As more and more science teacher educators are subscribing to a practice-based teacher education curriculum, it is becoming increasingly necessary to identify and articulate smaller grain-sized teaching practices nested within a core practice in important instructional contexts in order to facilitate preservice science teachers' (PSTs') learning…

Educators must continuously assess and adjust to maximize the amount of information students retain. One way to evaluate teaching effectiveness is thru pre- and post-semester assessments. Factors such as individual willingness to participate can affect the validity of these assessments. Our hypothesis was that students will more actively…

Collaborative learning is a common teaching technique, posited to align with a constructivist approach to teaching and learning. This qualitative descriptive study explores how, if at all, faculty implementation and discussion of collaborative learning shows evidence of it as a constructivist practice. Nineteen faculty at a large public…

With postsecondary institutions increasing offerings of online courses, there is much to learn about how online group work is designed to support collaborative learning, particularly for professional certification programs such as education. As part of a case study research, we synthesized data collected from instructors and students at two…

Due to its haptic and interactive nature, virtual anatomy provides an opportunity for small-group learning, enabling students to develop their group work skills before they graduate. However, there is currently little practical guidance supported by pedagogic principles detailing how to incorporate it into curricula. Anatomy educators at the…

This personal reflective essay explores a group Dissertation in Practice (DiP) model and process used in a localized Doctor of Education program. It describes and recommends this team-based DiP approach as an innovation that prepares practitioners to tackle complex problems of practice by focusing on a process centered around group dynamics that…

Background: Social annotation has emerged as a promising educational technology that fosters collaborative reading and discussion of digital resources among learners. While the positive impact of social annotation on students' learning process and performance is widely acknowledged, students' behavioural patterns in social annotation are…

In this study, we investigated the impact of collaborative learning practices on the academic success of first generation college (FGC) students in one section of a general chemistry course. We implemented group problem solving and group quizzes during the lecture sessions of General Chemistry 1. Our focus was on understanding how FGC students…

This study evaluated the experiences of faculty-practitioners, graduate students, and a community partner within the context of a professional development (i.e., career education) course at a large, research-intensive institution. Over the course of a 16-week academic semester graduate information technology students worked in collaborative…

Students often recruit digital devices to complete their classroom activities. To determine best practices for the classroom, the present study explored the use of tablets relative to laptops and paper in the understudied context of brief, in-person, small group academic tasks. One-hundred twenty small groups of two to three undergraduate students…

This paper reports on a two-year project to form teaching development groups in engineering departments. The goal of each group was to discuss and implement interactive teaching strategies (e.g., in-class problem solving). The research design used meetings notes, feedback from group leaders and a case study of one participant to describe how the…

To evaluate the impact of active learning approaches in a basic molecular and cell biology course for undergraduate students, we assessed the effect of learning by teaching and peer review on the learning outcomes. A literature seminar activity with peer review and feedback was organized as a compulsory activity for all students, covering about…

This article describes a model and online resources for including learner-generated videos as part of an assessment portfolio, and a suggested schedule for a week-long filmmaking workshop. The rationale behind the guide was to enable teaching staff with limited filmmaking experience to embed a novel, authentic, and enjoyable assessment activity…

This study contributes to team science and competency development by comparing demonstrated teamwork skills by engineering students participating in disciplinary and cross-disciplinary team projects. Teamwork skills are key competencies necessary to solve complex technical challenges in the workplace. Despite prior efforts to enhance these…

Modern society is under increasing threats of natural and technological disasters, which involve complex interactions among science, technology and social structures. Although a scientific understanding of disasters is an immediate global issue, there is limited discussion about how disasters can relate to science education. To address this gap,…