The character of academic disciplines profoundly influences the curricular organization and pedagogical practices of undergraduate education. A critical interpretation of liberal arts disciplines and their place in undergraduate education is discussed, with a positive rationale for a different approach to undergraduate education outlined.…

Investigated the utility of a hierarchical moral development model, derived from Piaget and Kohlberg, for analyzing moral attitudes expressed in the persuasive writing of 30 children, ages 7-13. Concluded that a cumulative stage theory of moral development is more appropriate than a discrete stage theory for analyzing children's writing.…

The University of Maryland School of Medicine, in cooperation with the five other campus professional schools, has developed a comprehensive, interdisciplinary geriatrics training program for students entering the health care professions. A model is offered for medical educators interested in geriatric curriculum design. (Author/MLW)

Piaget's characterization of formal operational thought and human judgment psychologists' model of bounded rationality are two conflicting models dealing with the nature and limits of mature thought. However, a look at the respective databases demonstrates their complementarity and their contribution to understanding mature cognition. (Author/RD)

Software design is still a craft; techniques are based on the way things have been done, not on basic theorems or design principles. Suggests that academic software design needs to be more like a science or technology and that a taxonomy of design solutions or classification method is required. Describes two case studies. (MLW)

Reported are the results of a study to test a partial systems model of academic department performance for improved decision making and organizational developmental. A variety of outcomes, input variables, and departmental structure and process elements are examined. Comparisons with organizational effectiveness theories are made. (MSE)

This is a description of a model for demonstrating an approach to improving slums in Indonesia and the Philippines. The strategy of using people rather than financial capital as a resource is discussed. (SA)

Developmental family theory is used to conceptualize comprehensive curriculum content. Three theoretical facets (societal-institutional, group-interactional, and individual-psychological) are used to focus appropriate points in the curriculum to include various aspects of family functioning. Family theory is distinguished from family therapy.…

The role of faculty colleagues in the evaluation of college teaching is not defined adequately. A distinction needs to be made between summative evaluation conducted for administrative decisions such as pay increases, promotion, and tenure, and formative evaluations designed to improve teaching. (MLW)

The author's investigation of women's programs in rural development in twelve Latin American countries shows that such programs ignore the time constraints of women's domestic and family responsibilities. She proposes a model for nonoppressive adult education that will enable rural women to integrate their varied roles. (SK)

Describes systematic organized training of peer facilitators at the elementary school level. By implementing peer facilitator programs, such as the junior counselor program, counselors can provide students with valuable educational experiences. In addition, junior counselor programs can be fun for students, teachers, and counselors. (Author)

Unrooted children who have lost parents through divorce, separation, death, or abandonment need as a model an external psychological family in order to complete their developmental task of constructing an internalized triadic family image. (Author)

This essay applies a model to guide an analysis of goodness-of-fit between national and educational plans. The model is described through application to Nepal. In the process, information is collected on Nepal's 25 years of educational efforts and the reciprocal relationship to national development. (Author/KC)

Information systems are becoming more than computer systems, with new equipment and techniques combining with data processing to form a new field called information technology. The emerging discipline of systems engineering is discussed along with nine systems engineering techniques. An organization chart of an information services department is…

The way a particular clinician judges, from data, the degree to which a child is in the category "learning disabled" was modeled on the basis of clinician's statement of the traits that comprise the handicap. The model illustrates the use of fuzzy set theory. (Author/RL)