Suggests ways in which teachers of African area studies on the college level can incorporate films on Africa into the curriculum. Methods include showing longer films outside regular classroom hours, introducing students to perspectives other than those of the teacher, and discussing film-related issues to draw out and reinforce understandings and…

Describes the curriculum of a political skills laboratory in which college students in a political science course were given training in specific political skills such as organizational development, leadership, bargaining, stress management, crisis management, and coalition building. Evaluation instruments and results are described. (Author/DB)

Suggests that political science teachers on the college level use their free summer months constructively by leading workshops for government officials and interested citizens on political science theory, research techniques, and practical political knowledge. (Author/DB)

Describes a series of exercises which were developed to teach the basic methodologies involved in analyzing and evaluating the effects of alternative public policies. The exercises, intended for use on the college level, deal with determining causation in policy analysis, finding optimum choices with different probabilities, and finding an optimum…

Presents a teaching simulation which was designed to stimulate the interest of students in a college level political science course (American government). The simulation transforms a class into the Confederal Congress and is designed to increase the students' information retention and bargaining abilities. Pre- and posttesting is discussed.…

The article discusses a study in which dissonance theory was applied to college and high school social science classes. Topics discussed include social psychological factors which inhibit the teaching-learning process, the students' search for cognitive/evaluative balance, and the relationship of student appraisals of teacher performance to…

Suggests that book report assignments can provide college students with most of the advantages of term papers and allow teachers time to grade and work properly. Information is presented on the skills that book reports can build, outcomes of writing assignments, grading techniques, and student reaction to book report assignments. (Author/DB)

Offers suggestions to enhance interaction between faculty and graduate students outside the classroom in order to maintain a quality Ph.D. program. Classifies types of graduate student-faculty relationships and analyzes costs and benefits to graduate students. (KC)

Discusses using popular detective and espionage fiction in courses related to area politics, international relations, political terrorism, socialization, and bureaucratic politics. Suggests several novels and ways in which they may be integrated into courses. (KC)

Reviews textbooks for research methodology instruction in political science and concludes that most textbooks equate methodology with inductive procedures. A goal for the 1980s is an integration of deductive models with statistical testing procedures. (KC)

Describes the workshop program of the Department of City and Regional Planning at Harvard University. The workshop consists of a student team that helps a government or nonprofit agency solve a policy-related problem. (KC)

Describes student participation in research projects as part of an undergraduate course in applied research methods. Twenty-three projects in which students collected information on issues important to public service agencies are evaluated. (KC)

Analyzes a comparative political experience in which American political science students served internships in Canadian governments. Benefits include diffusion of political ethnocentrism, exposure to a different party spectrum, and acquisition of new role models and contacts. (KC)

Graduate students and younger faculty in public administration have doubts regarding their professional abilities. The anxiety causes them to avoid experiences which will test their competencies. However, in order for students to evaluate their career choices they must be allowed opportunities to test themselves. (KC)

Offers an interpretation of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality" and provides examples of classroom exercises designed to make Rousseau's ideas and writings accessible to undergraduates. Stresses Rousseau's philosophy on natural man, language, ethics, and society. Includes interpretive references to…