Curriculum standards provide classroom teachers with frameworks to guide instruction during the academic year and throughout a student's schooling. Unfortunately, standards are misconstrued as all-encompassing--as a compendium of all mathematics content that can and should be taught to students. Such a view is unfortunate. Mathematics teachers…

We transformed our first-year curriculum in biology with a new course, Biological Inquiry, in which greater than 50% of all incoming, first-year students enroll. The course replaced a traditional, content-driven course that relied on outdated approaches to teaching and learning. We diversified pedagogical practices by adopting guided inquiry in…

Argues that objectives are indispensable in planning an educative environment. Examines the "process model" which shuns curricular objectives, because they restrict children's inquiry. Proposes a method which recognizes the necessity of objectives while avoiding the restrictions on children's freedom which those restrictions often impose. (GEA)

At Massachusetts Bay Community College a course was designed to create a transition from the process-based basic writing course to the traditional required freshman English course. WTG 100 was designed as an inquiry into academic writing, where students would learn about the various discourse conventions and expectations they would encounter as…

Strategic planning is not only concerned with achieving specific goals for the long-term future, but also breaks these goals into short-term intervals and continually assesses the results. Strategic planning can have an impact on how librarians, especially public service librarians, operate in academic settings. If strategic goals and programs are…

The booklet is designed to aid social studies teachers in developing and implementing curriculum to help students understand other cultures and the dynamics of world affairs. Presented in nine chapters, the booklet stresses the importance of factual knowledge, questioning techniques, and selective curriculum content. Chapter I discusses how to…

Two papers are presented--a summary and a lengthier description of an interdisciplinary college-level liberal arts course. Both papers are intended for use by humanities and social science teachers as they develop and implement interdisciplinary and competency-based curricula. Five areas of academic competency serve as course objectives. These are…