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The study aimed to investigate students' final grades in a linked course or chain course to determine any effect on students' academic performance in their next linked course. Courses with high D, F, and W grades were selected with their subsequent linked courses to form a chain so that each chain consisted of two courses or more. More specifically, Arabic (n = 11,780), English (n = 7,714), and mathematical (n = 1,367) chains were investigated through the years 2012 to 2016. High positive correlations between the grades of the chain courses and the transitional grade are C. Factors were examined to identify any effects on final grades. Findings indicate that 60% to 75% of low-performing students in one link of any chain will demonstrate low performance in the following link. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The Japanese government defined integrative/integrated medicine (IM) as "medical practice led by physicians, cooperating with other specialists." Therefore, the basics of comprehensive medical education should be provided in medical universities. We investigated the situation of IM with special reference to Kampo medicines in the national core curricula, national examination standards and the syllabuses for lectures published on the universities' websites. Methods: In the published documents regarding the core curriculum, national examination standards and syllabuses in the academic year 2018, we analyzed whether they include IM. Results: Four kinds of universities offered "Kampo medicine" (Japanese traditional herbal medicine) as their core curriculum. Pharmaceutical universities included "health food", and nursing universities included "alternative medicine". National examination standards for dentists and pharmacists included Kampo medicine, but those for doctors and nurses did not. In the syllabuses of medical universities, 85% included Kampo medicine, but the percentage for IMs was low. The situation was similar in dental universities. All pharmaceutical universities included Kampo medicines and health foods; other IMs were low. The number for all IMs in nursing universities was lower than half. Conclusion: Based on the definition of IM in this paper, we investigated the actual situation of IM education including Kampo in all universities. There were considerable differences between all the faculties. For medical doctor, the Kampo medicines listed in the model core curriculum that are not included in the national examination standard should be rectified. For pharmacists, it is important to deepen the educational contents in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of community college entrants aspire to earn a bachelor's degree; yet fewer than a third do. States use several strategies to support community college's transfer function, including a transferrable core curriculum, a block of pre-major coursework universally accepted at public postsecondary institutions. In this study, we used statewide administrative data from Texas—a state with a transferable core—to examine pre-transfer credit accumulation and how pre-transfer core credits predict bachelor's degree attainment and time to degree for community college transfer students. Our results illuminate high variation in pre-transfer core credit accumulation among community college transfer students. Each additional pre-transfer core credit improves students' probability of earning a bachelor's degree, but only up to core completion status. Soon after students are core complete—at which point universities are no longer required to transfer in additional core credits, students experience a negative relationship between core credits and bachelor's degree attainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Paedagogica Ignatiana is the property of Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, the authors question the value of a required calculus class for undergraduate business students. We use the tenets of Transfer of Learning theory along with the Theory of Formal Discipline to evaluate whether the value of calculus may be overstated. Using data from business faculty, students, and alumni, we look at the degree to which these constituents believe that taking a calculus class is important to their future success. Findings indicate that while some groups believe calculus is important to business students, most results suggest that the value of a required calculus class to business student success is limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses strategies for academic libraries to collaborate with faculty to institutionalize important information literacy training. The discussion is framed around a case study of a medium-sized academic institution in the United States that successfully embedded information literacy concepts into course-level learning outcomes for three required courses in a new core curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Despite its four decade history, the multidisciplinary specialty of psychosocial oncology (PSO) has no official consensus on core content. In 2014, the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) Board charged the APOS Professional Education Committee with outlining curricular content needed for core competence. Methods: Content validation was completed using a four‐phase modified Delphi Method. During Phase I, a Professional Education Committee subgroup proposed domains and items, which were rated by the APOS Fellows and Board via online survey. During Phase II, Fellows completed a second, revised survey. Phase III incorporated early career members. Developmental and diversity items were integrated into each domain. In Phase IV, a larger group of subject matter experts were surveyed, with feedback incorporated. Validation across phases involved average rating thresholds, intraclass correlations, and final percent agreement. Results: The Delphi Method supported 12 content domains: Cancer Basics, Psychosocial Oncology, Professional Development, Ethics, Emotional/Psychological Concerns, Sexuality and Relationship Concerns, Spiritual/Religious Concerns, Healthcare Communication and Decision Making, Social/Practical Problems, Caregiver Concerns, Cognitive Concerns, Physical Symptoms and Psychosocial Assessment/Treatment. High levels of agreement were achieved across domains (86%–100%) and items, with no significant rating differences by discipline. Conclusions: This proposed core content can enhance and standardize education and training in PSO including APOS' Virtual Psychosocial Oncology Core Curriculum, focused on broadly expanding the PSO workforce, particularly in underserved areas. Next steps include development of core competencies and establishment of online training modules based on this content validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with teacher education at pedagogical faculties in Serbia. An analysis of the content of pedagogical and psychological subjects was carried out. Subjects in the current curricula for initial teacher education in seven pedagogical faculties were analyzed. The first objective is to determine whether compulsory pedagogical and psychological subjects enable students to acquire the prescribed competence standards required of teachers. The second objective is to determine if there is a basis for creating a core curriculum in the field of pedagogical and psychological sciences in the existing curricula in terms of compulsory content in all the pedagogical faculties. This content should ensure the achievement of all the competence standards of all future teachers, equally throughout Serbia. For the realization of the set goal and research questions, a method of content analysis was used, with which we analyzed the curricula of the faculty for teacher education. The results showed that the core curriculum should consist of General pedagogy, Didactics, School pedagogy, Family pedagogy and Methodology of pedagogical research in the field of pedagogical sciences. The field of psychological sciences should be represented through General psychology, Developmental psychology and Pedagogical psychology. The core curriculum can contribute to a clear and unambiguous opportunity for the teacher to acquire all the necessary competences for further work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Contrastive learning is known to be effective in teaching medical students how to generate diagnostic hypotheses in clinical reasoning. However, there is no international consensus on lists of diagnostic considerations across different medical disciplines regarding the common signs and symptoms that should be learned as part of the undergraduate medical curriculum. In Japan, the national model core curriculum for undergraduate medical education was revised in 2016, and lists of potential diagnoses for 37 common signs, symptoms, and pathophysiology were introduced into the curriculum. This study aimed to validate the list of items based on expert consensus. Methods: The authors used a modified Delphi method to develop consensus among a panel of 23 expert physician-teachers in clinical reasoning from across Japan. The panel evaluated the items on a 5-point Likert scale, based on whether a disease should be hypothesized by final-year medical students considering given signs, symptoms, or pathophysiology. They also added other diseases that should be hypothesized. A positive consensus was defined as both a 75% rate of panel agreement and a mean of 4 or higher with a standard deviation of less than 1 on the 5-point scale. The study was conducted between September 2017 and March 2018. Results: This modified Delphi study identified 275 basic and 67 essential other than basic items corresponding to the potential diagnoses for 37 common signs, symptoms, and pathophysiology that Japanese medical students should master before graduation. Conclusions: The lists developed in the study can be useful for teaching and learning how to generate initial hypotheses by encouraging students' contrastive learning. Although they were focused on the Japanese educational context, the lists and process of validation are generalizable to other countries for building national consensus on the content of medical education curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature points to the existent diversity in medical graduate courses' curriculums, reinforcing the need to systematise and deepen more studies in this area with the aim of qualifying the formation of our future professionals. This study aims to understand the methods used in the teaching of Bioethics in medical graduation worldwide. It was characterised as an integrative review and the databases used were Pubmed, Scopus and Web of Science. In total 2993 articles were identified and 72 met the pre-selected criteria and were included in the review. The characteristics of teaching bioethics that stood out the most in the analysis were: teaching still very heterogeneous between different universities, use of various methodologies in the process of teaching/learning, teaching disconnected from the medical practice of students showing the need to integrate the curriculum with clinical practice and challenges of teaching-learning process. Most of the studies in this review lead us to understand that there is still no minimum parameters on the ideal method to teach bioethics, suggesting that it may affect the feeling of unpreparedness felt by students in face of ethical issues in clinical practice, despite the theoretical basis acquired. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for comprehensive core curricula in medical education regarding the health of persons with disabilities has been identified by disability scholars for many years and was recently reinforced by our research indicating Canadian physicians lack knowledge of the social model of disability, and their legal duty to ensure accommodation for persons with disabilities to have equal access to health. The purpose of the current research is to investigate the existence of core medical education curricula devoted to the health of persons with disabilities and determine whether persons with disabilities were involved as curricular designers and educators. A comprehensive literature search of all academic sites found few papers reporting on such curricula, and the time devoted to these curricula was small. Only one medical school internationally was found to have persons with disabilities playing a major role as curricular designers. Further problematic was that "disability" tended to be portrayed by non-disabled professional actors hired as standardized patients (SPs), and only occasionally by actors with disabilities but in scripted SP roles distant from their lived experience. We contend that if persons with disabilities designed medical curricula, non-disabled SPs would be replaced by persons with disabilities as medical educators, sharing their own lived experiences. Another alternative in replacing professional able-bodied actor SPs is the novel education method of digital storytelling, with disabled persons sharing their lived experiences. Another immediate opportunity exists in Canada in the newly developing competency-based curricula for prominent core competencies to be designed and taught by persons with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Postgraduate training curricula should not be based on time-spans or predefined numbers of performed procedures. One ap- proach to link competencies to clinical tasks is the concept of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPA). The goal of this study was the definition, ranking and validation of EPAs for anaesthesiology postgraduate training and the creation of an anaesthesiologic core curriculum. Methods: Anaesthesiologists of different levels of training participated in the study (single-center, cross-sectional). First, an expert group defined a preliminary list of EPAs. Then a first Delphi round (n= 47 participants) was applied to identify daily anaesthesiology tasks with the goal to define EPAs. From the first Delphi round a new set of EPAs was defined, using the template and mapping method. Through an alignment process, conducted by the expert group, the preliminary EPAs and the new set of EPAs from the first Delphi round were summarised into a new list of EPAs. This list was presented to the study participants in a second Delphi round (n=80 participants), with the goal to validate and rank each EPA and to define the year of entrustment. For this purpose, participants were asked in the second Delphi round if each EPA should be included into an anaesthesiology core curriculum and in which year of training entrustment should take place. Furthermore, they were asked to rank each EPA on a numeric scale, defining its importance. From this numeric scale, the content validity index (CVI) for each EPA was calculated. Consensus of the results from the second Delphi round was calculated, using the one-way random effects model to calculate Intra-Class-Correlations (ICC). Percentages of agreement among the whole set of EPAs of this study and a previously published set of EPAs were computed. Results: A core-curriculum comprising of 39 EPAs was developed. The EPAs were subdivided into superior/high and inferior/low scoring EPAs, reflecting their importance and were mapped to the year of entrustment. The results reached high consensus among the different participating anaesthesiologist groups (overall agreement was 0.96 for the CVI of each EPA and 0.83 for the year in which the EPAs should be entrusted). Agreement with the previously defined set of EPAs was 73.3%. Conclusion: This study provides a further step in transforming postgraduate anaesthesiology training into a more contemporary approach. Other studies are necessary to complete and amend the presented core curriculum of EPA based postgraduate anaesthesiology training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research aimed to identify the extent of the core curriculum applicability in secondary education in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from the viewpoint of school leaders, supervisors, and teachers in Jazan Directorate of Education. The relationship of the core curriculum applicability in secondary education in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is defined as the work variable (school leaders, supervisors, and teachers). The descriptive survey approach was used, and the study sample was chosen in a simple random manner. The study sample numbered (303) from school leaders, supervisors, and teachers in Jazan Directorate of Education. The questionnaire was designed to collect .data The research concluded that the responses of school leaders were generally low, with an average of (2.55) for the three axes, where the averages of the three axes for the possibility of applying the core curriculum ranged between (2.3-2.95), and indicators of its applicability from educational supervisors' viewpoint were with a low degree generally with an average of (2.2) for the three axes, where the averages of the three axes for the indicators of applicability ranged between (1.94 - 2.59), and the indicators of its applicability from teachers' viewpoint were with a low degree and a general average of (2.44) for the three axes, and the averages of the three axes for indicators of applicability ranged between (2.33- 2.67). The null hypothesis that there was no statistically significant relationship at the level of significance (0.05) between the core curriculum applicability in secondary education in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the work variable (school leaders, supervisors and teachers) was accepted. The study concluded a number of recommendations and proposals [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early childhood education is an important learning stage in the life of a young person, a time when the foundations of lifelong learning are formed, basic norms are learned and peer relationships established. This is a formative period in a child’s school career and of his/her future social position. Attitudes towards learning – positive or negative – are formed at this time, which will continue throughout life. Nature education plays an important role in the core curriculum for pre-school and early childhood education of February 14, 2017. Its detailed requirements integrate knowledge and skills relating to the natural environment, broaden information resources and promote attitudes of nature conservation. An important element of the curriculum is planning and conducting simple experiential observations and experiments. In this article, the authors discuss the core curriculum and suggest how it may be implemented in teaching practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student questioning is an important learning strategy, but rare in many classrooms, because teachers have concerns if these questions contribute to attaining curricular objectives. Teachers face the challenge of making student questioning effective for learning the curriculum. To address this challenge, a principle-based scenario for guiding effective student questioning was developed and tested for its relevance and practicality in two previous studies. In the scenario, which consists of a sequence of pedagogical activities, mind maps support teachers and students to explore and elaborate upon a core curriculum, by raising, investigating, and exchanging student questions. In this paper, a follow-up study is presented that tested the effectiveness of the scenario on student outcomes in terms of attainment of curricular objectives. Ten teachers and their 231 students participated in the study. Pre- and posttest mind maps were used to measure individual and collective learning outcomes of student questioning. Findings show that a majority of students progressed in learning the core curriculum and elaborated upon it. The findings suggest that visualizing knowledge construction in a shared mind map supports students to learn a core curriculum and to refine their knowledge structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research aimed to identify the extent of the core curriculum applicability in secondary education in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from the viewpoint of school leaders, supervisors, and teachers in Jazan Directorate of Education. The relationship of the core curriculum applicability in secondary education in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is defined as the work variable (school leaders, supervisors, and teachers). The descriptive survey approach was used, and the study sample was chosen in a simple random manner. The study sample numbered (303) from school leaders, supervisors, and teachers in Jazan Directorate of Education. The questionnaire was designed to collect .data The research concluded that the responses of school leaders were generally low, with an average of (2.55) for the three axes, where the averages of the three axes for the possibility of applying the core curriculum ranged between (2.3-2.95), and indicators of its applicability from educational supervisors' viewpoint were with a low degree generally with an average of (2.2) for the three axes, where the averages of the three axes for the indicators of applicability ranged between (1.94 - 2.59), and the indicators of its applicability from teachers' viewpoint were with a low degree and a general average of (2.44) for the three axes, and the averages of the three axes for indicators of applicability ranged between (2.33- 2.67). The null hypothesis that there was no statistically significant relationship at the level of significance (0.05) between the core curriculum applicability in secondary education in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the work variable (school leaders, supervisors and teachers) was accepted. The study concluded a number of recommendations and proposals [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with introducing important items of the Core Curriculum for Foreign Language Training of Non- Residents in Higher Agrarian Education Institutions based on CEFR and taking into account professional orientation of foreign (Ukrainian) language training (on the example of Sumy National Agrarian University, Ukraine). Different methods of research (theoretical and empirical) have been used. The Curriculum's content (goal; objectives; principles of training; content components) has been shown. The main goal of foreign language training is identified as the students' acquisition of skills of communicative activity through the integration of communicative, learning and upbringing goals as well as deep professionalizing the future specialist. The Curriculum's context (stages, communicative training areas) are correlated with the requirements of CEFR to meet internationally recognised standards. To monitor if the curriculum meets the students' needs in foreign language training the questionnaires were conducted October-November, 2018. The questionnaires on students' self-assessment of language proficiency level; learning activities preferences; situations in which foreign language is useful for; the importance of work with professionally-oriented materials were generalised. Conclusions: the important foreign language skills for agrarian students are speaking and reading ones; the preferable communicative areas are the social-cultural and the learningprofessional ones; the work with professionally-oriented materials is indicated as an important one. This confirms the appropriateness of the curriculum to international students' needs in foreign language training. The results can be extrapolated for other higher agricultural institutions while foreign language curriculum development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Litteraria Polonica is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lodzkiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper presents the considerations related to some theoretical assumptions of postulated and actual changes within music education. The specifics of the general music education in Poland are disclosed on the background of the social transformation and searching for universal values. The author presents a report on the creating of the school subject - music education in the context of the Polish educational system transformations as well as the elaborated documentation of core curriculum of (music) education as part of the general education. The purpose of this research paper is to present the changes suggested in the most recent core curriculum of 2017 related to the directions of musical educating and upbringing in primary school in the context of the existing knowledge, regulations and status of Polish musical education in the theoretical and practical perspective. What is presented selectively is the specifics of general musical education in Poland, its assumptions in the context of the traditional pluralistic approach with the application of the most significant concepts and implementations, mainly by »mile Jaques-Dalcroze, Carl Orff, Zoltan Kodaly and partially Shinichi Suzuki and Edwin E. Gordon, and subsequently, what is proposed is the theoretical background for the suggested qualitative changes within the core curriculum as well as the application-implementation and philosophical dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Nursing Core Curriculum has been continually developed and revised in many countries over recent decades. These revisions are shaped mainly by social changes and challenges: for example, the forecast that the elderly will become a significant percentage of populations in developed countries, global migration processes, computerization of medical services, and new complex medical devices have all necessitated changes in the education of 21st century nurses. In Israel, nursing education has developed simultaneously under the influences of both the British versus the American core curricula through the last century. The latest Core Curriculum was published in 2012, and for the last three years, the Ministry of Health Nursing Administration have been working on the development of a new core. Meanwhile, all nursing education institutions are expected to implement de-facto changes which are supervised by the Ministry of Health’s audit tool development and inspection process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National curricula are documents describing the knowledge, skills and social competences that students should acquire at the appropriate stages of education. In our article, we assume that these documents have the power to buttress the existing status quo or to change reality. Generally speaking, they are an attempt at transforming selected areas of culture in a deliberate, planned, and systemic manner. This paper, by means of Hofstede's 4-D model of cultural differences among societies (viz power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity), is aimed at studying the way Polish and Ukrainian national curricula define the educational processes and Teacher-Student relations, in order to reveal the correlation between the cultural differences and learning/teaching process in Poland and Ukraine. A critical discourse analysis of the two state curricula has been done to interpret their contents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational attainment is generally a strong predictor of belief in climate change, but prior research indicates that for political conservatives a college education is not always associated with increased belief. Conservatives in several countries, especially those in populist parties, have shown skepticism toward climate-mitigation policies and in some cases toward climate science. The study contributes to theories of environmental belief by examining two mechanisms for the low effect of the college education on climate belief for conservatives: selective exposure bias (students avoid courses that challenge their beliefs) and resistance to belief change (students reject or filter information that is incompatible with their political orientation). Using a survey of college-educated adults in the U.S., the study finds strong evidence for selective exposure bias and mixed evidence for resistance to belief change. Importantly, approximately one-third of conservative students who took a college course with climate-change content shifted from initial skepticism or uncertainty to a more confident belief. Moreover, exposure to an education with a core curriculum is associated with stronger belief. The study provides support for the policy goal of a curricular requirement for climate education, which can overcome selective exposure bias and, for some students, resistance to belief change. • College students with a conservative identity avoided taking climate-change courses. • Some conservative students reported stronger belief after taking a climate-change course. • Students with the highest initial skepticism showed the greatest climate belief change. • Students in programs with a core curriculum showed greater climate belief change. • Survey results support reform efforts to require climate-change topics in college. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article touches on the comparison of the method of teaching included in the book entitled Starting on the Harpsichord by Jean Nandi with the principles of the present core curriculum for primary music schools in harpsichord classes. The book is one of not many available teaching materials related to harpsichord playing. The publication is aimed at comparing the topics presented in the textbook with the guidelines set out by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. The article also includes a short description written by the author and a presentation of the content of the textbook plus selected teaching methods. The textbook as such, apart from the topics connected with harpsichord playing, also covers basic topics in the theory of music. It is written using a very simple and understandable language accessible to young students and persons who would translate it into their mother tongues. The article has a chart which clearly shows that the elements determined by the core curriculum are present in the book Starting on the Harpsichord. The content of the article and its illustration and music examples will help readers to familiarise themselves with the content of the textbook and with the learning aims related to harpsichord playing set out in the Ordinance of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of 6 September 2017 on the core curricula for education in artistic professions at public artistic schools (Journal of laws of 2017 item 1793). The text is addressed to people interested in harpsichord playing methodology, especially to students and young teachers searching for interesting and simple practice materials and music examples which can be used for working with beginners learning the harpsichord. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article compares the biology core curriculum of Poland and the Czech Republic at the primary school level. Both countries have a long common history of teaching since the times of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A detailed analysis of the documents in force shows that the Czech curriculum outlines a broader thematic framework than the Polish one. Teachers themselves implement the curriculum with the content of their choice (e.g. they can adjust it to the level and interests of their students). The Czech curriculum places more emphasis on practical skills that can be used in everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence-based social/emotional learning (SEL) programs have been shown to have many benefits and are considered best practice in helping students apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions. One school district undertook a multiyear process to move to a common school counseling core curriculum in the social/emotional domain. The process included curriculum selection, development, implementation, assessment, and revision. Preliminary results indicate that school counselors are delivering the standardized curriculum across schools, and most report that the program has a positive impact on students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a previous article, we described our college's new core curriculum, which included a Quantitative Literacy (QL) component for the first time. We explained how we defined QL in the college catalog, and how we used that definition to choose courses to satisfy the new requirement. We then discussed our early efforts at assessing the effectiveness of the QL program and described our plans for the future. Here we report on our progress towards those goals, including working with faculty from other departments and with our institutional research office to develop a more sophisticated assessment plan, as well as creating and implementing easier-to-use surveys and assessment instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social Sciences Bulletin / Sociālo Zinātņu Vēstnesis is the property of Socialo Zinatnu Vestnesis and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We developed a course, as part of our institution's core program, which provides students with a foundation in academic literacy in the social sciences: how to find, read, critically assess, and communicate about social science research. It is not a research methods course; rather, it is intended to introduce students to the social sciences and be better consumers of social science research. In this article, we describe the key learning objectives of this course, the basic content areas, and some of the innovative teaching and learning strategies used in the course. We also provide empirical evidence of the effectiveness of the course in meeting its learning objectives and of student responses to the course. Finally, we discuss some of the challenges in developing interdisciplinary core courses and offer suggestions for best practices for teaching social science literacy as part of the core curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Every student at Elon University completes an interdisciplinary capstone with a capstone project as the culminating experience of the Elon Core Curriculum. These courses are opportunities for students to integrate and apply what they have learned during the college experience. The capstone also challenges students to consider larger themes of the Core Curriculum - ethical reasoning and personal and social responsibility within local and global communities. This paper offers examples of interdisciplinary capstones across higher education, an overview of Elon's program, and assessment data showing the perceived learning experience in interdisciplinary capstones to be rated higher than in disciplinary courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the consequences of rejecting axiological ambiguity in the sphere of human experiences and reflection, as observed in statements made by lower secondary school children as part of a study Teaching language and literature in secondary school in light of the new core curriculum. The negative consequences are indicated of interpreting the world as one locked in the values of extreme opposition, based on an analysis of students' interpretations of Balladyna by Juliusz Słowacki and Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising by Miron Białoszewski. The risks may include alienating the student from reality, as well as the reformulation of values into a set of anti-values, which excludes the possibility of reaching interpersonal agreement. Constructing a personal axiological system on this basis can occur only at the cost of discrediting the values of others, who are denied the right to have them from the outset. In such a world, there is no place for dialogue about values differing from those already held. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant body of evidence shows that the goals of educational reforms are seldom fully achieved. Some research suggests that the problem lies in state-level curriculum reform work that lacks a sufficient understanding of the educational reality. However, views and perceptions among the central architects of the reforms have not been thoroughly studied. This study provides an insight into these views. The data comprise 23 semi-structured interviews with officials from the Finnish National Board of Education (FNBE) who conducted the Finnish Comprehensive School Core Curriculum Reform (2013-2014). FNBE officials' perceptions of the triggers and aims of the reform-considered as their 'theory of change'—are explored with qualitative analysis by identifying issues they wanted to preserve or react to, and the issues that should be worked towards and positioned as goals in the future. The results show that there is a somewhat shared theory of change among the architects of Finnish curriculum reform. The chief issues considered as things to react to were related to society, whereas the most common aims were related to pedagogy, such as moving away from traditional teaching towards pupil-centred collaborative learning. However, the theory of change was complex and included possibly contradictory elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a critique and an addition to observations raised by Ballantine et al. in this issue. After reviewing the strengths of Ballantine et al.’s article about the need for a core in sociology, I argue that this debate has gone on long enough and needs to be reframed around areas of agreement. Three major curricular projects (that have already begun to move this discussion forward) are presented, including the American Sociological Association (ASA) High School National Standards; the ASA Task Force on Liberal Learning and the Sociology Major, Updated, Third Edition; and the Measuring College Learning (MCL) Project. A critical outcome of the MCL Project in sociology is the Sociological Literacy Framework, which is already changing conversations about sociology curricula and learning outcomes. The Sociological Literacy Framework is summarized, and use of this framework is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the core curriculum for behavioral science, from the perspective of psychology, recommended by the Japanese Society of Behavioral Medicine and seeks to explain how the curriculum can be effectively implemented in medical and health-related departments. First, the content of the core curriculum is reviewed from the perspective of psychology. We show that the curriculum features both basic and applied components and that the basic components are closely related to various aspects of psychology. Next, we emphasize two points to aid the effective delivery of the curriculum: 1) It is necessary to explain the purpose and significance of basic components of behavioral science to improve student motivation; and 2) it is important to encourage student self-efficacy to facilitate application of the acquired knowledge and skills in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines a neglected aspect of gender equality debate – how knowledge about gender and sports is organized in school textbooks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). It examines the contradictions that exist between government rhetoric of eliminating gender biases from school textbooks and the prevalence of the same in the current school textbooks. Our aim is not to simply point out gender stereotypes but also to explore whether and to what extent textbooks encourage females' participation in sports and physical activities. The key focus then is to highlight the possible influence of textbooks' messages on the construction of gendered identities. The data reported here comes from core curricula (Urdu, English, and Social Studies textbooks from class 1 to 8) and secondary school students (aged 15–16 years). The study's findings suggest that textbooks in KPK are gender biased and function as cultural conduits in the construction and reproduction of gendered hierarchies in sport. Boys are portrayed in a wider range of outdoors competitive sports, whereas girls are either invisible or presented in selected indoor sports. The results depicted that the majority of girls and boys reproduced traditional dominant form of femininity and masculinity through their choice of and participation in sports. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

When St. Bonaventure University decided to redesign its core curriculum, we turned to Bonaventure's account of the mind's journey to God in the Itinerarium Mentis in Deum as a paradigm by which to give coherence to the undergraduate experience consistent with our mission and tradition. Bonaventure was himself an Augustinian philosopher and thus Augustine's Confessions holds a place of great significance in our first year seminar where it is studied in conjunction with Bonaventure's inward turn to find God imprinted on his soul. This paper is an account of the original rationale for including Augustine's Confessions in our curriculum and a report of continuing faculty and student attitudes towards that text nearly two decades later. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These Many countries have put a lot of efforts, promoting education of cultural heritage, to raise the conservation awareness and increase people's participation. However, the development of Taiwan's higher education about cultural heritage has not shown a significant growth, so it didn't train talents with enough cultural heritage awareness. In the workplace, these professionals will inevitably lack of comprehensions and the appropriate professional assessments for cultural heritage. Hence, the main objective of this paper is to study and combine these concepts into the core curriculum of Department of Construction and Spatial Design at Tungnan University. It takes the local " Shenkeng historic cultural district " as a case study, and will gradually develop an proper interdisciplinary course in order to help local residents implement projects of conserving cultural heritage. This plan not only can increase schools' engagements toward communities, with an ability of social civilization, but also it can encourage the conservation and maintenance of cultural heritages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Globalization of the professions has become a necessity among schools and universities across the world. It has affected the medical and dental professions in terms of curriculum design and student and patient needs. In Japan, where medicine and dentistry are taught mainly in the Japanese language, profession-based courses in English, known as Medical English and Dental English, have been integrated into the existing curriculum among its 83 medical and 29 dental schools. Unfortunately, there is neither a core curriculum nor a model syllabus for these courses. Methods: This report is based on a survey, two discussion forums, a workshop, and finally, the drafting of a proposed core curriculum for dental English approved by consensus of the participants from each university. Results: The core curriculum covers the theoretical aspects, including dental English terms and oral pathologies; and practical aspects, including blended learning and dentist-patient communication. It is divided into modules and is recommended to be offered for at least two semesters. Conclusions: The core curriculum is expected to guide curriculum developers in schools where dental English courses are yet to be offered or are still in their early development. It may also serve as a model curriculum to medical and dental schools in countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Central and South America, where English is not the medium of instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Canada over the last sixty years, the curriculum of community planning at a postsecondary level has been consistently under debate, particularly in professional journals. Since the debate has generally hinged on anecdotal evidence, related to each debater's individual experience, it is difficult to discern what core knowledge has been taught within Canada. A comprehensive survey of all of the two-year Master's programs in Planning, specifically their core curricula, between the early 1950s and 2010 illustrated two key findings. One, that while the emphasis of the core curriculum within individual programs varies widely across the country, it has stabilized nationally around 50% for the Master's program. Two, the balance of theoretical and practical subjects within the core has varied over the sixty years, but has stabilized nationally in the 1990s, to be approximately 55% Theory and 45% Practical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global studies is an area that is foundational for a twenty-first century college degree. At Elon University, all first-year students take an interdisciplinary course called "The Global Experience" (GST no) to set the tone for a globally-engaged liberal arts education. Personal and social responsibilities, which are goals of Elon's core curriculum, provide the context for the course. Students analyze and evaluate the relationships that both connect and obstruct human interaction in an increasingly connected, technological, and rapidly changing world. In this article we explain the opportunities and challenges of delivering a course that has proved its flexibility and durability over many years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2004 the Finnish National Board of Education launched a new curriculum framework that includes principles, instructional aims, and a brief list of content by subject areas. The intent of this framework is that teachers should interpret the core curriculum at the local level and apply it in their own schools and classrooms. This approach encourages teachers to use their professional knowledge and take into account their students and the learning environment in applying and implementing the curriculum. This case study sought to understand how this core curriculum has been implemented by way of observations of language and literacy lessons in 8 grade 1 and grade 2 classrooms during a 2-month period. The observations and the analysis were guided by earlier research conducted in classroom identified as 'excellent' in the US. The resulting data, in turn, were compared with the core curriculum. The findings show that, although some of the principles and the content of the core curriculum were reflected in practice, there were inconsistencies between the instructional methods used in the classrooms and the principles set in the core curriculum. Although some areas of the core curriculum were well represented in classroom language and literacy practices, others were covered only in part or not at all during the observation period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim of the project: Curriculum development is a time-consuming process and often interminable. Pursuing the idea of creating a nationwide core curriculum is one opportunity to develop a curriculum in library and information science (LIS). It can be supposed that a project like this can be the initial point stimulating and encouraging the widest possible discussion between different educational environments. Furthermore, it can strengthen the cooperation and collaboration between LIS educational institutions. The European project in 2005 has shown that there are more differences than similarities in the European LIS curriculum [Kajberg, Lørring 2005]. But nonetheless the discussion about a core curriculum can be an opportunity and a challenge for universities, students and libraries / companies in many countries around the world. Research questions: The key question is how to create reliable framework conditions that will speed up the procedure of developing a nation-wide common core curriculum? A second question is: What consequences to be drawn if it appears that there are only a few similarities in the curricula or the universities show little willingness to modify the curricula in a study reform process? Method/finding: The European project will be reflected and the own long time experience in curriculum development will be contributed. Findings: A nation-wide or international core curriculum seems to be inappropriate for direct transfer into the participating institutes or universities. But finally, it would ensure greater cooperation and collaboration, thereby multiplying the chances of long-term cooperation and enhancing the reputation of universities among employers, e.g. libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the 44th installment of a series that will highlight one case per publication issue from the bank of cases available online as part of the American Society of Emergency Radiology (ASER) educational resources. Our goal is to generate more interest in and use of our online materials. To view more cases online, please visit the ASER Core Curriculum and Recommendations for Study online at: http://www.erad.org/page/CCIP_TOC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The school counseling core curriculum is an essential element of a comprehensive program. School counselors need to be proficient in classroom management to successfully implement this intervention, yet few recent empirical investigations of school counselors' classroom management knowledge and skills exist. We conducted a Delphi study with school counseling classroom management experts to create a consensus list of competencies associated with effective classroom management for school counselors. We provide implications for school counseling stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Training for structural and adult congenital heart disease interventions remains undeveloped. With the advent of recent percutaneous interventions for the treatment of structural and valvular heart disease, such as transcatheter aortic and pulmonary valve implantation, mitral valve repair, and the expansion of shunt closure procedures, there is a clear need to define the training requirements for this category of procedures. The training needs to be aligned with the goals and priorities of a basic or advanced level and be categorized into acquired and congenital. This document will define the training needs and knowledge base for the developing field of structural heart disease intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]