Describes eight applications of the use of computers in teaching chemistry. Includes discussions of audio frequency measurements of heat capacity ratios, quantum mechanics, ab initio calculations, problem solving using spreadsheets, simplex optimization, faradaic impedance diagrams, and the recording and tabulation of student laboratory data. (TW)

Describes an exercise developed at the University of Natal (South Africa) in which students visit a plant which manufactures a variety of lead compounds. Outlines the procedures for the laboratory preparation of lead compounds that students prepare with samples they collected at the plant. (TW)

Reports on a study involving open-ended interviews of a sample of international agriculture students at the University of Minnesota. Presents findings about the students' agricultural backgrounds, the agricultural situations in the students' home countries, and the students' assessments of their education in the United States. (TW)

Reports on a study to determine the interaction effects of selected personality characteristics, science achievement, and two classroom climates, one which encouraged discovery learning and one that did not. Demonstrated that student achievement is influenced by dynamic interactions within classrooms. (TW)

Describes recent statistics regarding job opportunities and compensation for female engineering graduates as compared to males. Presents data from the College Placement Council by sex and discipline. Includes several possible explanations for the discrepancies that are shown in the data. Discusses the implications for graduating female engineers.…

Discusses 1987 statistics from the College Placement Council regarding new job offers to graduating industrial engineers. Identifies trends in hiring in the field. Describes several issues that will face industrial engineers. States that the industrial engineers most likely to win jobs are those with good basic mathematics and communications…

Discusses coordinate systems, units of measure, scaling and levels as they relate to a database generated by a computer in a spatial rather than planer location. Describes geometric-oriented input, direct coordinates, transformations, annotation, editing and patterns. Stresses that hand drafting emulation is a short-sighted approach to…

Describes two methods to teach radioactive decay to secondary students with wide ranging abilities. Activities are designed to follow classroom discussions of atomic structure, transmutation, half life, and nuclear decay. Includes "The Tasmanian Empire: A Radioactive Dating Activity" and an exercise to teach concepts of half life without…

Points out two areas of difficulty in teaching Newtonian dynamics. Describes several alternatives to physics learning using new technology. Details the use of the LOGO computer language in teaching simple Newtonian environments. Suggests the potential for creating new learning experiences in dynamics with new technology. (CW)

Suggests an approach to understanding the integrals associated with teaching electricity and magnetism at the college level. Categorizes integrals that are commonly used, explains the significance of paired usage and presents a method for introducing concepts. Provides a review of symbols and for integrals in college textbooks. (CW)

Describes efforts of members of the biology and physics departments of Paisley College (Scotland) to develop a simple light-emitter-detector arrangement adapted as a colorimeter interfaced with a microcomputer for use by undergraduate students. Discusses the setup and provides a computer program in BASIC to run it. (CW)

Discusses the idea of "master-students," where college professors from two different disciplines take each other's courses. Describes the experiences of an English professor and a chemistry professor who became master-students in each other's classes. Suggests this as a technique for improving teaching and understanding student problems. (TW)

Argues that the field of chemical engineering is going through a major transition. Discusses trends in microchemical and biochemical engineering and warns that the overall field of chemical engineering is departing from the fundamentals of science. Urges chemical engineering educators to restructure their programs to again emphasize basic science.…

Describes the biochemical engineering and industrial biotechnology programs of the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada). Provides descriptions of graduate courses, along with a sample of current research activities. Includes a discussion of the programs' mechanisms for technology transfer. (TW)

Describes a study of the mental processes college students use in thinking about speed. Piagetian-type tasks dealing with speed, time, and distance were used in an individual interview format. Males outperformed females on tasks relating to speed, but not on the other tasks. (TW)