This commentary examines the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) report, "Educating Scientists and Engineers: Grade School to Grad School" and the American Society for Engineering Education report, "The Engineering Student Pipeline." Provides an official OTA view of the problems in the pipeline. (YP)

According to a report from the National Research Council, 53 percent of those who received doctorates in 1987-88 did not owe any money for their education. Graduates in engineering and the physical sciences were less likely to be in debt than those in the humanities, life sciences, and social sciences. (MLW)

Compared background and motivation of 82 high-achieving college women in engineering and science to those of 31 women in the humanities and social sciences. Areas of investigation included family composition and parental characteristics, childhood socialization, sources of support for career choice, and work characteristics. Significant…

The University of North Carolina-Charlotte developed a team-taught course that integrates social and ethical considerations into the engineering context. Professors of engineering, humanities, and social sciences join with community-based professionals to demonstrate the "usefulness" of the humanities and social sciences for solving…

Described is the situation in the field of continuing engineering education (CEE) in Europe, especially the European Society for Engineering Education and Helsinki University of Technology. The need and structure of the Professional Development degree is introduced. (Author/YP)

Describes University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) as metropolitan, with wide ethnic diversity. UWM actively recruits minority students. Describes academic programs, including opportunities for minority students, financial aid, scholarships, support services, graduate programs, and minority engineering program. Suggests information sources. (TES)

Reviews instructional design techniques that are suggested for improving the quality and effectiveness of educational software. Three areas of instructional design are addressed: (1) instructional strategies, including provision, examples and active feedback; (2) screen display, including text style variety; and (3) human factors, including…

The nature of engineering is examined along with the nature of expertise. School knowledge and out-of-school knowledge are compared. Suggested are four strategies for the development of engineering expertise including problem-based instruction, cognitive apprenticeship, reflective practicum, and cooperative learning. (YP)

Discusses a paradigm shift from technological positivism to social systems thinking in technology. Describes the role of engineers and engineering education from the perspective of this new orientation. (YP)

Describes an empirical study that measured word-profile similarities between citing and cited publications in the chemical engineering field. Highlights include cognitive resemblance and bibliographic coupling; data collection techniques; analysis of word-profile similarity; bibliographic coupled publications; mapping of cognitive resemblance; and…

Differences in the kinds of knowledge validation processes, truth criteria, and other factors associated with knowledge production are presented for five disciplines (physics, engineering, psychology, education, and English literature), and implications for improving instruction are examined. It is concluded that faculty must understand the…

A teacher at Upland Hills School (Royal Oaks, Michigan) describes how he and groups of seventh and eighth graders built a 175-foot bridge across a gully between the school and an outdoor environmental education area. Students received basic design and engineering instruction at a nearby university, and parents and community provided support and…

The results of examining approximately 850 natural science, medical, and engineering journals were that 132 have at least 1 policy statement concerning deposition of sequence or structure data in a data bank before publication; deposition or sharing of research materials upon request; and availability of supplementary publication services. (65…

Discusses online resources on ergonomics for librarians seeking to improve working environments or planning for staff and public work areas. A sidebar lists electronic addresses for 10 online sites for information including: World Wide Web sites, the Library of Congress gopher, archives on avoiding typing injuries, and electronic mailing lists.…

Described is a project where students gain experience in handling large volumes of hazardous materials, process start up and shut down, equipment failures, operational variations, scaling up, equipment cleaning, and run-time scheduling while working in a modern pilot plant. Included are the system design, experimental procedures, and results. (KR)