Editor's Note

Welcome to the Journal of General Education, Volume 55, Issue 1! This issue is dedicated to the topic of student learning. Making such a broad statement necessarily brings up a host of questions. What is student learning? Is there a generally agreed-on definition of student learning? Are there commonly agreed-on outcomes? Are there factors outside of the classroom that influence student learning—and what are they? How can we measure student learning? When we do measure student learning, are our measurements valid? These are the questions that the authors in this issue begin to address.

Hammer and Dusek, in "The Rationale and Challenge for the Integration of Science Studies in the Revision of General Education Curricula," consider the challenges of developing agreed-on outcomes of scientific literacy, outlining the importance of contributions from a number of fields, including history, philosophy, and sociology. The authors argue for the need to integrate science studies more centrally into the general education curriculum because of the positive outcomes for student learning.

Thelk and Hoole, in an article titled "What Are You Thinking? Postsecondary Student Think-Alouds of Scientific and Quantitative Reasoning Items," consider ways to measure student learning. They note that multiple-choice tests are the most frequently used measures of scientific and quantitative reasoning, and they employ "think-alouds" as a way to consider how to begin to understand individual interpretation of items. They suggest that think-alouds can thus help establish the validity of instruments and even specific items, and they illustrate this concept through their research.

Inkelas, Vogt, Longerbeam, Owen, and Johnson, in an article titled "Measuring Outcomes of Living-Learning Programs: Examining College Environments and Student Learning and Development," describe how living-learning programs influence student learning and development. They also consider issues of assessing learning and development and consider issues of validity in a grant-sponsored program that pulls together data from four institutions.

Hegeman, in a book review titled "Thinking Deeply about Student Learning," reviews StudentSuccess in College: Creating Conditions That Matter by Kuh, Kinzie, Schuh, Whitt, and Associates. Hegeman applauds the authors of this work, who studied 20 highly successful institutions, for their diligence in describing the differences that exist in general education programs, for providing relevant examples, and for their recommendations for improving student success across a number of functional areas.

I hope you will enjoy this issue and that in reading these important works, you will be inspired to make your own contributions to the Journal of General Education! For guidelines for submitting articles, visit the following URL: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_general_education/information/guidelines.html.