Using the backward design model, the author of this article surveys and connects the economic competencies literature evolving from Hansen with the literature on literacy-targeted principles courses. He makes the case why departments should offer LT principles courses--which focus on higher-level mastery of a shorter list of concepts that students…

What the author explores in this essay is not so much the "whether" of general science education, but the "why." What exactly constitutes good science education, and how can one recognize when students have received it? Once this question has been answered, the answer to the "what" question--the actual content of the curriculum--is relatively easy…

There has been a long, evolving, and often politically charged debate as to what the nonmajor student should know about science. There are a number of secondary, but nevertheless important, differences between majors and nonmajors courses. Majors courses are commonly viewed as harder, more rigorous, and more comprehensive--unfortunately, there is…