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A teamwork survey was conducted at Oakland University, Rochester, MI, in 533 engineering and computer science courses over a two-year period. Of the 6435 student respondents, 4349 (68%) reported working in teams. Relative to the students who only worked individually, the students who worked in teams were significantly more likely to agree that the course had achieved its stated learning objectives (p < 0.001). Regression analysis showed that roughly one-quarter of the variance in belief about whether the objectives were met could be explained by four factors: 1) student satisfaction with the team experience; 2) the presence of instructor guidance related to teamwork; 3) the presence of slackers on teams; and 4) team size. Pearson product-moment correlations revealed statistically significant associations between agreement that the course objectives had been fulfilled and the use of student teams and between satisfaction with teams and the occurrence of instructor guidance on teamwork skills. These and other results suggest that assigning work to student teams can lead to learning benefits and student satisfaction, provided that the instructor pays attention to how the teams and the assignments are set up. Index Terms--Correlation, evaluation, instructor, satisfaction, student, team, teamwork.

A group of 123 chemistry students completed five courses in chemical engineering, which incorporated active, inductive and cooperative learning techniques, with marked success and increased student enthusiasm. Among the benefits noticed with this approach was a greater number of As and Bs, better retention, a community developing between students and higher number of students going to graduate school. Other chemistry courses could adopt modified versions of the provided course design while maintaining the basic elements to improve chemical education.

An unstructured mechanical model explains substrate utilization, bacterial growth and lactic acid generation by Lactobacillus plantarum in cucumber juice. Lactic acid formation depends on NaCl concentrations and an equation linking specific death rate of bacterial cells and NaCl levels is derived. Mathematical simulations estimate the effects of changes in proton concentration death rate and buffer capacity of cucumber juice on fermentation.

Science educators must adopt unconventional teaching methods to prevent college students who initially intended to major in science from shifting to nonscientific fields. In general, science teachers employ the traditional teaching technique which favors reflective learners. Thus, active learners often find it hard to catch up with the lessons. Teachers must make sure that their lectures are appropriate to both types of learners. They can do this by using visual aids in explaining abstract concepts, providing lessons that would enable students to visualize, pointing out the practical application of concepts and encouraging groupwork.

Dean Larry Monteith of the North Carolina State University organized in 1986 a teaching workshop for engineering teachers. The workshop discusses issues in teaching such as syllabus organization, analysis of group learning and effectiveness in teaching. Workshops of this type may improve the quality of undergraduate teaching styles with corresponding results from students. Techniques for managing a successful teaching workshop are discussed.