Instructional methods

Independent Studies (IS) at Frontier College operates adult learning programs, aimed primarily at people with disabilities. This document offers an outline of the main points of the IS course of study.

This paper describes the experiences of a university researcher and five teachers from a school district in Newfoundland and Labrador as they planned and implemented a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) science curriculum. In PBL, the teacher acts as a facilitator as students, working individually or in small groups, find workable solutions to problems.

This document is housed on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) server.

This report examines the current evidence on the effectiveness of problem-based learning, compared with more traditional approaches in higher education teaching, and explores the extent to which problem-based learning can be an effective way to develop both discipline-specific and transferable skills for innovation.

This paper describes a research project undertaken to compare how doubt evolves while learning about electricity in two different learning contexts. In the problem-centred context, students learn about a subject through the experience of solving problems, while in the teaching-centred context, students listen while the teacher talks.

High-diversity classrooms have become one of the defining features of Alberta’s schools as the province welcomes increasing numbers of children from other countries, traditions, languages and cultures. As well, students show a great deal of variance in cognitive, affective, physical, and communicative development.

Digital technology is becoming ever more prevalent in society. For adult literacy practitioners, the challenge is to find ways to integrate digital literacy skills with the more traditional teaching approaches, says the author of this paper.

This document describes several phases of a five-year project aimed at developing science education in the Canadian territory of Nunuvut. The project focused on understanding the school community’s goals for science education, and both the potential contributors and impediments to realizing those goals.

Despite Canada’s strong performance on international assessments of mathematical skill among 15-year-olds, many Canadian students have weak math skills and struggle in their math classes. It has been suggested that classroom strategies fostering exploration and discovery, and guiding students to construct their own learning and knowledge, can be effective in ensuring that all students acquire strong mathematical skills.

This is the second phase of a project aimed at improving best practices for helping immigrant deaf and hard of hearing adults in bilingual and bicultural (American Sign Language and English) literacy programs. The first phase of the project identified effective teaching approaches and tools and in the second phase, the teacher as researcher and the learners piloted them.

While many community literacy organizations are based on one-to-one tutoring, some also offer training for small groups of learners. An organization might use the group approach because of a shortage of volunteers or because some learners progress faster in a group.