A survey assessed the accomplishments of the first required freshman interdisciplinary studies course at a small, private liberal arts college. In the fall of 1988, 12 instructors from 7 disciplines began teaching the course which included the teaching and application of reading, writing, and study skills. At the end of the 1988-89 academic year,…

The concept of behavior settings--the environments shaping individual behavior--was originated by Roger Barker in 1950 in connection with his community surveys in a small Kansas town, code-named Midwest. This book seeks to provide rural social scientists with an understanding of Barker's eco-behavioral approach and proposed adaptations of it to…

A writing across the curriculum program at Queensborough Community College in New York began its work on campus as Writing and Reading in the Technologies (WRIT) and chose to work with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology (ECET) department. The program's implementation was two-tiered. In Tier 1, over a period of three years, the WRIT…

This report describes four urban elementary schools in Massachusetts that provide integrated two-way bilingual education to linguistic minority and majority students. Properly designed and implemented, two-way bilingual programs offer a language-rich environment with high expectations for every student in a climate of cross-cultural respect.…

An evaluative study examined the role communication scholars should play in the planning, development and teaching of peace studies courses. Numerous surveys indicate increased student concern over world communication and peace. The language and war metaphors being used by the various governments in the Persian Gulf crisis illustrate how the…

This practicum introduces a program that increases the exposure time to music in the elementary classroom by integrating U.S. music with the teaching of U.S. history. A pretest and posttest were employed to identify increases or decreases in students' abilities to identify U.S. music and its relationship to specific lifestyles or periods of U.S.…

Rhetoric and mathematics have much in common that can help explain the composing process. Common elements of rhetoric and mathematics important to the teaching of writing are (1) relationships between syntax and semantics, (2) practices of representation, and (3) focus on problem solving. Recent emphasis on "repair processes" in mathematics is…

The legitimacy of writing as a science activity is supported in this paper and ways of incorporating it in an elementary science program are suggested. Reasons are delineated on how writing can help students improve their skills in the areas of critical thinking, problem solving, questioning, and concept clarification. Specific activities are…

This paper summarizes an evaluation of the Interdisciplinary Seminars Program of the Honors Colleges at the State University of New York at Oswego. The Program, which was sponsored by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, involved teams of faculty and advanced students from the Honors College in the development of five…

It is proposed that error patterns in acquisition of a second language can provide otherwise unavailable evidence for testing linguistic hypotheses about the second language itself. Three types of production and perceptual error patterns found in the learning of English by native Arabic speakers are outlined to support this suggestion. The error…

The paper considers issues of educational and social reform suggested by the dual systems of teacher education, the preparation of regular teachers and the preparation of special education teachers (particularly those of the mildly handicapped). It is suggested that the existence of two teacher preparation university curricula allows general…

This report presents a comprehensive overview of special education, or education of handicapped children and the preparation of special education teachers in Europe. Perspectives from eight countries are presented: United Kingdom; Netherlands; Federal Republic of Germany; Republic of Ireland; Northern Ireland; Italy; Norway; and Sweden. The first…

The amorphous nature of nonverbal study can benefit from the unifying yet pluralistic perspective of the humanities and liberal arts. Those who teach, write, and create under the broad rubric of the humanities appreciate the complexity of human life and try to honor the subtle and the special in human actions and creations. When addressed from…

This newsletter discusses the evaluation of environmental education (EE) in schools, highlighting an introductory chapter of a proposed Unesco-United Nations environmental program guide on evaluating such programs. The benefits of evaluating an EE program (including program improvement, growth in student learning, better environment, and program…

The critical role of computers in scientific advancement is described in this panel report. With the growing range and complexity of problems that must be solved and with demands of new generations of computers and computer architecture, the importance of computational mathematics is increasing. Multidisciplinary teams are needed; these are found…