Suchergebnisse

The premise of this symposium is to address the issue of merging research and teaching. Choosing one or the other is a false dichotomy. Nonetheless, there are also tradeoffs; merging them is not as simple as it seems because professors must strike a balance that makes sense for them. As usual, it is a complicated relationship that bedevils many professors and departments. The focus of this article is on undergraduate departments at regional public universities and their challenges of finding means to merge research and teaching. Several challenges will be addressed including teaching loads, teaching both core curriculum classes and classes for majors, publication pressure despite heavy teaching loads, and the tremendous effort required to be an effective classroom teacher with underprepared students. Two implicit themes of the symposium are ensuring students learn the essential skills needed to conduct different types of research and incorporating the class into one's own research. Thus, in the face of these challenges, how to include undergraduate research in the political science curriculum (to teach students research skills) and a method for professors to also merge research and teaching (incorporate the class in one's research) is also discussed. Adapted from the source document.

Analyzes effectiveness of small study groups affiliated with large lecture courses, designed to promote learning among college students; data from political science courses at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, 1994.

Objective Texas is regarded as a safe Republican state, yet in recent elections Democrats have gained electoral ground. This study investigates if generational replacement and demographic changes are leading to an increase in Democratic identification, with the potential to create an environment for increasingly competitive elections. A competitive Texas will have national political implications.Method Party identification and ideology are analyzed, with line graphs and linear regression, using public opinion surveys of Texans from 2009 to 2019. The impact of generation cohorts and demographics are the main independent variables of interest.Results The findings demonstrate that younger cohorts of white Texans are less likely to identify as Republican and older cohorts of white Texans are most likely. All cohorts of Texans of color are likely to identify as Democrats.Conclusions Generational and demographic changes are leading to an increase in Democratic party identification and a decline in Republican identification. The mobilization by parties of young Texans, who are trending toward Democrats, and people of color is critical to the future of Texas politics.

This article outlines a systematic and manageable method for learning community program assessment based on collecting empirical direct measures of student learning. Developed at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi where all full-time, first-year students are in learning communities, the approach ties integrative assignment design to a rubric for grading the assignment developed by teams at a planning retreat each semester. The rubric specifies competencies from each class included in the assignment as well as a criterion for success of earning an overall grade of B or better (80 points or higher). The authors describe an advocacy letter assignment designed for a political science course in state and local government, a first-year composition course, and a first-year seminar. An appendix includes the assignment along with the grading rubric as well as the method used by administrators to aggregate data across all learning communities.

Research on measuring support for Latino issues in Congress has found that party affiliation is the primary influence on the level of support. The research also demonstrates that under certain scenarios, Latino representatives do provide more substantive Latino representation than do non-Latino representatives. The purpose of this project is to re-evaluate these earlier findings using more recent data in a changed political context. In addition, the project will examine the effects that different types of Democrats have on Latino representation. The findings suggest that when it comes to support for Latino issues, there are differences between the parties, and within the Democratic Party. An unexpected source of Latino representation, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, is also revealed in the findings.

Research on measuring support for Latino issues in Congress has found that party affiliation is the primary influence on the level of support. The research also demonstrates that under certain scenarios, Latino representatives do provide more substantive Latino representation than do non-Latino representatives. The purpose of this project is to re-evaluate these earlier findings using more recent data in a changed political context. In addition, the project will examine the effects that different types of Democrats have on Latino representation. The findings suggest that when it comes to support for Latino issues, there arc differences between the parties, & within the Democratic Party. An unexpected source of Latino representation, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, is also revealed in the findings. Tables, Figures, Appendixes, References. Adapted from the source document.