To investigate the variation in active learning used in college science courses, the authors analyzed 57 comparison studies published in three prominent science education journals. Focusing on three sources of variation--(a) the active learning activities, (b) other pedagogical features, and (c) course structure/design--they found that most…

Students come into the classroom with a variety of background knowledge. Therefore, it is imperative that educators are able to help all students, regardless of their familiarity with the content. Since it can be challenging for some large enrollment classes to schedule recitation classes after lectures due to logistical constraints, this study…

We discuss an investigation of the difficulties that students in a calculus-based university introductory physics course have with electric field and the superposition principle for the case of a continuous charge distribution and how that research was used as a guide in the development, validation, and evaluation of a tutorial on these topics to…

The mismatch between high school and college learning environments creates a barrier to student success in STEM majors in college. The high school learning environment relies on surface learning in which skills such as re-reading and memorizing are sufficient for academic success. The college learning environment, particularly in STEM disciplines,…

In an ongoing effort to increase student retention and success in the undergraduate general chemistry course sequence, a fully online preparatory chemistry course was developed and implemented at a large public research university. To gain insight about the efficacy of the online course, an observational study was carried out in which student…

Introductory physics for life sciences (IPLS) courses have emerged as a type of physics course within the introductory courses sequence. The interdisciplinary aspects of these courses as well as the diverse student populations that they serve create significant challenges for instructors who choose to design and deliver them. The Living Physics…

This column shares reflections or thoughtful opinions on issues of broad interest to the community. This month's issue discusses the value of traditional lecturing.

Team based learning (TBL) is a time tested teaching-learning (T-L) tool involving collaborative learning but has hardly been tested for teaching clinical biochemistry to undergraduate medical students. The present study was designed to (a) compare problem solving skills of first year MBBS students after attending a TBL session on 'organ function…

Anatomy and Physiology should be considered a gateway course due to its challenging scope and key role as a foundational prerequisite for many degree programs. Students often encounter gateway classes early in their college career when they are academically vulnerable due to their lack of university experience. A&P teaching methods are…

Despite recent interest in online learning, systematic comparisons of online learning environments with traditional classroom environments are limited, particularly in the sciences. Here, we report on a systematic comparison of an online and face-to-face classroom for a sophomore-level, lecture-only introductory inorganic chemistry course that is…

In a flipped classroom model, learning of basic content is shifted before class while in-class time is used for concept application. Empirical and controlled research studies are lacking on the best strategies to provide the necessary pre-class content instruction. In this study, we tested three methods of pre-class content learning--interactive…

This paper represents the second contribution from an action research study on a bachelor-level quantum chemistry and spectroscopy course. In the proposed instructional model, active learning principles are extended outside lectures to form a student-centred course structure. The new model resulted in superior learning outcomes compared to a class…

In very large lecture classes, student engagement is always a challenge, and many instructors use electronic student response systems (SRS) to promote student engagement and active learning. The conventional wisdom in using student response systems is that the technology matters less than the pedagogy; it is the added value of the instructor that…

Studies on the effectiveness of clickers in undergraduate chemistry courses are mixed, and there is disagreement on how to effectively leverage clickers to improve student learning performance. To fill a gap in the research, we analyzed three different teaching strategies (two involving clickers) in a General Chemistry I course over a 13-year time…

Using Piaget's perspective of individual cognition and Vygotsky's theory of social constructivism as lenses, this paper reports on the instructional prompts that are used by biology lecturers to promote student interaction. The study further reports on the link between the prompts used and the subsequent quality of the interaction. Three lecturers…