Nationwide pre- and posttesting of introductory courses with the Geoscience Concept Inventory (GCI) shows little gain for many of its questions. Analysis of more than 3,500 tests shows that 22 of the 73 GCI questions had gains of <0.03, and nearly half of these focused on basic physics and chemistry. We also discovered through an assessment of…

Over the last decade there is an intensive discussion within the Information Systems (IS) and Informatics community about the characteristics and identity of the discipline. Simultaneously with the discussion, there is an ongoing debate on essential skills and capabilities of IS and Business Informatics graduates as well as the profile of IS…

A study was conducted of teacher perceptions of classroom student speaking opportunities at Cook Junior High School in Cypress-Fairbanks I.S.D. during the spring of 1995. Fifty-four academic teachers of language arts, reading, math, science, and social studies were given a questionnaire to answer according to their attitudes concerning…

The purpose of a 3-year project was to improve the preservice preparation of special education and vocational teachers by providing content for faculty members to infuse into their core teacher preparation courses. It assisted vocational and special teacher educators in including in their preservice curricula the content that would prepare…

This guide is intended for use by vocational instructors wishing to integrate environmental science concepts and vocational skills in their high school classrooms. The first section recounts the process of developing an integrated environmental science-vocational education program at Sandy Union High School in Sandy, Oregon. Planning a combined…

An interdisciplinary course integrating political science, literature, and film is used at Bellarmine College in Kentucky as a vehicle for examining politics on the local, state, national and international levels. Four novels and their analogous films are used, corresponding to the respective political level--"The Last Hurrah,""All…

Lehigh County Community College (Pennsylvania) and the Lehigh County Senior Citizens' Center collaborated on a project to assess the learning needs of the senior center's 1,600 members. A needs assessment completed by 68 center members and interviews of an additional 38 center members established that senior citizens preferred short-term workshops…

A study explored ways in which traineeship courses could be designed to include training in information technology. The skills and performance standards required of information technology training in the printing, tourism, banking, construction, and computer industries were identified. Next, the current provision of such training in Australia and…

This guide is intended for vocational educators developing the vocational English as a second language (VESL) component of a course in cooking. The introductory section examines assumptions about second language learning and instruction and VESL classes, local adaptations of the curriculum, and sample VESL lessons. The chapter on language…

This guide contains a variety of materials to help teachers for grades 8-12 (specifically those in the Columbia County School System, Georgia) infuse career education into their classrooms. Contents include both school system-specific and general information: (1) brief discussion of career education; (2) listing of nine student outcome objectives;…

Twenty health and literacy professionals (predominantly National Work Group on Cancer and Literacy members) were interviewed by telephone regarding communicating with low-literate audiences. Most respondents reported using census data, state statistics, and the Wide Range Achievement Test to help them target and identify low-literate individuals.…

A study examined current usage of microcomputers, projected software needs, and teacher inservice training needs in Texas vocational agriculture programs. Questionnaires were mailed to each of the 922 vocational agriculture departments in Texas. Data from the 446 usable instruments returned were tabulated by geographical area and school size.…