Describes a method for promoting student interest and involvement in an undergraduate marriage and family course. Supplements lectures with problem-solving sessions for small groups. Uses session outcomes to encourage critical evaluation by the class. Combines the traditional scholarly approach with an interactive personal involvement. (NL)

Using data from a national study of instructional practices in 7th- through 8th-grade science classes, this study examined a subset of Christian school teachers to determine what instructional practices predominated in Christian-school science classes. Results indicated that participants used 10 teaching methods (six constructivist and four…

Reviews literature on class size and its influence on student performance, attitudes, and behavior, highlighting a recent study of the effect of lecture-group size on the latter variables in an introductory college nutrition course. Student class-size preferences, attitudes about large-class characteristics, interest in the discipline, attitudes…

A required graduate-level dental biochemistry course was designed to combine traditional lecture, student presentations, case studies, and computer-assisted lecture presentations and handouts, combining the high efficiency of lecture-based information transfer with active computer-based learning. Student motivation increased, and assimilation of…

Results of an annual study of student opinions of courses at the London School of Economics and Political Science (England) show variations in level of satisfaction with a single teacher, even within the same course, according to teaching method. Predictors of these variations are examined, including teacher, course, and student characteristics.…

The environment for teaching management in Baltic States' universities has undergone profound changes. The factors involved are: greater interaction between classroom teaching and the "real world", market expansion, internationalization, and increasingly diverse students. The author reports on the survey findings from the three…

We carried out an experiment to determine whether student learning gains in a large, traditionally taught, upper-division lecture course in developmental biology could be increased by partially changing to a more interactive classroom format. In two successive semesters, we presented the same course syllabus using different teaching styles: in…

Interactive discourse structuring is used to guide listeners through on-going speech and has been shown to have a positive effect on lecture comprehension, particularly in L2 settings. As mobility increases in the academic world, there are more opportunities for lecture events characterized not only by linguistic/cultural diversity, but also by…

This book is designed to help new faculty members in engineering and the sciences become effective teachers and researchers. Part 1 focuses on teaching, and includes six chapters which cover: characteristics of student learning, planning a course, conducting discussions and lectures, preparing examinations and assignments for students, and working…

This monograph examines the nature of active learning at the higher education level, the empirical research on its use, the common obstacles and barriers that give rise to faculty resistance, and how faculty and staff can implement active learning techniques. A preliminary section defines active learning and looks at the current climate…

A learning cycle consists of three phases: exploration; conceptual invention; and expansion of an idea. These phases parallel Piaget's functioning model of assimilation, disequilibrium and accomodation, and organization respectively. The learning cycle perceives students as actors rather than reactors to the environment. Inherent in that…

This study was conducted at John Abbott College to determine the preferences of psychology students among five styles of classroom instruction: films, group discussions, lectures, teacher-led questions and answers, or videos. Questionnaires were distributed in four psychology teachers' upper-level courses, lower-level courses, and continuing…

The relationship between student personality traits and achievement with either mediated self-instruction or didactic large group instruction was investigated. Subjects were 159 female third-year nursing students at Loyola University of Chicago. Subjects received instruction on tracheostomy care and intravenous (I.V.) therapy through either a…

The 68 journal articles, books, and ERIC documents described in this annotated bibliography cover all aspects of the topic of lecturing, from general considerations on the methodology and effectiveness of lecturing to specific advice on how to lecture and the results of research studies on lecturing's effect and usefulness. Besides summarizing the…

This paper outlines a method of transforming traditional learning methods into a competency-based approach in a series of steps. The paper is organized in three sections. The first section defines competency-based education (CBE) and explains how this approach differs from traditional education. It also advances reasons why the competency-based…