The automated water filtration design challenge integrates computer programming and basic electronics concepts through the SIMILAR systems engineering design process. The SIMILAR systems design process is to state the problem, investigate alternatives, model the system, integrate the system, launch the system, assess performance, and reevaluate…

Systems theory has been a staple in organizational communication textbooks since the field's inception (Miller, 2015; Poole, 2014). Nevertheless, the authors' classroom experiences have revealed that systems theory may not seem applicable to students due to its complicated nature. While examples and cases can help students make sense of the…

Courses: Communication and Diversity, Intercultural Communication, Gender Communication. Objectives: After completing this semester-long activity, students should be able to (1) articulate a systems-of-oppression (privilege??oppression) approach to thinking about difference; (2) confront and "interact differently" with one social…

Social class remains one of the chief prisms through which reality is interpreted. It is vital for a student to understand how this prism influences their internal representations of themselves and others. In this activity, social class is viewed as a social construction of perceived financial and/or economic status developed through societal…

Describes a systems approach to the job search. Notes how courses in business communications, technical writing, and report writing can help students acquire job search skills. (RL)

Physical education teachers must systematically design instructional strategies which: (1) permit positive interaction between student and environment; (2) define elements in the teaching-learning process; (3) interpret how each element contributes to objectives; (4) analyze interdependencies; and (5) organize the best mix. A sample instructional…

Describes the use of an instructional model for composition involving five procedures: a rationale, instructional objectives, pre-assessment, learning activities, and evaluation. (MKM)

Discusses the importance of studying the far-from-equilibrium phenomena in college chemistry. Presents a system using the gas pendulum which displays all of the essential characteristics of dissipative systems. Promotes the use of the gas pendulum as a teaching example of a nonlinear far-from-equilibrium process. (TW)

The purpose of this study was to develop a systems engineering educational module that could easily fit within existing transportation engineering undergraduate or technical courses in other engineering disciplines. The module is based on analysis of specific job roles and tasks of staff at various transportation agencies in Texas, and has three…

A model for course planning that provides a way of looking at college instruction and an approach to preparing effective courses is presented. It is suggested that: teaching is an experimental activity, there is no correct way to teach, a teacher sets up the conditions for learning, and both the course and teacher need to assume part of the…

This article describes a 2-hour experiential simulation that helps students understand (a) the challenge of even simple organizational changes, (b) the importance of communication between change agents and organizational members, and (c) the source of resistance to organizational change efforts. Teams of students compete to process the most…

Discusses some of the chemical concepts that the United States Space Program illustrates. Describes ways to use the space program to motivate students to learn chemistry and its relationship to the world. Provides examples of classroom applications to environmental chemistry and biochemistry in studying the operation of the space shuttle. (TW)

This paper describes the instructional components of the Bilingual Access Program (BAP) at Elgin Illinois Community College, a federally funded 5-year project established to supplement regular vocational programs as a means to provide language training to limited English-speaking adults so that they leave with additional employable skills related…

By utilizing world systems analysis and dependency theory in world history, ways that students can raise questions and integrate ideas at the high school and undergraduate level are identified. A discussion of the origins and design of the 14th century world system demonstrates how it is set apart from the modern world and how conveying that…

The Alberta Vocational Center (AVC) developed a portable competency-based learning system for use in non-institutional adult basic education community programs. The system addresses needs identified by the 1971 census which found 28% of Alberta's residents (over fifteen and out of school) had less than a ninth grade education. Administered through…