Describes advantages and disadvantages of undergraduate research in chemical engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Also describes a five-year program designed to eliminate disadvantages and complement the graduate program. (SK)

Explores the influence of several search task characteristics on children's success in finding science materials on an automated library catalog. Findings suggest that the complexity of the search task and the level of children's science domain knowledge affect their success in identifying books on assigned science topics. (Author/AEF)

Investigates Kuhlthau's Search Process Model for information seeking using two Freshmen English classes. Data showed that students followed the six stages Kuhlthau proposed and suggest extensions to the model, including changing the order of the tasks, iterating and combining steps, and revising search goals based on social and interpersonal…

This discussion describes methods that foster a healthy Student Research Group (SRG) and permits it to fulfill its responsibility in the development of the student researcher. The model used in the discussion is that of the University of Michigan School of Dentistry SRG. (GLR)

Examines the use of computers in classroom research, particularly for second-language acquisition. Highlights include the research cycle; understanding second-language learning; the use of computers; learner research on developing language awareness; teacher research on understanding second-language classrooms; and the roles of learners and…

Instruction in Scientific Inquiry Skills (ISIS) is part of a seven-year Air Force effort--the Fundamental Skills Training Project--to design, build, evaluate, and transition advanced computer-aided instruction to the education community. This report describes ISIS 2.0 and presents the results of an initial field evaluation of the software during…

This publication introduces the research, development and technology curriculum at West Sylvan Middle School (Portland, Oregon) and presents the syllabus with selected activities and worksheets. Sample research units on South America, Mexico and Central America are outlined. Other materials include: student outline guide of questions; index…

To incorporate Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" into a course on writing may be to subvert the author's purpose. Pirsig meant for his book to be read aimlessly--like a Zen experience whose goal is only realized after it is achieved. Pirsig might even object to the "teaching" of "Zen and the…

The effect of an educational administration course at Washington State University on graduate students' acquisition of research skills and knowledge base is explored in this paper. The first part discusses the need for student-conducted case studies in educational administration. The second part describes how the course provides students with…

This paper argues that productive reform in teacher education must comprise the development of a rigorous practical pedagogy. The theoretical element of teacher education courses and practical teaching are incompatible because research looks at the way teaching is rather than the way teaching should be, and because teaching is viewed as comprising…

A syllabus and teaching methods for a community college local history course which focuses on primary sources about southern New Jersey are provided. Emphasis of the course is on how national issues affect local actions. Primary sources dating back to the 17th century are found in documentary collections of local and state archives. The course,…

Engineering students can use a humanistic research project on the poetry of Walt Whitman as the basis for a technical report. Students must first become familiar with the scientific method so that they will have a general procedure for gathering and analyzing data for the project. To use the scientific method, students isolate the problem, observe…

A term project for a journalism course in documentary photography (the proposal for which is cited in ED 177 560) centered on photographically documenting a rural community and measuring its symbolic sociodramas. The focus of the project was to determine how various community groups interpreted a given set of photographs selected to represent a…

In the past 15 years, a number of information literacy models have been developed to describe the skills needed to successfully conduct research and solve information problems. All of these models are useful and share a common framework that the authors have synthesized into eight major categories of information skills, each with a set of…

A study addressed the questions of what teachers and students do with background-concept questions in historical study, and how these questions are connected (or not) to the teaching of foreground concepts. If teachers borrow and teach reading-language arts research strategies (strategic knowledge) and integrate them into historical study, does…