For years, scores on IQ tests and standardized achievement tests were the principal means for determining whether or not persons were gifted. Early literature often referred to them as fluent, flexible, original, and elaborate thinkers; as persons who were extremely curious, sensitive, attracted to aesthetic values; and as individuals who could…

Undergraduate education at large research universities and the importance of assessment are considered. After summarizing some special characteristics of large research universities, two problems are addressed: the lack of purposiveness in undergraduate education, and the widespread failure to achieve the learning outcomes professed for…

This paper describes how undergraduate instruction in reading methods can be structured to prepare elementary education majors for competency-based teacher certification. Examples of how content, methods, and materials can be adapted to give students opportunities to perform specified tasks and to demonstrate their competencies are suggested. Some…

This paper presents findings of a study which analyzed the relationship between student satisfaction and indicators of student success in the 34 institutions of the University System of Georgia (USG). A student satisfaction survey was administered to about 26,000 undergraduates and the results were merged with the system's student information…

To determine if a relationship exists between peer selection and success in the basic oral interpretation class, 98 subjects from eight introductory classes of oral interpretation were asked during a testing period to rank each other on the criterion of "Who would you like to work with on the next project in this class?" The ranking was…

The effectiveness of three tutorial strategies was evaluated by experimentally manipulating the strategies used in a 2 X 3 factorial design. Two tutors taught 48 college undergraduates a basic optics lesson about "how lenses work," using three instructional methods which varied the amount of tutor control. In the lecture condition, tutors assumed…

This report provides a synthesis of the principal trends concerning access to higher education in Europe. The paper treats five themes, the first of which, higher education structures, notes that the dominant trend is towards greater institutional diversity. A discussion of enrollment finds that France, Germany and Sweden have enrollment rates…

This paper reports on a study to develop a scale of stress measurement and its use with undergraduate students (N=269) at a large land grant mid-Atlantic university. Students, within the classroom setting, were given a questionnaire containing 52 potentially stressful hypothetical situations and were asked to indicate the degree of stress they…

This study examined the background characteristics and previous inter-institutional movements of a sample of multiple-transfers enrolled at a large, urban, public university. The study evaluated a random sample of 424 students from a population of 906 undergraduate students who transferred to the university in Fall 1989 and who had previously…

The value priorities of students engaged in teacher education programs at the graduate and undergraduate levels were studied. The research attempted a qualitative analysis in order to interpret quantitative results previously obtained and reported. Three research topics guiding the study were: the value priorities of undergraduate and graduate…

Many potential psychology majors are electing to pursue degrees in other disciplines that appear to have greater market value in the current employment environment. Providing psychology majors with the skills and knowledge necessary to compete successfully with business majors for entry-level employment opportunities in a variety of business…

Liberal arts colleges are seen as engaged in moral education. Three moral lessons that a college teaches are described as (1) love for the truth, (2) learning is a human good, and (3) learning requires intellectual rigor or "discipline." Colleges are seen as places of hope. (MLW)

Faculty are pressured to provide high-quality advising for undergraduate psychology majors, but lack the time and resources. One efficient solution provides comprehensive advising information via a departmental handbook that helps students solve the problem of graduating with a degree in psychology, prepared for employment or graduate school. A…

Recent changes in the curriculum of undergraduate psychology have provided greater opportunities for experiential training to augment prior emphases on didactic concept training. A national survey of larger public and private undergraduate psychology programs was conducted to determine the status of non-classroom experiential learning. These data…

The spotlight on higher education has never been more intense than during the 1980s. Two central themes for response are the need to create greater campus community and cohesiveness and the need to tilt against rampant vocationalism and restore the liberal arts to the place of primacy in undergraduate education. (MLW)