Describes a technique that can be used to construct variables from clinical interviews that can be used in quantitative analyses. The technique involves the representation of each proposition a student uses in terms of a standard set of underlying predicates, concepts, and relationships among concepts. (JN)

Determined (in separate studies conducted during 1977-78, 1978-79, 1979-80, 1980-81) what changes in teachers' anxiety about teaching science occurred as preservice elementary teachers completed science courses designed to meet their professional needs. Significant findings from these studies (which used the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) are…

Reports a study which investigated the cross-cultural validity, reliability, and distinctiveness of the subscale structure of the Test of Science Related Attitudes (TOSRA). Results from tests of American high school students (N=336) indicated that the seven subscales were highly reliable, but that the discriminant validity was low. (ML)

Compares 7 biology faculty members, 9 genetic counselors, and 26 undergraduate students according to both expertise and problem-solving success within the domain of genetics. Findings are consistent with the hypothesis that as expertise is attained, the individual restructures knowledge into a framework based upon the critical dimensions which…

More than 1,600 middle school students, including an experimental group exposed to the Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS), were administered the Modified Nature of Scientific Knowledge Scale. Results indicate that the students utilizing the traditional science curriculum possessed a significantly better understanding of the testable nature…

Compares models of the classroom dynamics for a traditional laboratory setting and a problem-solving-centered environment, both at the eighth grade science level. Descriptive data indicate no differences in the models, whereas path analyses suggest that, in the problem-solving model, student behaviors significantly correlate to lesson structure,…