Minority student attrition and underachievement is a long-standing and widespread concern in higher education. It is especially acute in introductory science courses which are prerequisites for students planning to pursue science-related careers. Poor performance in these courses often results in attrition of minorities from the science fields.…

The Nebraska Instrument Sharing Consortium (NISC) is a group of small colleges that have banded together to provide modern instrumentation to their students at an affordable price. Consortium activities are described, including how the instruments are moved between campuses. (JN)

The course content of a laboratory session on patient interviewing taught to medical students taking a course on physical diagnosis is discussed in this paper. The first part of the paper describes the basic course content covered in the lectures: the bio-psycho-social model, the communication process, and the skills necessary for effective…

Summarizes Karl Weick's Model of Organizing including its advantages and limitations and tests one of the claims fundamental to Weick's argument. (MH)

Tests the effects of patients' culture and cultural orientations on assertiveness and communication apprehension during medical interviews. Suggests that the greater the patient's construal-of-self as interdependent, the more negative her/his beliefs regarding patient participation, which, in turn, leads to a higher degree of communication…