Social media is riddled with memes (i.e., captioned images intended to convey cultural ideas or beliefs) that often promote maladaptive and unsupported beliefs about human development and parenting. This paper presents a scientific writing assignment designed to help spread accurate information on human development beyond the classroom through…

Nontraditional college students comprise a growing majority of college students with a unique set of needs and some of the highest attrition rates. Collaborative learning practices, such as peer review of writing, have been linked to improvement in students' academic, social, and professional skills necessary in the 21st century, global market.…

There is a long tradition in the research about how to design classroom assignments to foster cognitive learning. However, especially since the COVID19 crisis, an affective turnaround that focuses on strengthening personality and personal development has increasingly broken new ground in teaching and learning. The resulting question is whether…

Reflective practice supports critical thinking and assessment skills through analyzing one's own life experiences, and the role of reflection in learning has been long recognized. However, drawbacks of many reflective practice assignments are their broad scope and lengthy written requirements. I propose that the reflection process is robust enough…

Given urgent need for culturally competent early childhood educators and the strategic encouragement by colleges for students to travel internationally, this analysis focuses on the question: What is the relationship between international experiences and preservice early childhood educators' cultural competence? More specifically, three questions…

This quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control group study compared the impact of Ennis's (1989) mixed instructional methodology to the immersion methodology on the development of critical thinking in a multicultural, undergraduate senior-year learning community. A convenience sample of students (n =171) were selected from four sections of a…

Recreation professionals use outdoor programs in rustic settings to promote the intellectual, physical, emotional, and professional development of their students. One important aspect of personal growth is to develop the ability to think critically about one's own learning, and journaling is one approach for achieving this goal. Outdoor programs…

Getting through to students in the classroom continues to be one of the great mysteries of an educator's life. What will capture their attention, and, more important, what will transform their thinking? Film industry veteran and educator Barbara Tobolowsky returned to her roots in visual media to find answers. Using video clips to introduce a…

Discusses teaching methods which may be used to help students become more sensitive to life outside their own spheres and routines; illustrated. (SW)

Argues in favor of teaching thesis and the forms of exposition by means of assignments such as personal narrative, autobiography, and observation out of direct experience. Describes one such assignment. (RL)

Explains that rhetorical invention can be viewed as an invitation to openness, whereas structure can be a closure. Describes a writing instruction method in which students write replies to the instructor's weekly letters, providing a genuine need that must be genuinely answered. Argues that rhetoric can enhance and enrich life. (SG)

A personal account of an English instructor's experiences with poetry therapy--the use of poetry to help people get in touch with, and begin dealing with, their problems and feelings--is provided in this paper. Among the topics dealt with are the following: the scope of poetry therapy, the instructor's early dissatisfactions with traditional…

Describes limitations of a Western, individualistic perspective on psychological theory. Summarizes research and theory regarding how personality may be shaped differentially by individualistic and collectivist cultures. Describes strategies for teaching about the impact of culture on personality. (CFR)

This booklet provides practical exploration of the use of narrative in the classroom with students and in teachers' personal and professional development. The various narrative forms are described in boxes throughout the booklet and include letter writing, storytelling, autobiographical accounts and several others. There are four "Your…