Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Massachusetts) has developed a new freshman course titled "Computer Analysis in Civil Engineering" as part of a curriculum revision project which emphasizes critical thinking, cooperative group learning and problem solving, the integration of knowledge through projects, and student responsibility for…

Traditionally, the knowledge base has been defined more as product than process and has encompassed definitions, principles, values, and facts. Recent reforms in teaching and teacher education have brought about efforts to redefine the knowledge base. The reconceptualized knowledge base builds upon the earlier model but gives higher priority to…

Offering insights into the effective use of writing to teach students to think like professionals in various fields, this book is the result of a 7-year naturalistic study. The book documents how a writing specialist paired with an experienced professor in another discipline (business, history, psychology, and biology) to study: (1) teachers'…

Designed as a forum for the exchange of ideas among California community college faculty, this journal offers a series of articles addressing instructional and administrative concerns. The volume contains: (1) "Campus Life: A Book Review," by John McFarland; (2) "The Scholar in the Two-Year College: Magritte's Mermaid or…

To lead the continuing renewal of the nation's institutions, boost U.S. economic competitiveness, and promote responsible citizenship, American education must itself be renewed and restructured. All educators must be committed to providing a high quality education for all students that results in critical and creative thinking, cooperative…

THE FOLLOWING IS THE FULL TEXT OF THIS DOCUMENT: Prior to the persuasion unit, students have spent several weeks in class utilizing library research techniques, public speaking skills, and their writing processes. The unit has been devised to give students practical experience using critical thinking and decision-making skills, persuasive…

Materials in this manual are designed to help educators raise the issue of nuclear war through a "day of dialog" on the subject. There are seven sections. Section 1 contains a project reationale; suggestions for implementation; methods for meeting resistance; tips for schoolwide, parent-teacher, and community discussion; uses of the media; and…

At some point between elementary and junior high school, something seems to occur that generates a rooted dislike toward the scientific disciplines in general and mathematics in particular. This results in most students in developmental education associating the word math with a series of illogical rules, totally disconnected from reality and…

This document provides an overview of a Critical Literacy Project (CLP), involving a year-long faculty development seminar designed to help faculty reevaluate teaching strategies and redesign courses to include critical reading, writing, and thinking. The CLP addresses problems common to many community colleges: a large proportion of students…

The lack of economics literacy is a serious problem in the United States. Today, public school students are taught little if any economics and score very poorly on economics literacy tests, with the average test score being 40 percent. This absence of economic understanding hurts the economy in the following ways: (1) economically illiterate…

In fall 1987, the Learning to Learn Subcommittee was formed at Miami-Dade Community College (M-DCC) to help design a formal course in teaching/learning theory, to identify effective student behaviors and teaching strategies to develop critical thinking skills, and to identify strategies to implement the "learning to learn" concept across all…

This program is designed to be an extension of the regular curriculum providing preschool children with a firm foundation and life-long appreciation for space and space-related topics. The program delivers both classroom and at-home family activities which emphasize age-appropriate language, math, art, science, nutrition, and health concepts…

This paper argues that school and public libraries and librarians have not reached their potential as powerful catalysts in helping youth face the challenges of the twenty-first century. The first of four sections outlines potential responses of libraries to a number of students' needs, including the ability to locate and use information,…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Nation's Report Card, has developed and pilot-tested a variety of hands-on science and mathematics tasks. These tasks were developed as prototypes for use in future national assessments, but the concepts measured and the innovative approaches used are equally suitable for classroom…

Case-based learning is one method that can be used to foster critical thinking and schema construction. Students need to be provided with problem solving lessons in meaningful learning contexts for critical thinking to take place. In order for schema construction to occur, a framework needs to be provided that helps readers to elaborate upon new…