Four-year institutions of higher education in the United States are experiencing two major trends: (1) a growing number of transfer students; and (2) students taking an increasing proportion of their courses online. Here, we look closely at the extent to which these two trends impact student success. Using the University of Central Florida as our…

Once on the fringes of higher education, online learning is now mainstream. Today, there are fewer entirely online or entirely face-to-face students; increasingly, college students are taking courses in a variety of instructional formats. How might this new reality of diverse modalities affect student success? Does a greater or lesser proportion…

The article describes the development of a disciplinary living/learning community in political science; the authors, two faculty members, started the community in the fall of 2012. The faculty leaders describe the various practices used to integrate political science courses in two subfields: American politics and international politics. In…

Among recent e-Learning Pedagogical Strategies, gaming and crisis-simulation games are increasingly used in recent years in university-learning and Blended-courses as an out-of-context effective tool for role-playing and education, especially in Law Schools and Business Schools. Gaming covers several sub-fields (war-games; Law School Mock-Trials;…

There is ample discussion in academic and policy circles, as well as amongst the general public, about the ways in which classroom instructors can provide more engaging learning experiences for students. This research examines the ways in which students engage participating in classroom simulations as it pertains to the assigned learning outcomes…

Student exit polling has demonstrated value in the classroom (Berry and Robinson 2012; Evans and Lagergren 2007; Lelieveldt and Rossen 2009), but faculty typically operate these polls in isolation. When faculty collaborate, however, students gain additional benefits from the experience. Collaboration provides a geographically diverse "student…

Teaching the Declaration of Independence can be a challenge. This article presents a lesson plan based on an explication of the title and the first three lines of the Declaration intended to make the American founding era relevant to today's college students. Assuming civic education is a major goal of teaching American Government, assuming…

This article explores the use of Holocaust, genocide and human rights education to teach political competencies for American students in the 21st century.

This article reports on our experiences in a German-American partnership in internationalizing the curriculum. In a globalized world, engaging other cultures and identities as well as understanding global issues and events from other perspectives are important qualifications that allow students to gain different insights in political science. Yet,…

An experimental program at Valencia Junior College (Florida) allows every student to actively participate in all phases of the political science course. A variety of multimedia materials, which the students help to develop and evaluate, are used. (BB)

This paper examines the U.S. educational system foundations, with particular emphasis on the state of Florida and contrasts that system with the Hungarian system, long under the communist control of the Soviet Union. Funding, educational initiative, and curriculum control are discussed. The paper concludes with accounts of personal experiences in…

A comparison of public opinion about state and national political issues focuses on the degree of constraint expressed by individuals. Constraint is the individual's tendency to coherently cluster issues. It is manifested when, for example, one favors tax cuts and decreased spending; lack of constraint is illustrated when an individual…

This American Studies elective course for 10th 11th, and 12th grade students emphasizes American foreign policy in this century. Specific examples of past policy serve as a basis for analyzing factors involved in policy making. It is hoped that a knowledge of the United States' role in the international arena will lead to a more complete…

The forces affecting relations among nations as well as the effectiveness of decision making processes in international politics are examined and analyzed by 10th through 12th grade students in the elective quinmester course clustering around political studies. Goals emphasize helping students to understand state interaction and the variables…

Designed as a pre-requisite for other quinmester courses in the politcal studies cluster, this course of study for grades seven through nine, aims at providing the student with basic knowledge about Democracy, and an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of each citizen to make a Democracy work. Course goals are for the student to: 1)…