Topology optimization (TO) has been a useful engineering tool over the last decades. The benefits of this optimization method are several, such as the material and cost savings, the design inspiration, and the robustness of the final products. In addition, there are educational benefits. TO is a combination of mathematics, design, statics, and the…

Cultural competence is described as a set of skills, values, and principles that acknowledge, respect, and work toward optimal interactions between the individual and the various cultural and ethnic groups with which an individual might come into contact. Scholars have been critical of cultural competence training because the three-dimensional…

For several years, I taught a general education course on the Manhattan Project for students majoring in the arts and humanities who needed a physical science credit as a condition of their graduation requirements. As might be imagined, the challenge in teaching this course was to find a balance between quantitative and qualitative content. A…

Purpose: Current approaches to sustainability science and education focus on (assessing and addressing) the external world of ecosystems, wider socio-economic structures, technology and governance dynamics. A major shortcoming of such approaches is the neglect of inner dimensions and capacities (which constrains education for sustainability as an…

As a "wicked problem," climate change requires interdisciplinary understanding and collaboration in order to prepare future leaders to develop solutions. To this end, as an ecologist and an anthropologist at a mid-sized university in the southeastern U.S., we designed a pair of interdisciplinary, research-intensive courses for first-year…

The presentation of economics in introductory courses has been highlighted as potentially exacerbating the underrepresentation of women in economics. The authors study the impact of a gender-neutral change in content and instruction in introductory economics courses intended to increase student engagement. By implementing meaningful applied…

Hip hop is the most popular music in the US and remains on the fringes of the music education profession as both under-integrated, researched, and utilised. The purpose of this project was to investigate the experiences and perceptions of undergraduate music students who facilitated a hip hop project with hip hop experts in a local youth arts…

This paper highlights the design process and implementation for an "all majors" undergraduate course that allows students a chance to reconnect with the natural world. During this course students explore a wide range of biological and physical science based topics that seek to highlight human intervention and our impacts on the planet.…

In which ways do curricula recognize existential questions of compulsory school students, and what direction is given regarding how to address them? By asking these two questions, this study analyses syllabi for the school subject of religion education and its equivalents in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and in the two German regions of Bavaria and…

There has been ample research establishing the effectiveness of the task-based language teaching approach on improving learners' language skills. Some studies have also taken account of teachers' experience and their views of working in task-based classrooms, as experimentation with an approach is different from implementing it in real classroom…

This study investigates the prevailing challenges in teaching English for Medical Purposes (EMP) within Chinese higher education institutions in Guangdong Province, intending to propose strategies for improving the quality and efficacy of EMP instruction. Based on comprehensive responses from EMP instructors and students, three primary issues…

In this article, the author describes their class, titled "The World in A Year: A Global History of 1948," that was created to give students exposure to a set of events that, when scaffolded strategically, highlighted themes and processes featured in most global history courses: imperialism, environmental change, social hierarchy,…

We present a unique and innovative course, Biostatistical Literacy, developed at the University of Minnesota. The course is aimed at public health graduate students and health sciences professionals. Its goal is to develop students' ability to read and interpret statistical results in the medical and public health literature. The content spans the…

In the era of artificial intelligence (AI), big data (BD), and digital transformation (DT), analytics students should gain the ability to solve business problems by integrating various methods. This teaching brief illustrates how two such methods--Bayesian analysis and Markov chains--can be combined to enhance student learning using the Analytics…

Online education is becoming the norm in higher education. Effective instructional design methods are required to ensure that "ever-connected" students' needs are being met. One potential method is design thinking: an agile methodology that stresses the importance of empathy with the student. The #OpenTeach fully online course was…