Louisiana State University in Shreveport developed an International Studies minor as a partnership between the academic disciplines of Business and Liberal Arts. The minor consists of 24 hours of coursework, including a foreign language course at the sophomore level; a course titled "Introduction to International Studies"; 9 hours of…

Nurses are prime users of medical devices in patient care and must be aware of four safety issues: safety of the patient, the information, the personnel, and the device. Thus, nurses need to be able to understand and communicate in the language of technological devices. With formal coursework in the use of instruments being limited, agency…

At New Mexico State University, technical communication teachers have developed a course to teach editing processes to graduate students who take the advanced workshop in technical and professional communication. In this seminar group, students work on writing processes; editing processes; written, edited, and tested products; and oral processes…

Data from 202 out of 311 surveyed school districts in Arkansas were collected to assess the congruence of course content guides, developed under administrative mandate by the school districts, with associated parental reporting forms. The guides outline skills associated with three instructional/skill levels--basic, developmental, and…

In response to the need for research methods training in the public relations undergraduate curriculum, this paper identifies the range of possible formats for a public relations research methods course (analyzing strengths and weaknesses for each) and recommends a hybrid format. The paper then identifies and compares different goals for research…

Undergraduate introductory sociology courses should actively engage students in learning the concepts, theories, and research methods that comprise the core knowledge of the discipline. The course should introduce the social theorists Durkheim, Marx, Mead, and Weber. Social concepts of the human group, social system, and social organization;…

Parliamentary procedure might best be taught in a context specific format; it would be better understood by students if not taught as a "stand alone" subject. Since the basic concepts of argumentation theory--propositions, stasis, and presumption and burden of proof--are reinforced by the rules of parliamentary procedure, instructors can…

This paper argues that if thinking skills are to be integrated into the curriculum two needs must be addressed: (1) the manner of teaching content must be revised so that thinking skills are used and reinforced during the learning process, and (2) courses whose primary focus is the improvement of thinking skills must be offered. A comparison is…

The facts and ideas of subject matter are of little or no value unless such facts and ideas are used to promote thoughtful discourse. Those who teach with this idea in mind can be said to be thinking-skills centered or procognitive; those who teach without this idea in mind can be termed content-centered or procontent. The procognitive viewpoint…

A study was conducted to determine (1) what active forensic coaches currently perceive to be the purpose of forensic participation courses, (2) the difficulties they have had in reaching their course goals, and (3) what they think the purpose of the courses should be. Data were collected from coaches at 130 schools with active forensic programs.…

The creation of a new undergraduate curriculum in psychology is discussed. It is suggested that the undergraduate psychology curriculum is valuable as an end in itself rather than solely as preparation for a career in the field. The new curriculum would be structured principally around a program of intensive study of the practical, personal…

Community health nursing curriculum components in a sample of baccalaureate nursing programs were investigated. Questionnaires were sent to a sample of 12 National League of Nursing (NLN) accredited, generic, baccalaureate nursing programs representative of the four NLN regions in the United States. Community health nursing content in theory…

An overview is provided of the current status of technical and vocational mathematics in the two-year college. Section I traces the development of technical math courses and discusses their function in the two-year college curriculum. Section II examines the use of applied math problems appropriate to particular vocational programs as an aid in…

Preparing students for transfer to four-year colleges remains a significant part of the mission of most community college mathematicians. For some 30 years, calculus has been synonymous with entry-level college mathematics. Recent educational and technological changes, however, demand that the definition of college-level work in mathematics be…

An on-going experiment in the classroom use of the Japanese quality circle concept of consensus and group management has been conducted for the past 2 years at the Ogontz Campus of Pennsylvania State University. Quality circles composed of the teacher and eight student volunteers meet weekly for 45 minutes, with each member informing three other…