The chapters in this volume illustrate how learning scientists, assessment experts, learning technologists, and domain experts can work together in an integrated effort to develop learning environments centered on challenge-based instruction, with major support from technology. While the strategies and research illustrated in these chapters were developed in one discipline (engineering), they are applicable across disciplines that have as their goal helping students learn to think about the process of problem solving.
Here is an independent review on this book by Dr. Shannon M. Spencer from The University of Michigan.
Table of Contents
This chapter explores how engineering faculty and learning scientists developed a collective wisdom in order to work together to develop course materials.
Too often courses exist in a vacuum, with the learning segregated into small units. This chapter discusses the effort of one group to "desegregate" their curriculum into a flow of integrated learning experiences.
The authors describe how they studied a biotransport course as a mechanism for continuous development of adaptive expertise, the ability of students to use their knowledge creatively and flexibly.
The authors compare the performance of first-year and senior students' perceptions of two types of instructional material focused on professionalism, with an eye toward understanding how materials may be tailored to meet the needs of first-year and advanced undergraduates.
This chapter discusses the effectiveness of a "How People Learn" framework used in a laboratory-based module designed to improve students' written communication skills without compromising acquisition of content knowledge.
The authors explore the extent to which project-based science can help students make sense of complex scientific data and promote deep understanding.
The authors discuss the degree to which innovative curricula such as those developed in the VaNTH project are effective with students in different situations.