This study explores the effects of an academic seminar on the persistence of first-year college students, including effects on students most at risk of dropping out. A secondary interest was demonstrating the utility of using classification and regression tree analysis to identify relevant predictors of student persistence. The results of the study showed that persistence rates improved for all students who took the seminar and, most importantly, that the persistence rate for higher-risk students showed double the improvement of that of lower-risk students. Results also suggest that changes in student perception of the value of a college education and engagement in classroom discussion are factors for improving the persistence of higher-risk students.
For the past two years as part of the Writing Center's writing-across-the-curriculum project at Montana State University, we have been experimenting with writing assignments in an introductory American government class with an enrollment of 130-150 students per quarter. We think we have developed a way to assign and teach persuasive writing in large introductory political science classes that helps students argue effectively but does not create a grading nightmare for the professor.In the Spring 1988 issue of The Political Science Teacher, Richard A. Brumback notes that students are entering graduate school without the ability to write effectively. Brumback calls for instruction in writing, particularly persuasive writing, in public administration curricula. “The science of public administration can only take us as far as systematizing our search for information. Effective evaluation and interpretation of that information rests in the ability to use it persuasively.” Professor Brumback's argument should be extended to undergraduate education in political science. English departments alone cannot do the job of teaching students to write well in all disciplines, especially when they have students for just one or two writing courses. Students need to write often in a variety of disciplines if they are going to write well when they graduate.There are other reasons, besides helping students develop writing skills, for assigning writing in undergraduate courses. Writing about course content makes students think. It gives them a chance to apply the concepts and methods of the discipline and to interpret and evaluate information. It also helps them see themselves more as active learners, less as passive receptors whose job it is to absorb information, memorize it, and repeat it on tests.
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