Asserts that international economics textbooks pay too little attention to the complexity of issues and problems facing individual nations. Describes a country report project included as part of a college-level international or development economics course. Provides two student instruction sheets and a sample country report. (CFR)

Advocates allowing students to suggest topics for courses and to take an active role in planning the objectives and outline for a course's activities. Provides a writing exercise in which students are asked at the start of a course to select one reading from the anthology for inclusion in the course. (HB)

Describes a multicultural unit for fifth graders in which each students receives a prop, develops a character around it, and writes a sketch which is videotaped and critiqued. Describes how students' characters identify their differences and figure out how to get along. Notes that students' ongoing relationships with eighth-grade penpals provided…

Contends that a college-level capstone course in sociology should synthesize prior knowledge and foster continuing affilation with the discipline. Discusses six pedagogical principles that promote a continuing relationship with sociology. Describes content and instructional procedures used in a senior seminar at Rider College (New Jersey). (CFR)

Describes a student-directed learning program called "AIDS in Science and Society" that was developed as a resource-based, collaborative project at the University of Glasgow (United Kingdom) for a first-year biology class. Discusses materials, written assignments, oral presentations, and feedback from students and faculty, and includes a…

Presents a one-class-period writing exercise (including handout) which uses a short excerpt from a 1948 book called "Making Housekeeping Easy" to teach the linking of claims to evidence as well as academic citation practices. (SR)

Describes a CD ROM created by three co-authors which presents a multimedia exposition and comparison of three parallel productions of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by a single director staged sequentially at the Tokyo Globe in 1994. Provides specific suggestions as to how secondary English teachers could use this material.…

Explores a new web-based curriculum idea of having students write and "publish" critical web "reviews" of scientific resources as a means of both practicing critical evaluation of web resources and making an authentic value-added contribution to the web. Makes some teaching suggestions. (Contains 21 references.) (Author/WRM)

Describes two studies carried out at the Open University (United Kingdom) that investigated students' perceptions of, and reactions to, a tutor's comments on written assignments based on the Kelly Construct Repertory Grid technique. Outlines two theoretical perspectives: schema theory within cognitive psychology, and social constructivist theory…

Examines the use of Prep-Editor, a computer program to help undergraduate science writing students communicate with their peers about drafts. Finds that the program did not increase time spent on various writing activities. Notes that the Prep group reported a number of computer-related problems, whereas the non-Prep group reported more…

Describes a unit in a writing-intensive course on reading in the content areas in which students take a familiar fairy tale and rewrite it in a modern context. Describes the four class sessions, including class activities and writing assignments, noting figurative language, elements of fairy tales, and critical reading, thinking, and writing…

Describes a first-year college composition course and the daily preparatory writing assignments, "inquiry response papers," that form its core. Describes how these assignments, in which students respond to their homework reading, have led to a collaborative, dialogic classroom where students realize and express their own voices, and have fostered…

Describes how the author uses the off-campus interview of a working professional as a foundation unit upon which to launch a first-year college writing course. Discusses teaching strategies to prepare for this real interview, and notes that the working professionals interviewed can become the writing instructor's best ally in motivating first-year…

Assessment provides feedback to teachers so that instruction can be modified. It also provides feedback to students during and after the course. Discusses approaches to assessment in geology courses that relate assessment to instruction. Three student assignments are described: (1) Personal Question Sheets; (2) a report on Personal/Social Issues…

Describes three active learning strategies for use in a teaching assistant (TA) training program that can enhance graduate students' teaching skills: (1) in-class activities; (2) written assignments (journals, written exercises, and teaching portfolios); and (3) modeling and observation (watching versus performing teaching behaviors). (CMK)