Instructors are essential in helping students feel connected with colleges and guiding their choices for future career fields. As community colleges seek ways to continue improving student success, especially for adult, low-income, and minoritized learners, reform efforts are expanding to incorporate strategies that enhance teaching and learning.…

Many active, inquiry-based learning activities nowadays rely upon the students' capacity to perform efficient information research on the Internet. Study and Research Paths (SRPs) have been proposed to model inquiry learning, and successfully used as teaching formats in different areas. In an SRP the search for an answer to a generating question…

Active learning involves students engaging with course content beyond lecture: through writing, applets, simulations, games, and more (Prince, 2004). As mathematics is often viewed as a subject area that is taught using more traditional methods (Goldsmith & Mark, 1999), there are actually many simple ways to make undergraduate mathematics…

In this paper, I share a hybrid quantitative reasoning/algebra two-course sequence that challenges the common assumption that quantitative literacy and reasoning are less rigorous mathematics alternatives to algebra and illustrates that a quantitative reasoning framework can be used to teach traditional algebra. The presentation is made in two…

We assessed undergraduates' representations of the greenhouse effect, based on student-generated concept sketches, before and after a 30-min constructivist lesson. Principal component analysis of features in student sketches revealed seven distinct and coherent explanatory models including a new "Molecular Details" model. After the…

This research investigates the ways in which undergraduate courses dealing with the environment address sustainable development (SD), and contribute to the development of sustainability learning outcomes (SLO). The participants in the study were 13 instructors, and 360 students who were enrolled in 13 courses that addressed the environment in a…

A fundamental concept in Intercultural Communication is developing an understanding of different cultural patterns. Understanding different value dimensions such as collectivism, power distance, and high versus low context cultures are important steps to gaining a facility in communicating cross-culturally. This article presents an activity that…

Corporate influence is a defining characteristic of mass media in the U.S. A typical introductory textbook devotes a number of chapters to the economic structure of the mass media including advertising, public relations, and corporate ownership, then also includes chapter sections on the economics of the various media (television, radio,…

This packet describes how a culture kit can be used to engage students in active learning. While using the kit and poster lessons, students will improve their skills of observation, valuing and analysis. Activities include: (1) a "What is it?" game of exploration of cultural items; (2) poster lessons depicting Indian food, gods and…

States that an important goal of introductory college sociology courses is to make the discipline come alive for students and to encourage active involvement in learning. Describes a student project approach in which students interview three people and analyze the data relevant to four theoretical perspectives. (CFR)

Asserts that sport is a pervasive aspect of society. Presents and describes four learning activities designed to help students understand the significance of sport as a social institution. Maintains that, while the activities focus on the institution of sport, they can be used in a variety of sociology courses. (CFR)

Asserts that a recent report suggests that students should have opportunities to become actively engaged in the application of economics. Finds that the case method approach was more useful than texts and lectures in learning about institutional arrangements, the use of economic data, and how to use economics to solve real problems. (CFR)

Maintains that the study of complex organizations has long been central to sociology. Presents and describes a college assignment based on the sociological practice perspective, a new approach to social science instruction. Includes a six-step student process, information on grading, and a sample of student questions. (CFR)

Maintains that one challenge in teaching social sciences is finding ways to help students design, implement, and analyze their own social science research project. Describes a seventh-grade anthropology course in which students conducted research projects on gender issues. Includes an observations chart and two figures. (CFR)