This third article in a series for an American Association of American Colleges and Universities project, "The State of Liberal Education," analyzes findings in five areas of inquiry conceptual foundations, curricular expressions, the phenomena and assessment of liberal learning, institutional mission, and the status and relevance of…

Describes several ways principals can successfully align state standards with the school curriculum. (PKP)

Recommendations for how personnel preparation programs can encourage individuals to become culturally inclusive are presented, including: encourage individuals to understand the values and beliefs behind acculturated practices and research; engage the cultural self in learning; align instruction with relevant experiences; and work on developing…

Explores teachers' use of trade books as part of the science curriculum. Finds that teachers considered content, visual features, readability, and developmental appropriateness, as well as potential uses for the books that they selected. Contemplates the role of text in elementary science instruction, including its place in supporting teachers…

The author's primary purpose of this article is to share her working process--that is, the organization of a three-credit undergraduate course entitled Women in Science and Engineering, as well as the design and development of its curriculum, pedagogy, and methodology--and to reflect upon the results. To give life to this structure, a variety of…

This paper uses phenomenography to identify undergraduates' conceptions of teaching, learning and geography and examine whether there are any differences between students in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. The paper shows that there are several distinct conceptions of teaching, learning and geography. Teaching is…

Effective systematic design of instruction for teaching technology can be achieved by starting with end goals and working backward to building assessments, content, and context. This is so that instruction functions as a bridge from what learners know and can do, to what they need to know and do, to achieve the goals of instruction. This approach…

Educators make decisions on how they are going to approach teaching and learning based on the goals they are required, or hope, to attain. In many cases, when high-stakes tests are utilized to determine whether a curriculum has been taught and students have mastered it, the curriculum and teaching are so aligned with testing objectives that the…

MIS curricula in business schools are challenged to provide MIS courses that give students a strong practical understanding of the basic technologies, while also providing enough hands-on experience to solve real life problems. As an experimental capstone MIS course, the authors developed a cluster-computing project to expose business students to…

In this article, the author provides a prefacing narrative that examines the work of Simpson et al. (2004, this issue), situating the reader as the importance of a framework for curriculum design. Importantly, the author illuminates a set a democratic values that animate the framework, and which work to instruct a democratic ethic of curriculum…

An urban community college routinely assigns Swift, Plato, Joyce, and other classic authors of the Western tradition to its immigrant and minority students. Bruce Gans, who founded and directs the program, tells of the value of Great Books to those who have the most to gain from rising above race, culture, and class.

Educators must know their students' backgrounds to effectively increase their knowledge and skills. In determining the best delivery approach, educators must also understand the "market" in which their students will likely work after their formal education. While many students from developing countries attend universities in developed…

While learning is often designed and executed as if it stood alone, it rarely exists in isolation. If more than one learning event is offered, a relationship between units exists and should be defined. This relationship calls for an architecture of curriculum that defines audience, content, and delivery within a context of performance. Curriculum…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe how one US Midwestern university implements quality principles, based on the value added premise in a teacher preparation program that yields accountability, teacher education standards attainment and ultimately improvement of teacher candidates and overall programs. Design/methodology/approach:…

In traditional Chinese medicine, a key maxim is "Zhi Bing Yao Zhi Gen," which literally means, "To cure a disease one must cure the underlying cause." The author was reminded of this principle when she reflects on K-12 math education reform when the US. President Bush's 2006 State of the Union Address prompted yet another wave…