This article discusses an application of the Lewinian/Kolb experiential learning model in the context of undergraduate participation in the Missouri Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS) program. CAPS is designed to simulate common, everyday experiences among people living in poverty as participants take on the roles of family members working…

Actions do not have inherent meaning but rather can be interpreted in many ways. The interpretation a person adopts has important effects on a range of higher order cognitive processes. One dimension on which interpretations can vary is the extent to which actions are identified abstractly--in relation to broader goals, personal characteristics,…

Undergraduate business law courses typically utilize traditional textbooks organized by topic. Individual chapters, address the usual topics including contracts, torts, the court system and ethics. An innovative approach to facilitating a business law course involves segregating sections of the course into common business disciplines. Rather than…

The article argues that, in the teaching of religion at undergraduate level, many students approach understanding the historical or contemporary Middle East in ways that are coloured by what they think is biblical knowledge or basic Christian beliefs. This is less noticeable for students in disciplines such as history or politics. Many history or…

This study examines the relationship between service-learning participation and global perspective-taking. A global perspective is broadly defined to include both the acquisition of knowledge, attitudes, and skills important to intercultural communication and the development of more complex epistemological processes, identities, and interpersonal…

Previous studies have demonstrated that many college students, specifically those high on extraversion are prone to risky and sometimes unethical decision-making. The present study examined the impact of a decision-making "tool" that incorporated the use of standard ethical perspectives on students' attitudes and intentions. This "fill in the…

Women's studies and feminist curricula have been lauded for the development and application of critical thinking skills for social and political change in its students (Fisher; Kellner and Share; Mayberry). Critical thinking can be defined as the ability to identify and challenge assumptions, to search for alternative ways of thinking, and to…

We investigated curricular conditions and educational practices that influenced the development of life-long learning orientations among 405 undergraduate students. Results suggest that growth in life-long learning orientations was facilitated by instruction that included opportunities for reflection, active learning, and perspective-taking and…

The construct "professional noticing of children's mathematical thinking" is introduced as a way to begin to unpack the in-the-moment decision making that is foundational to the complex view of teaching endorsed in national reform documents. We define this expertise as a set of interrelated skills including (a) attending to children's strategies,…

For the thirty-eighth time, the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two…

Colleges and universities are in competition to claim leadership in preparing students for a global world through participation in international experiences. Michigan State University (MSU) is often recognized as one of the leaders in study abroad, having woven the ethos of global education tightly into the core fabric of the university and…

The authors examined outcomes and predictors of outcomes for 85 undergraduates in 3 helping skills classes. After training, trainees used more exploration skills in helping sessions with classmates (as assessed by perceptions of helpees and helpers/trainees as well as behavioral counts of skills), were perceived by helpees as more empathic, talked…

This interdisciplinary project examined how students think and feel about their learning in race-related diversity courses. Students in four classes (literature, psychology, geography) reflected on cognitive and affective dimensions of their own and their classmates' learning. The Color Blind Racial Attitudes Scales (CoBRAS) confirmed qualitative…

The construct of "other-directed versus self-directed career choice" has existed for quite some time. The current focus of vocational psychologists and counselors has made them question the relevance of this construct for contemporary American society. Many counselors today challenge the assumption that a career choice based on others'…

Investigates whether undergraduate students could benefit, in terms of increased recall, by instruction in professional actors' learning strategies. Rules out the effort involved in generating elaborations as the primary operative mechanism behind verbatim recall. Indicates that a specific form of perspective taking, termed "active experiencing,"…