This article describes a four-part book club in a political parties, campaigns, and elections course. Self-reported survey data and anecdotal evidence suggest that the book club was a successful learning tool. Specifically, students who enrolled in the book club reported increased classroom capital, significant learning, enjoyment with the book…

It is commonly accepted in the academy that developing a critical thinking capacity and related capabilities will make students more effective thinkers and writers, and that these are desirable traits for graduates to have no matter what path they take after graduation. While most academics agree that critical thinking is an essential component of…

Encouraging undergraduate students to access, read, and analyze current primary literature can positively impact learning, especially in advanced courses. The incorporation of literature into coursework typically involves reading and responding to full research reports. Such exercises have clear value as students make connections between…

This paper proposes and discusses how to use an assignment based on "Freakonomics" as a way to foster critical thinking and statistical literacy skills within the classroom.

One of the most important challenges a teacher faces is motivating his or her students to complete reading assignments and to complete them carefully. After all, if students bring to class a basic understanding of the text up for discussion, much deeper learning can occur than if the teacher is forced to spend time explaining the reading to…

Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) methodology uses Web-based tools to gather student responses to questions on preclass reading assignments. However, the technological requirements of JiTT and the content-specific nature of the questions may prevent some instructors from implementing it. Our own JiTT implementation uses publicly and freely available…

College science teachers know that students get the most out of class if they have completed the assigned reading. To reinforce this expectation, we ask our introductory physics students to submit a question they had about the reading. In this paper we describe the rationale and logistics of this assignment. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

Describes a system that involves randomly administered quizzes and offers suggestions for its implementation in classes of any size. Presents data in support of the effectiveness of this technique stating that students completed their assigned reading at impressive rates when motivated by randomly administered quizzes. (CMK)

The author has been teaching Introduction to Sociology for several years, and each semester new students bring their own perspectives to the study of sociology, making the content fresh and new. In order to help students understand sociological concepts in more experiential ways and to give them a glimpse into a culture that may be different from…

Addresses the problem of students coming to tutorials not having done the assigned readings. Reviews three approaches to promote student reading and addresses why they failed. Reviews recent research on student motivation and cooperative learning and suggests ways to promote reading and interdependent learning. (MJP)