Examines the definition of basic mathematics skills in a discussion of meeting the needs of mathematics students in a changing society. One basic skill is understanding formulas that are used in real life. Challenges teachers to teach students to reason mathematically, improve communication, and build mathematical connections with real-life…

Describes an activity that integrates biology and physics concepts by experimenting with the seed dispersal of common milkweed or similar wind-dispersed seeds. Student teams collect seeds and measure several parameters, review principles of trajectory motion, perform experiments, and graph data. Students examine the ideas of…

Asserts that, to participate in a modern economy, every region needs at least one "bigjob" (basic income generating-job). Describes a mapping activity that helps students identify bigjobs in state economies. Uses California as an example and reveals that, contrary to popular opinion, real estate is California's bigjob. (MJP)

Compared "read schema activation," in which one group of Japanese women college students of English as a Second Language read a whole text related to the target text; and "written schema activation," in which a second group wrote about the topic of the target text. A control group read the target text twice. There were no…

Examines the quantitative conditioning of English lone nouns of one language used in discourse in Ukrainian in a Canadian setting. Results yield a synchronic portrait of the integrated loanword, even when it bears no surface indication of that integration, is neither recurrent nor widespread, and has no history of attestation or other status in…

Reports on Carroll Community College's Home Care Challenge program, an integrated, customized curriculum designed to upgrade the literacy and communication skills of home health care providers. The program uses independent study learning activity packets that teach personal and professional skills needed by employers. (VWC)

Cases are stories that are meant to educate. Teachers can deliver cases by lecture, through Socratic questioning, through discussion leading, and in small group learning. Some cases are fact driven and deductive, whereas others are context driven. Science appears to demand closed-ended cases with correct answers; however, in frontier science,…

Criticizes the current notion of defining students as "consumers" of education. Argues that this metaphor encourages a passive sense of entitlement in place of the hard work, discipline, and engagement that is necessary for learning to occur. Maintains that student are "producers" of their own knowledge. (MJP)

Describes a classroom exercise designed to illustrate the economic aspects of common ownership, individual ownership, government regulation and to examine how these relate to conservation. The exercise involves the incremental distribution (via a turkey baster) of water between buckets marked "now" and "future." Different rules replicate different…

Details the design of a hypertext decision-making activity located on the Internet for business English students wishing to review techniques and vocabulary for conducting business meetings (World Wide Web address is given). Provides statistical data on students using the activity worldwide, and makes recommendations for further development of…

Investigates, within the context of the question-answer framework of a foreign language oral proficiency test, the interactive nature of spoken discourse between Canadian students and assessors when there is trouble in talk as perceived by the assessors, with a focus on how they accommodate to the students. The study has implications for rater…

Describes a project where fourth- and fifth-grade students in the Wales School District (Wisconsin) simulated a political campaign as part of their social studies curriculum, using HyperStudio, ClarisWorks, and the Internet. Also discusses fund-raising activities and how the unit came about. (AEF)

Addresses the problem of students coming to tutorials not having done the assigned readings. Reviews three approaches to promote student reading and addresses why they failed. Reviews recent research on student motivation and cooperative learning and suggests ways to promote reading and interdependent learning. (MJP)

Discusses outcomes of a study that suggest ESL instructors focus on grammar and syntax in student writing, whereas English faculty members focus more on content and style. Because they are less familiar with different rhetorical styles, English faculty evaluate ESL compositions lower when they do not correspond to a more western form. (29…

Discusses whether community and public service efforts enhance a university's academic mission or whether they are misplaced efforts to heal sagging social conscience. Explores related issues and urges practitioners to commit to scholarly documentation of outcomes for students who participate in community service and service-learning. (Author/MSE)