Presents an analogy for students to understand why psychology is the science of behavior rather than the science of mind. Suggests that mind is a process of the brain just as internal combustion is a process of the engine. (Author/KC)

Hegel's teaching is often omitted or considered summarily in political philosophy courses. In order to reduce these difficulties, an introductory discussion of Hegel's political thought in the context of a dialogue is presented. (RM)

Describes a "critical dialogue" approach to teaching an introductory college level sociology course. The approach centers around a three-stage process that is applied to each topic studied: 1) an opening discussion that draws on the students' ideas and experiences; 2) lectures and readings to present a sociological perspective; and 3) a critical…

To help undergraduate psychology students learn basic concepts in the experimental method, a basketball game is construed as a psychology experiment. Although no formal evaluation of the effectiveness of the basketball analogy as a learning device was conducted, students responded favorably. (RM)

Television is an important source of geographic perceptions held by college students. How the television series M*A*S*H can be used to help students learn regional geography is discussed. M*A*S*H uses regional imagery, place-name stereotyping, and regional personality characterization. (RM)

One lemon, an assortment of other fruits and vegetables, a tennis ball, and a Galvanic Skin Response meter are needed to implement this approach to teaching about classical conditioning in introductory psychology courses. (RM)

Describes a demonstration for college-level cognitive psychology classes of Miller's "Magical Number Seven" concept of the limitation of sensory capacity for processing information. Students report on the number of pennies they observed in a box after viewing the coins for two seconds. Demonstration results consistently support Miller's…

Access to the traditions, aspirations, and rewards of a culture implies a fundamental knowledge of the symbols, images, archetypes, places, and events which comprise a cultural heritage. E. D. Hirsch, Jr. contends that there has been a marked decline in this "cultural literacy" in recent years due in part to neglect at all levels of…

NOAA polar-orbiting satellites have the capability of providing views of entire states. This article describes the characteristics of data from these satellites, indicates their advantages and disadvantages, and shows how the satellite data can be used in a statewide representation of physical geography for students at the introductory level. (RM)

One of the most important, yet difficult concepts to teach in an undergraduate course in intermediate microeconomics is the all-embracing concept of elasticity of demand. This paper details a four part teaching approach developed to make this most important aspect of microeconomic theory more understandable. Part 1 develops the approach for…

Discusses five directions for integrating the notion of communicative competence in foreign-language instruction: functional orientation, focus on semantic notions, cyclical progression, inclusion of rhetorical device and discursive authenticity, and systematic treatment of language variation. (EKN)

By working through a series of problems, undergraduate psychology students in an introductory statistics course discover for themselves the main topic of the lesson. A lecture follows to conceptualize and clarify the topic. (RM)

Explores the need to teach undergraduate sociology majors about statistical methods. Identifies student based obstacles to the learning of statistics. Offers an instructional model that includes (1) warm up sessions; (2) organizational models; (3) application exercises; (4) pattern recognition; and (5) sociological meaning. Recommends the model as…

The following are some techniques for adding depth to a survey course in mythology: (1) allow students to generate their own list of important mythological characters on which they are to be tested; (2) use films; (3) compare and contrast characters of different mythology systems using discussions, written assignments, and comparison grids; (4)…

One of a series of resources for teaching sociology at the postsecondary level, this volume contains syllabi and instructional materials for introductory courses in social psychology. The document is divided into five sections. Section I, an introduction, presents an overview of material, instructions for using the syllabi set, cost and ordering…