During the COVID-19 pandemic, an at-home laboratory program was created and implemented for a section of the general chemistry course at the University of Southern California. The experiments were designed to only utilize safe household items and no special equipment. These laboratory activities, spanning over 4 weeks, focused on concepts usually…

As discipline-based astronomy education researchers become more interested in experimentally testing innovative teaching strategies to enhance learning in undergraduate introductory astronomy survey courses ("ASTRO 101"), scholars are placing increased attention toward better understanding factors impacting student gain scores on the…

Ideal for faculty and administrators looking to blend business education and the liberal arts, this toolkit combines exemplary syllabi from 26 leading institutions with step-by-step strategies to advocate successfully for curricular innovation. Conceived with comprehensiveness in mind, these resources cover both inspiration and implementation for…

U.S. strength in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines has formed the basis of innovations, technologies, and industries that have spurred the nation's economic growth throughout the last 150 years. Universities are essential to the creation and transfer of new knowledge that drives innovation. This knowledge moves…

Two possible topical approaches that have been applied to teaching an upper-division undergraduate electrical engineering applied electromagnetics course are presented. Each approach was applied to one of two offerings of the course, taught in different semesters. In either case, the course includes the study of electromagnetic theory and…

In the online environment, students and instructors are virtually, but not physically, present in the same environment. In the online environment, technology mediates learning: it mediates communications and information transfer between the student and the instructor, between the student and the content, and among the students. Critics fear that…

The assessment of student learning outcomes (SLOs) is a curricular activity that can be both beneficial and productive. Faculty who engage in SLO development and assessment can acquire concrete evidence upon which to base the collegial review of their programs and the improvement and enhancement of student learning both in individual classes and…

A second semester biochemistry laboratory has been implemented as an independent projects course at California State University, Sacramento since 1999. To incorporate aspects of carbohydrate biochemistry, or glycobiology, into our curriculum, projects in lectin isolation and purification were undertaken over the course of two semesters. Through…

UCLA's Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Program (HHURP), a collaboration between the College of Letters and Science and the School of Medicine, trains a group of highly motivated undergraduates through mentored research enhanced by a rigorous seminar course. The course is centered on the presentation and critical analysis of scientific journal…

Asserts that, to participate in a modern economy, every region needs at least one "bigjob" (basic income generating-job). Describes a mapping activity that helps students identify bigjobs in state economies. Uses California as an example and reveals that, contrary to popular opinion, real estate is California's bigjob. (MJP)

The purpose of this document is to provide standards for the preservice professional preparation of teachers, to encourage inservice professional development, and to describe the necessary conditions for teaching and learning the social studies. These standards may be used as goals toward which the professional social studies teacher strives, as…