Examines the 1997 "Handbook of the Undergraduate Curriculum," a 34-chapter "operating manual and desk reference" to the college curriculum. Assert that, while the dominant trend in higher education in the 20th century has been specialization and proliferation of programs and courses, a historic reversal of this trend is occurring, with…

Study focused on the problems of curricular misalignment with placement tests used in community colleges. Findings indicate that while pre-test and post-test scores were highly aligned, there was little or no relationship between placement test scores and student performance in class, or between test content and skills emphasized in class. (PGS)

Investigates the perceptions of selected college music faculty on multicultural music education, focusing on such issues as a definition of multicultural music education, whether or not it would benefit from hiring minority faculty, and its benefits and problems. (CMK)

California universities do not take Chicano studies any more seriously than they did 30 years ago when the need was first brought to their attention. Meanwhile, Latino populations have exploded, and other fields, notably health care, want Latino professionals and research information about Latinos. This underdevelopment of Chicano studies hampers…

The American College Personnel Association's "Student Learning Imperative" is a statement of principles for college personnel working outside the classroom that is designed to focus on the core mission of undergraduate education student learning and personal development. Current use of this statement around the country is reviewed, and…

Provides a rationale for using the Portable Document Format (PDF) as an alternative to HTML documents. Discusses the benefits in the context of preparing materials for student access via the world wide web. (DDR)

Describes the use of a scale analog model of an actual fractured rock reservoir to replace paper copies of fracture maps in the structural geology curriculum. Discusses the merits of the model in enabling students to gain experience performing standard structural analyses. (DDR)

Explores whether men and women have different levels of learning in an internet-based course and reports the results of comparing men and women in an asynchronous MBA course. Uses the findings to provide implications and recommendations for institutions seeking to develop such programs. (Contains 69 references.) (DDR)

Explores whether construction of integrated knowledge structures by students can be stimulated by concept mapping and better visualization of concepts and their interrelationships. Significant effects of concept mapping as an instructional method could not be detected. (Contains 18 references.) (DDR)

Offers ideas for developing distinct deviance, delinquency, and criminology curricula. Discusses how to reduce theoretical and content overlap, paper assignments, course readings, and departmental issues. Finds overlap and review of basic theories were helpful to students. Recommends deviance, criminology, and delinquency courses be theoretically…

I report on a study of 301 sociologists to determine which concepts, topics, and skills they deem most important to cover in the introductory course and in the sociology curriculum. Respondents indicated high agreement that the list of skills, topics, and concepts adequately represented the range of possible items. I use both the raw ratings and…

In his position at Penn State University, this author teaches environmental studies (ES) students in core introductory, mid-level, and upper-level courses. As he teaches the first full batch of graduates in this year's Senior Seminar, the chorus is clear: environmental history has played a distinct role in bringing coherence to their ES curricula.…

The weak noncovalent interactions between substances, the handshake in the form of electrostatic interactions, van der Waals' interactions or hydrogen bonding is universal to all living and nonliving matter. They significantly influence the molecular and bulk properties and behavior of matter. Their transient nature affects chemical reactions and…

The second edition of "Professional Issues in Therapeutic Recreation: On Competence and Outcomes" is greatly expanded to include a wider variety of introductory materials and updates on current professional issues. The second edition represents a timely review of the state of affairs in the profession of therapeutic recreation. This book contains…

This paper describes the details of a National Science Foundation multi-year educational project at the University of Oklahoma (OU). The goal of this comprehensive active-learning and hands-on laboratory program is to develop an interdisciplinary program, in which engineering, geoscience, and meteorology students participate, which forms a…