In their second year at the university, preservice chemistry teachers are confronted with organic chemistry. Because it is known that students often struggle with the subject, a new course design was developed, used, and evaluated for this study. To ensure meaningful learning, the students had many opportunities to actively participate in the…

Aim/Purpose: During the education of future engineers and experts in the field of computer science and information communication technology, the achievement of learning outcomes related to different levels of cognitive ability and knowledge dimensions can be a challenge. Background: Teachers need to design an appropriate set of activities for…

Course: Intercultural Communication. Objectives: After completing this intercultural service-learning activity, students should be able to (1) apply effective intercultural communication skills in culturally different sites; (2) analyze cultures different from their own through service-learning; (3) compare and evaluate course readings with…

Courses: Intercultural Communication, Communication and Identity, Interpersonal Communication. Objectives: After completing this semester-long activity, students should be able to (1) discuss and apply the concepts of social identities; (2) analyze the influence of self-identities on online communication practices of self to others and others to…

Courses: Ethics, Organizational Communication, Political Communication. Objectives: After completing this unit activity, students should be able to (1) apply multiple ethical perspectives to real-world diversity issues in a debate format, and (2) explain the role of informational and social category diversity in current controversies.

This paper shows the planning, the teaching activities and the evaluation of the learning and teaching process implemented in the Chemical Process Design course at the University of Cantabria, Spain. Educational methods to address the knowledge, skills and attitudes that students who complete the course are expected to acquire are proposed and…

Courses: Argumentation, Public Speaking, Political Communication. Objectives: After completing this unit activity, students should be able to (1) demonstrate comprehension of Burke's (1941) concept of terministic screens; (2) apply the concept of terministic screens to write a brief political autobiography of themselves that analyzes the history…

Assessment, or better stated, the assurance of student learning, has become a central issue in both the internal and the external evaluations of degree programs offered by colleges and universities. The continual importance of assurance of learning activities within institutions of higher education has generated a growing need to create empirical…

The standard evaluation forms used in most college and university courses are ill suited to assess courses and instructors whose goals and pedagogy differ significantly from the "chalk and talk" approach to undergraduate instruction. This article discusses an evaluation form that the author, a professor emeritus of economics at the…

How do you know what students in your course "took away" with them? Why not ask? Through a learning portfolio assignment, I invited students to show: how they met the course objectives; connections they made to other courses as well as aspects of their lives; and their views and perspectives about the course material and processes. They…

Conference proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference on the Teaching of Psychology: Ideas and Innovations, sponsored by the Psychology Department of the State University of New York at Farmingdale. The conference theme for 2011 was: The Future of the Undergraduate Psychology Major: New Directions in an Evolving Educational Climate. The Conference…

Goals and objectives, student activities, and evaluations are contained in this guide for a one-day scavenger hunt through the North End of Boston. The culmination of a unit involving urban planning and land-use problems, the field trip is intended to give students first-hand experience with city life and a better understanding of urban issues…

Objectives and activities for a field trip study of the seacoast environment of Gloucester, Massachusetts, are outlined in this guide. One phase of a six-week tenth grade biology unit, the field trip features study of tidal pool and salt marsh ecosystems. Specific objectives of the trip relate to observation and identification of various forms of…

Analysis of recent literature on experiential education provides material for a model for learning experiences in experiential education. The model is constructed from six interconnected and overlapping parts, ranging from the profoundly foundational to the more specifically tactical. First, the learning experience attends to the human condition.…

A five-week unit providing first hand experience with primitive ceramic techniques is described in this curriculum guide, which includes course goals and objectives, a daily schedule of class activities, and handouts for students. The unit features construction of a sawdust kiln as a group problem-solving activity; students work in groups…