This study analyzes the concepts, attitudes, and practices of 327 pedagogy students from two major Spanish universities related to the process of finding academic information utilizing open access. A training program has been developed through an innovation project (PIMCD) to address the problem of the lack of university training designed to enable students to access reliable sources of scientific knowledge. More...

In delivering chemistry courses by distance, a key challenge is to offer the learner an authentic and meaningful laboratory experience that still provides the rigour required to continue on in science. To satisfy this need, two distance general chemistry laboratory courses appropriate for Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) students, including chemistry majors, have been recently developed at Thompson Rivers University. More...

Math is often taught poorly emphasizing rote, procedural methods rather than creativity and problem solving. Alberta Education developed a new mathematics curriculum to transform mathematics teaching to inquiry driven methods. This revised curriculum provides a new vision for mathematics and creates opportunities and requirements for professional learning by teachers. Conventional offsite, after school, or weekend professional development is typically “sit and listen, maybe try on Monday”. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Why Math Word Problems Fail — And How We Can Get Them Right
AK Whitney, Noodle, 2016/02/29
In school I struggled with math. My problems in math centered around applying memorized formulae to specific problems. Word problems weren't a special case for me, but even as I solved the problems here my main difficulty lay in retrieving from memory the right formula for this and that. More...

This case study looked at 76 randomly selected preservice science teachers from Mbire and Guruve districts who were learning at the Mushumbi Centre in Zimbabwe and assessed their motivations for enrolling under the Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE)’s Virtual and Open Distance Learning (VODL) programme. More...

One of the neglected elements when teaching at a distance is establishing what learners already know at the beginning of the course or module. Unlike the face-to-face environment, in distance learning there is no opportunity for administering diagnostic activities just before the onset of instruction. More...

Germany has difficulty in satisfying demand for skilled professionals yet young people in the country are losing their interest in training in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM professions). More...