Engaging undergraduate students in community-based research (CBR) offers rich benefits to both students and communities (Strand, Marullo, Cutforth, Stoeker, & Donahue, 2006). Finding ways to expand its application promises to multiply those benefits. Senior capstone courses represent a promising vehicle for that expansion, as they are also…

During a review of undergraduate programs at the University of California at Los Angeles, Judith L. Smith, vice provost for undergraduate education, was struck by an uncomfortable realization: Too many majors demanded too little from students. Some students could graduate without ever taking a senior seminar or completing a substantial research…

Over the past three years, California State University, Bakersfield received NSF funding to support hands-on explorations in "network security" and "cryptography" through Research Experience Vitalizing Science-University Program (REVS-UP). In addition to the summer bridge component, the grant included development of…

Presents a brief but fascinating discussion of a high school junior's use of primary sources for her presentation at History Day in California. She contacted black athletes who gave the black power salute at the 1968 Olympics and conducted several hours of interviews. These interviews were incorporated into a paper. (MJP)

Describes a history program at the Suzanne Middle School, Walnut, California, in which students create, design, and promote local history activities. Emphasizes the accomplishments of the program, including a rise in the school's state test scores from the twenty-second percentile to the ninety-fourth percentile. (RW)

Recounts the experiences of a California middle school class that produces an ongoing magazine of oral histories. The multilingual, multicultural, working-class students have interviewed hundreds of participants. In the process they have learned how to research, interview, transcribe, and publish. Includes sample transcripts from the magazine.…