Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Nuggets from three decades of teaching calculus including his first day binomial expansion activity (why Newton had it put on his tomb), the "mirror method" of finding instantaneous rates of change, using data from a real car trip to introduce differentiation and integration early in the course, using calculators to find a base for the exponential function so the derivative is the same function, and, best of all, his "progressive quiz" technique for maximizing learning while testing.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: I have previously written about my experiences teaching a world politics class with ICONS, an international simulation. But, I have not written about these matters for approximately ten years. I have, nevertheless, frequently been an ICONS facilitator. Since 1991 my students and I have taken part in fourteen ICONS university-level 5-week simulations. Hence, I believe I am well qualified to articulate useful comments about this particular U. of MD approach to teaching and learning international relations as well as to share valuable general insights into the strengths and weaknesses of simulations and role playing in pedagogy.

In this paper I answer the following questions:

1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of employing simulations and role-playing to teach international affairs?

2. How has teaching with technology changed over the last 15 years?

3. What do assessment tools, such as pre and post-tests and student evaluations, reveal about the student learning outcomes in simulation-based courses?

4. How can Project ICONS be used to teach research methods?

5. How can simulations add to internationalizing curricula?

6. What is the impact on professors (re time, energy, opportunity costs, benefits, etc.) of using simulations/technology in the classroom?

7. How well does student peer evaluation work?

8. What are the strengths and weakness of integrating foreign language components into simulations?

9. How has Project ICONS evolved over the years?

10. What is the importance of class size, number of sessions per week, and bibliographic instructions?

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: My ethnographic study of four changing communities—two Chicago neighborhoods, and two small, New England towns—reveals a heretofore unidentified social process: social preservation. Social preservation is the culturally motivated choice of highly educated individuals to live in the central city or small town in order to be in close proximity to “authentic” community embodied by old-timers. Social preservationists view old-timers as indispensable to preserving a pristine “social wilderness” and as arbiters of authentic community. For this reason, they engage in efforts to limit the displacement of those original residents they deem to be truly authentic. Yet, social preservationists do not consider all original residents to be authentic. They select "preservable" old-timers from among a pool of residents who were there before they arrived. Selection criteria include length of residence, class and occupation, race and ethnicity, as well as sexual identity (and implicitly, traditional gender roles). Social preservationists’ selection process reveals popular and historically enduring ideas about which racial, ethnic, sexual, and class groups have claims to place-based, multi-generational community.