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the historical evidence leading to our present state of
knowledge.

Political Correctness. It is important for students
and teachers alike to realize that science is not exempt
from the debate over political correctness. Current
events are a continuous source of examples of where
science and politics collide. One need go no further
than the daily newspaper to find examples of the
collision of these two forces. Spotted owls, abortion
and the right to die, rain forest destruction, and the
ecological catastrophes masked in the glow of a “clean”
Middle Eastern War all give us pause to think and
challenge our ideas about right and wrong. Perhaps no
other issue than the debate over evolution vs. creation
is so demonstrative of the fact that at least the biologi-
cal sciences are not exempt from the issue of political
correctness.

Critical Thinking. Despite the jargon, critical
thinking is simply helping students make informed
choices. It is the reason that all of us in education exist,
whether we teach a course called critical thinking or
something else. Regardless of the confines of my
discipline, my job as a teacher is to help students make
good decisions about an array of choices they face
daily. Science is a perfect forum for developing critical
thinking skills, for indeed the scientific method is little
more than learning to make choices which are based on
evidence gathered through a variety of scientific
means.

he oe of

Well, | feel better now, having shed my guilt and
shared a tew of my secrets with those of you who may
have had similar doubts about the applicability of
current pedagogical issues to your discipline. I hope
that you'll be able to throw off those chains of guilt and
free yourselves of those nagging doubts about your
ability to teach utilizing the most fashionably innova-
tive techniques. I also hope that this letter has been as
good for you as it has for me, and that you'll think
about your own discipline and perhaps some of the
ways you may already be addressing the needs of our
increasingly diverse student population. Perhaps these
brief musings will spur your thinking in new direc-
tions.

Candice Francis, Associate Professor, Life Sciences
For further information, contact the author at Palomar

College, 1140 West Mission Road, San Marcos, CA
92069-1487.

A Tale of Three Disciplines

Two disciplines, Literature and Desk-Top Publish-
ing, joined to challenge students to create a practical,
scholarly class project.

Students in Multicultural American Literature
(1) read six monographs by Hispanic, Native Amcri-
can, Vietnamese, Japanese, African-American, and
Polish-American writers, and (2) chose six areas for
investigation—food, marriage and death, holidays,
education, family life, and work. Then each student
was assigned an oral history project. Each was to
locate and interview someone from another culture
(i.e., was born in a different country or had strong ties
with a foreign country or foreign culture, etc.). After
the interview, each was to complete the oral history,
take a black-and-white portrait picture of their
interviewee, and submit both a paper copy and a disk
formatted for Word Perfect to the Lit instructor.

The Lit instructor, after grading and returning the
papers to the students for necessary revisions, submit-
ted the disks to the Desk-Top Publishing instructor so
that the students could create a book. The students in
DTP decided on layout, font size, etc., and were
responsible for acceptable placement of the photograph
(or any artwork). [The title page was designed by our
public relations coordinator.]

A contest was held in the two classes to title the
anthology. Over 75 titles were proposed, and a three-
member panel selected the winning title. The winner
received a $20 gift certificate to a local restaurant.

The university print shop copied the pages and
photographs, and the university library bound the
book. We sent the anthology to the Library of Con-
gress to be copyrighted.

This anthology of oral histories was a huge success
with both classes. Students understood the relevance
of interdisciplinary cooperation. Their interviewing,
writing, editing, and critical thinking skills were
challenged. They took pride in involving Lamar
University-Orange with its community by linking
scholarship with public service. Both classes realized
the culmination of their semester's work in a real book
which was printed, copyrighted, and distributed to
Tyrell Historical Library, Institute of Texan Cultures,
and Texas Historical Foundation.

Joan Lyons, Instructor, English

For further information, contact the author at Lamar

University-Orange, 410 Front Street, Orange, TX 77630.

 

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor

October 9, 1992, Vol XIV, No. 23

©The Unwersity of Texas at Austn, 1992
Further duplication is permitied by MEMBER
institutions for their own personnel.

 

INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD),
Department of Educatonal Administraton, College of Education, EDB 348, The University of Texas at Austin, Austn, Texas
78712, (512) 471-7545. Funding in part by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and the Sid W. Richardson Foundation. Issued weekly
when classes are in session during fall and spring terms. ISSN 0199-106X.

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