Describes college level social history course in which students examine census returns and analyze data with a computer. Topics include poverty, discrimination, birth control, concepts of community and leadership, technology, legal systems, family structure, and modernization. (KC)

Describes a two-quarter hour college chemistry course focusing on laboratory safety. Includes lists of topics/assignments, problem sets (toxicology, storage, and energy) and videotapes, films, and slide sets used in the course. (JN)

Describes the use and analysis of pretests/posttests for assessing instructional consequences in introductory college chemistry. Results from two studies (N=58 and N=136) are discussed as well as the use of pretests/posttests in helping instructors to identify course topics which need attention and improvement. (Author/JN)

Encouraging scientific thinking through open-ended experiments, allowing students access to common chemical instrumentation, and introduction to laboratory techniques are goals of a high school science laboratory program. Course content (general, inorganic, and organic chemistry), limitations, and course evaluation are discussed. (Author/JN)

Describes the first course of a new physics curriculum developed at the Karlsruke Institute for the Didactics of Physics. The basic idea, energy flow, is introduced at the beginning of the course and illustrated by examples from everyday life. Highlights selected topics which introduce concepts unique to the approach. (Author/JN)

Presents a frame syllabus for biology teaching at the primary and secondary school levels, covering the age range 6 to 18 years. The topics listed, with resulting implications for school life and society, can be used to prepare state-level biology syllabi and for curriculum reform. (Author/SK)

A comprehensive teaching/learning chemical energy package was developed to overcome conceptual/experimental difficulties and time required for calculation of enthalpy changes. The package consists of five types of activities occuring in repeated cycles: group activities, laboratory experiments, inquiry questionnaires, teacher-led class…

A course to introduce medical students to formal models of medical diagnostic reasoning at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is described. The students are encouraged to integrate facts and concepts from the basic sciences into strategies of diagnostic reasoning. (MLW)

An undergraduate course in communication skills was designed to introduce law as a profession where communication skills are vital and to give insight into both communication/rhetorical theory and the legal process. Units focus on interviewing and counseling, negotiation and pretrial strategies, the trial process, and special communication needs.…

Evaluated and described is an innovative freshman chemistry one-semester laboratory, relating changes in the course to objectives in decreasing lab expenditures, increasing learning, increasing quality, improving attitudes, and producing materials for widespread use. Lists topics for experiments, videotape presentation, and computer simulation.…

Describes an eight-week unit on Israel for seventh graders and shows how the unit relates to the 1981 "California History/Social Science Framework." The unit introduces students to framework content goals in history and the humanities. Activities include journal writing, artifact building, archaeological simulations, and a geographical…

A biology field course organized to study the effects of the June 1979 Mexican oil spill on the marine biology of the shores of south Texas and Mexico is described, demonstrating how to effectively couple a biology classroom course with a natural or human caused environmental disaster. (Author/DC)

Descriptions of high school chemistry courses are provided, including organic chemistry, introductory chemistry for mathematics-shy students, and a course for eighth-graders taught by high school seniors. (SK)

A course in therapeutic decision-making, designed by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences is described. Goals were to introduce the student to a rational method of making therapeutic decisions and to give the student experience in formulating therapeutic plans. (MLW)

A survey of the teaching of constitutional law used questionnaires sent to the dean of every law school approved by the Association of American Law Schools or the American Bar Association. Responses describe the basic course, advanced courses and seminars, teachers, goals, and examinations. (MLW)