The Effective General College Curriculum as Revealed by Examinations

Author:

Committee on Educational Research

The Effective General College Curriculum as Revealed by Examinations was first published in 1937. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.

This volume, authored by the Committee on Education Research of the University of Minnesota, is the ninth in a series dealing with obstacles and challenges in college education.

The General College of the University of Minnesota was established in 1932 as an experiment in giving students who cannot spend four years or more in college as broad a cultural education as possible. This book sketches the development of the program, tells how that program operates and what its objectives are, and describes in detail the several courses and the examinations that have been devised to measure its success.

Part I contains introductory chapters by President Coffman, Melvin E. Haggerty, Dean of the College of Education, Malcolm S. MacLean, director of the General College, and Professors Alvin C. Eurich and Palmer O. Johnson, examination counselors. Each chapter in Part II, “The Comprehensive Examination Areas,” deals with a specific field: contemporary affairs, history and government, economics, euthenics, psychology, art, physical science, biological science, and English. Each chapter is written by well-qualified authorities in their respective fields, and gives course content as well as examples and results of the tests by which the General College measures the growth of the individual student in judgment, in ability to solve problems, and in appreciation of the arts. Part III contains studies of related problems.

The Committee on Educational Research, comprising members from a variety of disciplines and departments, was established at the University of Minnesota for the purpose of studying and evaluating curriculum and its contribution to the local educational environment. During the late 1920s and early 1930s the Committee published a series of investigative reports through the University of Minnesota Press on certain problems in college education.

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