This article briefly describes a curriculum study that had two main purposes. The first purpose was to develop and reflect upon a new energy technology curriculum at the lower secondary school level using an action research method. The second purpose was to determine the effect of collaborative activities, with the families of the pupils enrolled…

In response to the American Association of Applied Linguistics' presentation of the Distinguished Scholarship and Service Award for extraordinary contributions to the fields of language learning, teaching, and testing in May 2004, Merrill Swain described her own work as "moving in cycles of research, theory and practice." These "spirals" ("cycles…

To facilitate the recovery of people with mental illness (consumers of mental health services), social workers must be strengths-focused and believe in the potential for consumer growth and improvement. Unfortunately, social workers often share the negative, stigmatizing view of mental illness held by much of the general population. In this…

Cross-cultural skills are a major criterion for success in the global business environment. For students pursuing careers in international business, this means learning to manage cultural difference on three levels: self, interpersonal, and organizational. This paper describes five related and synergistic exercises that give college students…

As a profession, engineering is not well understood by the general public. Engineers are perceived as "geeks" who love math and who have few interests outside of technical work. In short, the engineering profession has an image problem. In order to counteract this negative stereotyping, an engineering course for non-majors was developed…

The Teacher Training Institute at Hofstra University (New York), a 3-year program of inservice courses and special events of exemplary secondary school mathematics teachers. The institute was the joint effort of the Hofstra University Mathematics Department and School of Secondary Education. It was developed by a broad base of concerned educators…

An in-house staff development program was designed and implemented for unskilled child caregivers employed at Tiny Tots Educare Academies, Inc., a privately owned and operated child care center located in Ellenton, Florida. Employees had little knowledge of child development and other topics related to early childhood education and, therefore,…

The Cooperative Alternative Education Center (CAEC) in Connecticut developed a building maintenance and carpentry vocational education program for adolescent special needs students with extreme learning, emotional, and social difficulties. Thirty-four students enrolled in the program, with a student-teacher ratio of 8:l, and classes met five times…

Describes an evaluation study of a special English-as-a-second-language program developed for a group of 18 to 21 year olds with a severe gap in their schooling due to political upheaval and war. The five stages of the study, its recommendations, and its outcomes are outlined. (Author/SED)

Describes an integrated series of computer-assisted reading (CAR) materials under development at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. The discussion indicates some of the problems in teaching reading with computers, describes the framework of the CAR project, and gives specific examples of activities. (SED)

This article presents 10 practical teaching procedures to encourage students to develop formal reasoning skills. A twelfth-grade English course is used as an example. Procedures include pretesting, sequencing instruction, providing students with concrete experiences, discussing reasoning patterns and forms of argumentation, assigning argumentative…

The document details the development of a project to provide adult students with the academic and work skills required for admission to the Regional Skill Center, which is an adult technical school serving Erie County, Pennsylvania. The body of the report summarizes the following project outcomes: development of a four-tiered system of work force…

To determine the effectiveness of teaching interpersonal skills in a general internal medicine residency, a program was developed utilizing videotape feedback of hospital house-staff/patient interactions. Fifty-one randomly selected house officers were included in a controlled pre- and post-test study design. The results suggest that such a…

Investigates the efficiency of a novel addition to the routine of note taking, writing brief summaries of the lecture material during four-minute breaks within the lecture. A group of students wrote three sets of summaries during a 21-minute lecture and showed significant improvement in understanding over other groups. (MJP)

An employee wellness program involving physical fitness activities and health education was implemented at the University of Texas (Arlington). Results of participant (N=50) and control group (N=152) pre- and posttest surveys, physiological tests, program evaluations, and analysis of personnel records demonstrated the program's value. (Author/MLW)