Describes decision-aiding software, Policy/Goal Percentaging (P/G%), that can process a set of controversial alternatives when used with microcomputer-aided instruction. The benefits and objectives of microcomputer use are discussed, and applications of the software to problems in the fields of natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities…

Reports that the developmental process for national standards for K-12 instruction in the arts is nearing completion. Discusses issues and criticisms relevant to the national standards movement and to music education. (CFR)

The writings of Martin Luther King Jr. deserve to be read in undergraduate humanities classes but not in the spirit advocated by former Secretary of Education William Bennett. It is argued that Bennett downplays the struggles against racial discrimination and chooses the most conservative King pieces for the literary canon. (SLD)

Efforts to ban the "Little House on the Prairie" series because of racist depictions of American Indians seem a knee-jerk reaction to a complex text. Teachers can use the books to develop an appreciation of American Indians and their history and to promote understanding of the disparate and conflicting attitudes of the nation when the…

Addresses some of the results from the Funding For Results (FFR) program at Missouri Western State College that introduced specific Internet searches and communication of the results of that student research. Explains that the FFR's instructional interventions may be of interest to teachers of introductory courses especially in the humanities.…

If user-friendliness is the key to widespread technological penetration, what education is needed for the high-tech world? For our nation's 281 million technology users, a liberal education trumps technology training. Liberally schooled people gain the power to reason, solve problems, exercise initiative, and think clearly and imaginatively-all…

Views the 1994 national civics standards document as a challenging frame of vital themes and questions for school curricula in the humanities and social sciences. The author considers why this set of standards may be the most important one for schools and why they may be the most difficult to implement, even by motivated school administrators. (GR)

Argues for a holistic core that balances the dialectic tensions between social science and humanities, scholarly discipline and craft/praxis, and common and special topics within the discipline. Offers rationales for two other unique features of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington curriculum: research methods at the front end of the…

Distinguishes between curiosity, which is seen as a motive to do exploration within definite and generally accepted frames, and wonder, where doubt about the frames themselves is the underlying factor. Argues that educational institutions need to build on both notions, and that wonder often finds expression in philosophical pursuits. (Contains 16…

Not being listened to, or having their advice mistrusted, is a daily problem for teachers and parents, as well as for doctors, scientists, technologists and other experts. It is also a serious dilemma in applied social psychology (Eiser, 1986) as well as in education where educators talk persuasively with strong evidence about not taking drugs,…

This article argues that the small school context has been a relatively unexamined or under-examined context for technical and professional communication program development. While graduate program development holds a large share of the field's attention in recent national forums, growth in graduate programs is a consequence of demand in the job…

The term "liberal arts" usually conjures up one central idea; that is, effective liberal arts education as strong academic achievement. A second, less dominant, and frequently neglected notion regards effective liberal arts education as producing intellectual interests and habits that endure throughout adult life. The two ideas are…

As a science teacher, the author strives to make science an effective component of a liberal arts education. In this article, he describes a conceptual physics/astronomy course integrated with such humanities fields as history, art, and literature, which he has been teaching over the last 5 years. The course, entitled Physics of Heaven and…

The authors report on the planning, execution, and future of Northwestern University's Introduction to Electronic Resources/Humanities Computing Training Day, a mandatory one-day set of classes for first-year doctoral students in humanities disciplines. The project is a collaborative effort among the Office of the Dean of the Weinberg College of…

This article examines ways in which more explicit connections might be forged between students' experiences as humanities students, and their experiences as part-time workers. The purpose is to connect particularisations of meaning with the development of a coherent whole, by using Van Oers' (1998) framework for contextualisation. It is argued…