312Two studies explored reactions to the overweight by isolating the effects of weight from other characteristics of the job applicant. The first study, which established the existence of a stereotype, shows that the overweight are viewed consistently more negatively than others on variables considered important for successful job performance. The second study experimentally investigated occupational discrimination in a simulated hiring setting. Overweight applicants were less highly recommended than average-weight persons despite objectively identical performances. The findings are discussed m the context of current research on cognitive processes.

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A variety of nontraditional instructional approaches have been described in recent times. Peer-led instruction (1), problembased instruction (2), guided-inquiry learning (3), team learning (4), and case-study teaching (5) are examples of these innovative pedagogies. Case-study teaching has proved successful at this institution (6-8) and elsewhere (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14).Case-based laboratories are a variation on case-study teaching and offer students a better approximation of real science than conventional undergraduate laboratory experiments. The laboratories are based upon real-world stories that involve characters students can identify with and ask students to deal with problems that challenge their creativity in ways that conventional "cookbook" laboratory experiments do not. Case-based experiments should, to the extent possible, require students to develop their own plan for dealing with the problem(s) posed by the case and to critically assess and apply their experimental data. Case-based experiments should also require students to write a narrative report explaining how their data were obtained and applied, the significance of their results, and how their results answer or fail to answer the problem(s) associated with the case. A well-designed laboratory-based case study should tell a story that the student audience can identify with and that has an experimental solution. It should require student teamwork and involve minimal faculty guidance. Good cases should be brief and structured in a manner that allows student to develop a feeling of ownership for the experimental approach that they design. The instructor's role should, ideally, focus on answering student questions and assessing the safety and effectiveness of the experimental procedures that the student teams propose to deal with the case's problem(s). Safety is of primary importance and must be stressed when evaluating the experimental plan the students develop to attack the case.The "Juicing the Juice" case study requires small teams of students to conduct themselves as chemists would in the "real world". The laboratory instructor provides students with the case study 1 week prior to the laboratory. The student teams must develop their own experimental approach to the problem posed in the case. During a 1-h prelaboratory session, the instructor provides a general overview of the case, emphasizes safety issues, answers questions, and begins the process of reviewing team approach plans. The approach plan must meet with the approval of the instructor before a team is allowed to begin the experiment. Student teams then collect appropriate quantitative data and interpret and apply those data. In the process, students are exposed to the use of an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectrometer, application of least-squares analysis to the data collected, data interpretation, the application of statistical analysis to determine whether samples significantly differ, and the writing of a narrative report based on their analysis. The Case StudyThis laboratory...

Two survey investigations conducted over a 2-year period serve as a case study illustrating how research that crosses disciplinary boundaries can shed light on current conceptual and methodological issues in student retention. Specifically, we applied the concepts of organizational commitment and job embeddedness used by industrial/organizational psychologists in the study of employee turnover to an investigation of factors that influence college student retention and withdrawal. The present research models the cross-disciplinary approach by examining the associations between embeddedness (including links, fit, sacrifice) and organizational commitment, and focusing on their ability to predict students' intentions to leave and, longitudinally, to predict actual departure prior to graduation. The case study demonstrates how understanding a particular behavior in one domain, that of education, is advanced by taking an approach from outside that discipline. Similarly, concepts from I/O psychology and management become clarified when applied outside their own boundaries.

We describe the use of a career exploration portfolio in an Industrial/Organizational psychology course (n = 22) to address students' career needs and to develop academic competencies. Students independently completed a series of assignments outside of class, which led to the construction of a personalized career development portfolio. Evaluations showed that students were significantly more certain about their career directions at the end of the semester than before and felt better able to implement their career choices. We discuss how career exploration portfolios can be used in other psychology courses.