Current research at Brigham Young University (BYU) determined that basic visual literacy instruction is needed in disciplines outside of the arts. Following a needs assessment survey of BYU's 83 departments, an honors general education Arts and Letters course in visual literacy was piloted in the 1996 winter semester. Lectures were presented by…

This digest briefly summarizes the contents of the "Civics Framework for the 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress" in terms of the Framework's development and components including civic knowledge, civic skills, and civic dispositions. The framework may be used to inform and guide curriculum development projects in civics and…

While Purdue University Calumet (PUC) (Hammond, Indiana) has been a receiver of distance education for a number of years, a number of faculty expressed interest in developing courseware that would allow PUC to be a provider. After a distance education mission statement and goals were outlined, a pilot course was established. The distance education…

This paper describes one educator's experience with creating multimedia presentation materials for a college computer literacy class. The paper discusses: selecting software--the decision between authoring software and presentation software; selecting hardware--what type of computer systems to select, and issues when classrooms are equipped with…

Evolution is often equated with natural selection and is taught from a primarily functional perspective while comparative and historical approaches, which are critical for developing an appreciation of the power of evolutionary theory, are often neglected. This report describes a study of expert problem-solving in phylogenetic tree construction.…

The Student Learning Imperative (SLI) was created to stimulate discussion on how student affairs professionals can enhance student learning and personal development. This paper outlines the antecedents and background of the SLI position paper. A member of the committee that developed the SLI discusses here student affairs' historical goal of…

Six articles by Lynn Olson, published in various issues of "Education Week" starting in January 1993 and ending May 1995, describe a Maryland project to improve elementary education in the State: (1) "Winning NASDC (New American Schools Development Corporation) Project Takes Flight" (the basic skills children need to succeed in…

The 16 papers in this proceedings describe strategies and practices used in undergraduate psychology courses at two- and four-year colleges. The following presentations are included: (1) "Using the IDEAL Problem Solving Method in Groups," by R. Scott Smith; (2) "The Soul of Active Learning: Connecting Psychology and Faith," by…

This practicum paper discusses the development, evaluation, and revision of a student sex education syllabus at American River College (California). The syllabus is intended to provide an alternative learning format to the traditional lecture format. After a review of the literature, it was decided to use a fill-in or sentence completion format…

The purpose of this project was to develop, implement, and evaluate a simple, teacher-friendly, environmentally-based anxiety reduction intervention for fourth-grade students. Review of related literature indicates that children are often victims of stress due to academic and sociological variables which exist within the school environment.…

This document contains information designed for sex education in secondary schools. The materials here are for classroom use, and share a number of features: (1) they consist of "modules" of various lengths to fit within subject areas; (2) they place no special demands on the skill of the teacher; and (3) they all contain a component for…

The book, designed for teachers of both beginning-level and transitional students of English as a Second Language (ESL), outlines the Guided Language Experience Process (GLEP) model for planning ESL instructional units using the whole language approach. The first section summarizes research that has influenced this model and its implications for…

This study explored the extent to which teachers' participation in leadership and decision making affects their teaching practices, particularly their planning and delivering of instruction. The study involved an open-ended survey of 25 teacher leaders in a school district in central Texas, which was a school-based management site that had…

This paper reports on a collaborative project with 20 preservice teacher education students to develop methods for working with curriculum integration of English and social studies. A portion of the methods class was team taught and involved the students in the preparation of interdisciplinary units on a young adult novel. This modeling of the…

There are many avenues available to computer-assisted instruction (CAI) practitioners and developers in search of access to new ideas, research findings, and emerging technologies that will assist them in developing CAI products. Seven such avenues are described in detail: (1) graduate student interns, who bring unique insights, theory, and…