Discusses a survey of 56 advanced placement (AP) U.S. history teachers. Explores the scope of AP history and types of posttest activities used after Advanced Placement examinations. Concludes that public school courses developed more deeply into post-1960 events than the private schools did. Describes movies, debates, simulations, and local…

Criticizes character education programs that tend merely to present moral values to students, believing this produces socially responsible behavior. Argues listing values is simplistic and ineffective. Recognizes the situational complexity that confounds making moral choices. Suggests character education must contend with value conflicts and guide…

Describes a course in global environmental politics. Argues specialized courses are needed that focus on the economic, social, and political dimensions of environmental problems. Argues such a course should be part of the core undergraduate curriculum. Includes a survey of course topics to prepare students for future challenges. (NL)

Describes a two-year program developed at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University to address the need for improvement in physics and physical science teaching in Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee. Discusses participant selection procedures, program evaluation, program impact, and participant developed teaching materials and…

Applies educational theories of Paulo Freire to social studies curriculum development and instruction. Contends that education either functions as an instrument to integrate young people into the current system or becomes an instrument to achieve freedom and progress. Argues that social studies teachers and students should become partners in…

Outlines methods to promote effective curriculum development through faculty-librarian partnerships. Recognition of the role of librarians as instructors is discussed related to: position descriptions and workloads; flexible work standards; joint appointments; compensation for added instructional loads, including temporary or part-time…

Presents four fully developed library media activities that are designed for use with specific curriculum units in music and art, reading and language arts, science, and social studies. Each activity identifies library media skills objectives, curriculum objectives, grade levels, resources, librarian and teacher instructional roles, procedures,…

Two clinical courses for first-year dental students were designed to develop students' interaction skills through actual patient case presentations and discussions and an interdisciplinary teaching approach. Results indicate students preferred the case presentations, with or without lecture, to the lecture-only approach and felt they learned more…

Describes the conversion of a conventional didactic course in dental anatomy at the University of Queensland (Australia) into a course in problem-based learning and the resulting effects on learners' autonomy over the first three years of the new course, noting the extent of achievement of course goals, student achievement, and learning style…

Provides five fully developed library media activities that are designed for use with specific curriculum units in career education, social studies, mathematics, science, and language arts. Library media skills, curriculum objectives, grade levels, resources, instructional roles, procedures, evaluation, and follow-up are described for each…

Instructors who consider creation of an experiential course in race relations at the university or college level may benefit from information provided in this article. One of the coauthors, a licensed psychologist and pioneer in this type of educational experience, provides insights regarding challenges of the course from an instructor's…

The work we report in this special issue attempted to exploit the power of technology and cognitive theory to help make conceptual systems taught in large college courses truly useful in students' future lives. Facing evidence that traditional instructional models have not succeeded in this regard, we sought feasible course designs and…

As preservice teachers anticipate student teaching, they often experience excitement, for they realize they will soon be finished with their course work and out in a school all day, every day, for a semester. This excitement may be mixed with anxiety, however, especially if they have just completed an intensive field experience where they have…

Parents, legislators, and even students worry about graduation rates at American public colleges and universities. They compare the statistics they see to their idealized memory of a time when college students enrolled in college immediately after high school and graduated with a bachelor's degree four years later. Although this enrollment pattern…

Preservice elementary teachers enrolled in a reading methods course learn how literacy instruction is a political act that can affect children's opportunities. Through discussions and readings, they learn how the ways in which they teach reading to children make a difference in their subsequent access to knowledge. Through a practicum experience…