Observes the U.S. Supreme Court rulings on religion have been fairly consistent, but controversies arise from judicial interpretations of the Constitution's religious clauses. Traces history and development of major court decisions and religious issue rulings for both the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses. States religion in public schools…

Describes methods for teaching applications of social psychology research. Divides class time between lectures on applications, new material, and discussion. Requires students' understanding of how concepts can be applied in everyday life. Uses writing assignments and small-group discussions to promote concept recognition. Includes list of reading…

Discusses a high school unit on First Amendment rights developed for a gifted students class in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Describes the unit's origins and procedures, such as issues studied and the use of research projects, guest speakers, and field trips. Emphasizes students' interest in learning about their rights. Identifies critical…

Describes a study that investigated the use of computer conferencing systems in a masters-level professional health care program. Previous research is reviewed; message content (i.e., socio-emotional activity versus task activity) is discussed; and the model development of the discipline is used to compare course content. (Contains 42 references.)…

Reviews the debate concerning the impact of Afrocentric education and multicultural education on U.S. history instruction and course content. Responds to criticisms of Afrocentric education by historians Diane Ravitch and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Contends that multicultural education can help recognize divisions in U.S. society and show a…

Reviews study that found, through use of a "performance instruction" model, a significant misalignment between the cognitive complexity levels of planned course content and that which is tested. (32 citations) (YKH)

The Internet offers inexpensive contact with other cultures. This article describes the development of a cross-cultural management course for university seniors in business and economics and MBA students that made extensive use of the Internet to establish relationships with counterparts and mentors in other countries. Outlines course objectives,…

Provides guidelines to instructional designers and multimedia developers for converting traditional instruction to electronic learning, specifically a Web-based format. Discusses initial planning; screen styles; user navigation requirements; appropriate links; target audience description; organization of course content; user interface designs;…

This article describes a course intended to prepare special education graduate students to educate students with severe disabilities in inclusive settings. Course methods are guided by the Concerns Based Adoption Model with emphasis on course participants applying course content in public school settings. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Describes the implementation of a bioethics laboratory exercise that incorporates a variety of instructional strategies. In the activity, General Biology students consider relevant and interesting topics of bioethical importance and prepare classroom presentations on the different viewpoints normally attendant to ethical topics. Includes an…

Understanding what teachers need to be more comfortable and confident in their profession is crucial to the future of effective teachers and scientific literacy in public schools. This study focuses on the experiences of Arizona biology teachers in teaching evolution, using a clinical model of stress to identify sources of pressure, the resulting…

This article describes and evaluates a new alternative: distance-based training using live video and audio courses transmitted via the Internet. This alternative may address each of the problems described above, that is, it may provide a distant expert who selects and delivers training to paraprofessionals in a cost efficient manner. Because the…

The first challenge in designing and teaching any course is to decide what to teach. At most colleges and universities, the process of selecting course content is an extremely local enterprise. Sometimes the decisions are made by a small group of faculty members, but most often they are made by a single professor with the responsibility of…

Certain conventions governing administrative, faculty, and student conduct have come through tradition and common sense to be accepted generally in academe. Obviously, they do things differently at different institutions. But when Professor Barbier carefully details the standards of pedagogy, privacy, and ethics she encountered at a Canadian…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic replication of a previous study (Boon, Burke, Fore, & Spencer, 2006) on the effects of computer-generated cognitive organizers using Inspiration 6 software versus a traditional textbook instruction format on students' ability to comprehend social studies content information in high school…