Three reading comprehension strategies are presented to assist learning-disabled students: an advance organizer technique called "TELLS Fact or Fiction" used before reading a passage, a schema-based technique called "Story Mapping" used while reading, and a postreading method of categorizing questions called…

Studies the visual markers which students employ in writing descriptive and instructional text. Applies the guidelines approach, design decisions approach, and the information/reader model approach. Reports that beginning technical writing majors used fewer illustrations and visual markers than did technical majors. Suggests that the results may…

Discusses the importance of introducing undergraduate students of mathematics to available library materials in mathematics in order to develop a sense of the history, literature, and methods of mathematical research and inquiry. Three library based assignments that could be integrated into intermediate or advanced level mathematics courses are…

In response to a class assignment on the 1960s, the student author used the device of a fictional character paging through a family photograph album to demonstrate how the Vietnam War and the events of the sixties affected one family. Reveals details of daily life, such as the cost of bread, as well as major events. (LS)

Students from two medicine rotations were assigned to experimental and control groups. Instruction was the same except that the control group was assigned required readings. The groups were compared in terms of their performances on a final written examination and on the National Board of Medical Examiners Part II examination. (Author/MLW)

Asserts that, despite changes resulting from new theories on international trade, simple graphs in the Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson tradition remain a significant part of most courses in international economics. Provides four figures illustrating these economic concepts. (CFR)

Describes a set of writing assignments in a high school English class in which students research controversial, complex issues and then write letters to government officials or persuasive essays for other students, thus learning about persuasive writing, and civic action, and becoming more exacting in their language and more precise in their…

Introduces humanistic ways of bringing students into the world of letter writing. The article deals with correspondence in which students are writing to someone, offers useful techniques for getting students to write to each other in class, and suggests ways of providing students with various kinds of masks from behind which to write. (VWL)

Second-year optometry students were asked to review videotapes of themselves performing two patient examinations to increase awareness of the examination process. A study of compliance with the assignment and later performance found that the perceived or potential gains from viewing one's own performance were not reflected in clinical evaluations.…

Outlines a text-based, interactionist approach toward writing and written communication. A brief analysis of the working drafts and revisions of a first-year college student's essay is offered to illustrate how key textual features function reflexively to establish and sustain the evolving but mutually held rational grounds of school writing and…

Discusses an unsuccessful English 101 writing assignment in which students were asked to analyze a Gary Larson cartoon. Examines critically the type of assignment that seeks to address and incorporate the student writer's "local knowledge" of cultural texts, while at the same time containing what counts as knowledge within limited parameters of…

Presents a teaching strategy that bridges expressivism and social constructionism. Discusses finding the sociopolitical and the cultural in the personal and describes seven steps centered on storytelling and autobiographical writing by which students connect their cultural backgrounds, their own individual ideas and values, and those of mainstream…

Argues that understanding assignments is the first step toward successful college writing. Urges instructors to support students by helping them to decode assignments. Breaks down instructions into individual tasks including (1) writing an essay, (2) examining an issue, (3) reviewing articles and books, and (4) focusing on some texts. Defines each…

Suggests the bachelor's paper as an alternative to testing for sociology majors. Explains that the paper enables the student to use the discipline's theoretical and methodological tools to address an important topic. Explores the advantages and disadvantages of the paper. Suggests that the assignment promotes assessment both of the student and the…

Summarizes a student-conducted telephone survey involving 200 interviews on the topic of dating. Describes the process of organizing and carrying out the survey. Notes that the project was exciting and beneficial for both students and professionals involved. (HB)