Contemplative education courses and academic programs emerging in universities across the United States and internationally have a unique opportunity to help students gain both self-awareness and an awareness of how the self is situated in a larger context. Research utilizing meditation in higher education shows promise in strengthening stress…

A learner-centred approach puts students amidst the learning process and helps them become involved in that process. It provides an opportunity for students to choose and direct the course of the lesson. This approach is especially appropriate when dealing with ethical concerns that might be sensitive issues. When it comes to the sources for the…

This article discusses pedagogical exercises developed to help students appreciate the power of sociological perspectives as they seek to better understand their own lives and the world around them. The assignments are focused on fulfilling the particular course learning goal that highlights student mastery of the application of diverse…

This article focuses on describing the interplay between teaching and learning practices in Higher Education and the disciplinary context of such practices. In particular, it aims to address the question of how course design, teaching, and learning activities take place within a particular academic culture and how those activities mutually shape…

Existing research identifies that students' approaches to assignments are related to their general approaches to study. It is suggested that students need to better understand the requirements of assignments and acquire new concepts such as "argument". This fine-grained study proposes four qualitatively distinct assignment pathways: gathering,…

In this article, the author describes a feminist activism assignment that would allow students to "do something" about the many difficult social injustices they learn about in her class. The "Feminist Activism Project" has become a source of hope, frustration, anxiety, and ultimately ambivalence about the assignment's pedagogical merits. While…

This paper reports on a study of student learning about collaboration and discusses the effectiveness of different forms of assessment in facilitating learning. The study was conducted in a large health and social care faculty in which all students on pre-qualifying professional programmes learn together in modules aimed at developing…

Describes seven practical and reflective assignments that help student interns understand job contexts, gather evidence of learning from experience, and integrate theory and practice. Assignments include presentations, journals, papers describing internship and coursework connections or organizations and work colleagues, and development of…

Discussion of the theory-practice gap focuses on a course for education students that integrates instruction on conducting both theoretical and practical research. The dual approach illustrates the value of theoretical research to students' practice as teachers. Highlights include a literature review, course objectives and assignments, course…

The theory and practice of whole language teaching should be integral and simultaneous components of preservice teacher education. A number of instructional strategies and class activities can be used to provide preservice teachers with experiences similar to experiences they will provide to elementary school children. Examples of class activities…

States that an important goal of introductory college sociology courses is to make the discipline come alive for students and to encourage active involvement in learning. Describes a student project approach in which students interview three people and analyze the data relevant to four theoretical perspectives. (CFR)

Research has suggested that students have difficulty completing content area writing assignments if the teacher's written instructions are not clear. Students' written work is more likely to be of higher quality if teachers specify the assignment's audience and purpose and offer prewriting instruction. Controversy exists over how explicit the…

A professor from the University of Tennessee and a mathematics teacher who formerly taught kindergarten teamed up to plan and teach a kindergarten methods course for undergraduate elementary education majors. The course includes both practical and theoretical perspectives. Course readings consist of selections from textbooks and articles from…

Social workers in direct practice rely on critical thinking to apply theories, make informed decisions, and explain their assessments and decisions. This paper defines critical thinking and discusses skills needed for its development, methods and assignments for teaching those skills to undergraduate and graduate students in practice courses, and…