Laboratory (locus of application) The intervention took place in a laboratory.
Laboratory (reformed, intervention) Reformed laboratories refer to laboratory courses or components that are actively revamped to incorporate a different teaching strategy, social structure, or educational technology.
Laboratory (traditional, intervention) Traditional laboratories refer to laboratory courses or components where the traditional laboratory setting is used in conjunction with another intervention.
Laboratory skills/research skills (outcome) Outcomes were coded as laboratory skills/research skills if the results involved the design or conduct of experiments or the ability to analyze or interpret data.
Learning communities Learning communities are programs designed to enhance student learning via close student-student and student-faculty interactions. The goals of learning communities are formation of self-supporting groups, more active involvement in classroom learning, enhanced quality of student learning, and higher persistence rates than comparative students in the traditional curriculum.
Learning styles (intervention) Learning styles are different ways that a person can learn. It's commonly believed that most people favor some particular method of interacting with, taking in, and processing stimuli or information. Psychologists have proposed several complementary taxonomies of learning styles... Although the theorists may disagree on the vocabulary to describe the four basic types of learning style, the following are representative categories: visual (learn by seeing); aural or audial (learn by hearing); reading/writing (learn by processing text); and kinesthetic or practical (learn by doing). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_styles [Accessed 09/07/05]
Learning styles (theory) Learning styles theory is premised on the belief that most people favor some particular method of interacting with, taking in, and processing stimuli or information. Psychologists have proposed several complementary taxonomies of learning styles. But neuroscientists have doubts about the scientific basis for some learning style theories and a major report published in 2004 cast doubt on most of the main tests used to identify an individual's learning style. Although the theorists may disagree on the vocabulary to describe the four basic types of learning style, the following are representative categories: visual (learn by seeing); aural or audial (learn by hearing); reading/writing (learn by processing text); and kinesthetic or practical (learn by doing). Adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_styles [Accessed 09/07/05]
Lecture (active) Active lectures incorporate various active learning strategies into the traditional lecture format to increase students' level of engagement.
Lecture (traditional) Lectures are used to convey critical information, history, background, theories and equations. Usually the lecturer will stand at the front of the room, in front of the class, and present the information relevant to the lecture's content. Lectures have been criticized by educators and methodologists as a one-way method of communication, which does not involve significant audience participation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lecture [Accessed 09/07/05]
Length of the study This category provides information about how long the study itself took place. In most instances, the duration of the study is the same as the duration of the intervention. However, there are a number of instances in which the intervention was studied in multiple classes of different groups of students over an extended period of time. For instance, an individual student received the intervention for one semester, but the researchers' studied the intervention over a period of three semesters with new students each semester. Similarly, there are a few instances where individual students received the intervention over several semesters, but the study itself was only one-semester long.
Level In order for a study to be included in the database, the students in the sample had to be undergraduates: rising freshman, freshman, sophomores, juniors, or seniors. High school and graduate students are only included if the study also included students at the undergraduate level. If the seniors were in a capstone course, the articles was also coded as such. Although rare, some of interventions targeted faculty.
Location of the study This category indicates whether the study took place inside the United States or Outside the United States. The database does not provide information on the individual foreign countries or institutions.
Locus of application This category provides information on the primary setting(s) of the intervention. It strives to be as inclusive as possible, such that a course-level intervention that took place at a consortium of universities would be coded as both "classroom/course" and "consortium of universities."
Longitudinal research Analysis of data collected from the same population at different time points.