We teach English literature in South Africa, to third- or fourth-language English speakers. Increasingly dissatisfied with the effectiveness of our pedagogy under conditions of massification, we seek to agitate propositions about our students' reading and what these propositions means for our pedagogy. Drawing on narrative theory we analyse our…

Much has been written about the benefits to be derived by incorporating the history of mathematics into its teaching. Of the various ways to do this, the use of original sources is among the most thrilling for the insights and the challenges it offers for students and instructors alike. In this paper, we describe examples of one particular…

The author describes alternatives to traditional ways of conceptualizing the early American literature survey course, focusing on film ("1492" and "Black Robe").

Describes a teaching exercise in an undergraduate psychology course in which students read a book with unconventional perspectives on the field of study. Maintains that the activity develops critical reading and thinking skills by confronting students with controversial views. Identifies some of the books selected to fit the criteria of this…

Suggests that having students read and analyze scientific articles gives them an understanding of scientific information as presented in the literature. Describes how after studying classic and recent research articles, students can answer homework questions individually and in groups that stress higher-order thinking. (Author/MM)

Primary literature is an underutilized learning resource for undergraduate courses in crop science. Reading assignments from scientific journals were utilized in an undergraduate University of Minnesota crop physiology course at Southwest Minnesota State University from 2002 to 2004. The subjects of the articles corresponded to the lecture topics.…

Describes a system that involves randomly administered quizzes and offers suggestions for its implementation in classes of any size. Presents data in support of the effectiveness of this technique stating that students completed their assigned reading at impressive rates when motivated by randomly administered quizzes. (CMK)

Focuses on the use of a Reader's Journal that involves students in writing informal responses to reading assignments for history courses. Explains that the Reader's Journal is used to improve students' reading of assignments. Discusses students' responses to the journal entry assignment and the challenges involved. (CMK)

The awesome task of teaching the English novel in one semester at a small college is illustrated and made more feasible in this concise article. A selected group of novels is commented upon specifically, comprising a total volume of more than 4,100 pages of assigned reading. Using the incentive of higher grades, the author provides two other lists…

Curriculum development efforts at Columbia University occurring as a result of social changes and four years of seminar discussions are analyzed, and the seminar transactions and resulting programs discussed. A detailed description is given of Columbia's General Education Program, established after World War I. It is shown how and why the original…

An autonomous multimedia computer-assisted instruction (CAI) general-education physics course was developed and evaluated at Florida State University (FSU). Based on a one-term conventional lecture course which had been given successfully at FSU for several years, the CAI course made use of an IBM 1500 instructional system to guide the student…