting educational reform and innovation. However, the results of current empirical studies diverge on the effect of blended instruction on student performance, which necessitates further research on the effectiveness of blended instruction and…

Hadoop is a well-known big data system and a subject covered in many big data courses. This article describes two role play games for teaching the two fundamental components in the Hadoop framework, MapReduce and Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS). In the games, students form teams and play different roles as a part of a Hadoop cluster. The…