In order to achieve their course learning outcomes, public affairs instructors can train students to solve real community problems (SRCP). This approach focuses on the learners themselves and aims to transform the role of college professors from traditional teaching (lecturing) to facilitating and coaching students' learning activities. This…

This article attempts to demonstrate the applicability of a computer-assisted instruction supported with simulated data in teaching abstract statistical concepts to political science and public affairs students in an introductory research methods course. The software is called the Elaboration Model Computer Exercise (EMCE) in that it takes a great…

For Daniel J. Kaniewski, the magic formula needed to redirect his career path from anonymous academic researcher to presidential policy adviser was only 719 words long. A single newspaper column that he wrote in April 2005 succinctly criticized the Department of Homeland Security's disaster-preparation plans. A few months later, a White House…

The National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI), launched by the Kettering Foundation in 1980, provides an opportunity for the engaged university to foster public deliberation with its students and alumni, as well as leaders in the communities where it operates. NIFI publishes three issue books per year on topics of national importance. These…

The purpose of this Tomas Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) report is twofold: to provide an analysis of the enrollment trends for African American and Latino students among graduate professional programs in the fields of medicine, business, law, and public affairs, and to present other relevant data pertaining to African American and Latino students…

This article describes a university-sponsored experiential-based simulation, the NANO SCENARIO, to increase the public's awareness and affect attitudes on the societal implications of nanoscience and nanotechnology by bringing together diverse stakeholders' perspectives in a participatory learning environment. Nanotechnology has the potential for…

This article describes a university-sponsored experiential-based simulation, the NANO SCENARIO, to increase the public's awareness and affect attitudes on the societal implications of nanoscience and nanotechnology by bringing together diverse stakeholders' perspectives in a participatory learning environment. Nanotechnology has the potential for…

This guide is a revised and adapted version of a previous monograph, "A New Public Perspective on Representative Democracy: A Guide for Legislative Interns." The guide focuses on civic perspective: how citizens view the political institutions, processes, and people that are fundamental to representative democracy in the United States. It describes…

This paper aims to demonstrate that two traditionally opposed approaches--the official view and a revisionist approach--conflate in defence of authoritarianism in the teaching of History. The main focus is on school textbooks published between 1956, the year when an educational reform was introduced following President Peron's overthrow, and 1983,…

This paper grows out of a project under the auspices of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching which seeks to strengthen the means for American higher education to prepare morally thoughtful, committed, and socially responsible citizens. This study examines the experiences of three institutions that recognize the importance of…

This collection of 10 articles and stories highlights ongoing experiments in colleges and universities which address the relationship of higher education institutions and citizenship responsibility. Following a foreword by Deborah White, articles are: "The Civic Roots of Academic Social Science Scholarship in American" (R. Claire Snyder), which…

The Farm Foundation was established in 1933 as a private agency to help coordinate the work of other public and private groups and agencies to improve agriculture and rural life without taking political positions or supporting specific legislation. An operating rather than a grant-making foundation, the foundation develops national and regional…

In this article, the author contends that the shift in the way public literacy instruction is talked about and enacted is not merely a semantic one designed to conceal liberal motives from the students--or at least it should not be. Rather, it aims to honor the ways that personal, private interests can construct and reconstruct the public sphere.…

The Whitlam Institute within the University of Western Sydney is a centre for public dialogue and progress, with the Whitlam Prime Ministerial Collection inspiring its programs. The collection, both physical and virtual, was established in 2002, drawing upon primary source material made available or donated by the Hon E G Whitlam AC QC, and…

Biotechnology and nanotechnology are both strategic technologies, and the former provides several lessons that could contribute to more successful embedding and integration processes for the latter. This article identifies some of the key questions emerging from the biotechnology experience and summarizes several lessons learned in the context of…