Undergraduate biology lab courses have long been criticized for engaging students in "cookbook" experiences in which students follow a given protocol to collect data that help answer a predetermined question. Recent reform documents in biology education have suggested that students should engage in lab courses that provide more authentic…

This document outlines an approach to collecting and processing data for both professional development and course improvement. The approach, which combines elements of evaluation and research, is referred to as an instructional audit. Data collected during the audit addresses the following basic questions: (1) What does the teacher intend to…

This document, the first volume of the summative evaluation of "Man: A Course of Study" (MACOS), focuses on motivation and achievement of students using the MACOS curriculum. The major purpose of the two-year study was to compare MACOS as it was taught in 57 fifth and sixth grade classes in 15 school districts with other social studies…