Describes the development and content of a freshman seminar titled "The Psychology of Mushrooms," which teaches psychology as natural history. This approach allowed the course to proceed from concrete experience to general principals of perception, learning, social, and abnormal psychology. (Author/LS)

Topics for conversation courses include conversational rules and structure, conversational strategies, functions and meaning in conversation, and social and cultural contexts. The direct teaching of conversational skills involves adding specific language input, increasing the role of consciousness raising, and sequencing communicative tasks…

Capitalizing on the research skills of the faculty, the introductory chemistry course at the College of the Holy Cross (Massachusetts) invites students to participate in the processes of speculation, investigation, and discovery, using a laboratory-based curriculum that emphasizes the scientific method. (Author/MSE)

Asserts that involving students in learning a small amount of programming language can enable them to learn the important concepts of electronic information systems. Describes a three-week unit in which arts and humanities undergraduate students use the authoring language, PILOT. (CFR)

Focusing on a project in curricular innovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC), this paper reviews in what sense a task-based approach to syllabus design constitutes an innovation. Then, the UIUC model of curricular innovation is outlined and is analyzed for the extent to which a complete, coherent process of innovation…

A survey of 111 medical schools found 12 provided no formal teaching in death and dying, 30 provided 1 or 2 lectures in the first 2 years, 51 taught it as a module of a larger course, and 18 offered it as an elective. A Yale School of Medicine seminar uses patients as teachers. (Author/MSE)

Described is an undergraduate biology course which uses exercises for teaching critical thinking. A line-of-reasoning model is presented. Evidence for the effectiveness of this approach is presented. (CW)

Described are modifications made in a traditional introductory biology course and the resulting improvement in student achievement and attitude. The use of cooperative learning groups is stressed. (CW)

An introductory Natural Science course with a focus on the laboratory is described. The main function of the course is getting students prepared for required individual projects in science. A copy of the syllabus, a description of laboratory experiments, and the context of the course are included. (KR)

Course of study, target student population, structure of matriculation examination, student outcomes and attitudes of student toward various components of this examination are described. It was found that this examination not only offers a fair, educationally valid assessment but also provides support and direction which result in more effective…

Hampshire College (Massachusetts) offers an introductory, interdisciplinary course on the effects of drugs on the body to get students to think creatively and critically about science. It is hoped that, by becoming scientists for a term, they will experience both the power of science and its fallibility. (The course syllabus is included.) (MSE)

A one-month, elective fourth-year medical school course in advanced physical diagnosis is described. The course featured organ-specific didactic and interactive practice sessions, physical examination-based case conferences, professorial rounds with use of professional patients, and objective structured clinical examinations. (Author/MSE)

A theory of group development is used to organize a social work course teaching the task force approach to community policy formation. An advanced course on homelessness illustrates the method. It is suggested that some courses can incorporate both substantive content and innovative group methods to satisfy two requirements. (MSE)

Describes a four-credit college course for preservice elementary and secondary teachers. Declares that the course is a model that integrates basic geography content with appropriate teaching strategies. Outlines the origins and development of the course and includes a copy of the class syllabus. (CFR)

Comparison of typical courses of study from 1970 to 1990 for students preparing to be teachers of pupils with mental retardation found little change in percentage of programs offering a special course on mental retardation; increased percentage of programs offering cross-categorical courses; and decreased percentage of programs requiring joint…