Asserts that, for generations of immigrants, the federal immigration station at Ellis Island, New York, left an indelible first impression of life in the United States. Presents a lesson plan based on photographs of immigrants at Ellis Island and two poems about immigration. (CFR)

Authors describe a "writing intensive" physical geology course utilizing both formal and informal writing assignments. The formal assignment consists of a summary paper on four geological articles. A writing tutor provides feedback on drafts of the summaries. The informal writing assignment requires students to keep a journal related to laboratory…

Author describes her first-year seminar in history of geology where students are given writing assignments asking them to summarize, describe, explain, be convincing to reader. Students review their written work through frequent revision, peer review, collaborative writing assignments. Assignments require students to examine scientific principles…

Describes advantages and details of use of journal writing in introductory geology course. Entries include minimum of three one-page entries per week and count for 25 percent of course grade. Most students start with restatement of ideas presented in class; by end of the course, they are drawing original conclusions and applying ideas in new…

Describes a method of teaching geology and scientific writing to nonscience students that combines active integration of lecture, reading, and laboratory materials with field observations into a writing assignment on a real scientific problem. The writing assignment is completed in stages: a prospectus, a detailed report outline, a bibliography, a…

Describes an assignment in a paleontology course built around constructional morphology and the role of adaptation and exaptation in evolution. Students investigate the constructional morphology of a group of fossils that interests them. Findings are presented in an oral presentation and in a term paper. (27 references) (PR)

Describes an assignment in a graduate-level course in sedimentary-basin analysis that requires students to write a research-grant proposal. The assignment forces students to develop a topic suitable for original research. Each year 25 percent of the class turns these assignments into master's thesis projects and/or submits them as student grant…

Describes exercises in which students create a fictional character from history and write a journal entry in a cooperative group activity. Discusses further assignments in which individual students create additional characters descended from the original for study of later historical periods. Suggests that the project demonstrates how historical…

A method is outlined for social work students to evaluate their own interviewing techniques. Students focus on their implementation of critical components of the initial interview in role plays, field placements, and class assignments. An interview checklist is included as a tool for operationally defining and monitoring interview components.…

Presents an overview of research and unanswered questions related to gender issues in technical communication. Addresses the consequences of the feminization of technical communication, research on gender differences in technical communication, and the means for encouraging a more gender-balanced view of business and industry. (SR)

Describes a letter-writing campaign in which students in an English class wrote to their state representatives opposing a bill intended to restrict the viewing of certain films in the classroom. Demonstrates the students' attention to the effects of their writing on their audience, and on their own image as writers. (PRA)

Introduces a four-step process of clustering to help students integrate their reading and writing skills to produce better papers in their college courses. Provides students writing samples from before and after clustering. (MG)

Asserts that, although many researchers and teachers have written about the use of cooperative, or collaborative, learning groups, their work has focused on small classes. Reports on a study of informal cooperative group assignments used in a large (225 students) college-level Introduction to Sociology class. (CFR)

Presents an instructional strategy for improving students' awareness of African worldviews and the news media's coverage of that continent. Uses a research/writing project to evaluate the media's coverage of selected African events, helping students to become more inclusive in their own awareness of other cultures. (DSK)

Focuses on how to schedule the use of a single computer so that all students are represented and given equal access. Suggests that a computer management team be selected from within the class; discusses the teacher's role and student role definition and responsibility assignments. (AEF)