Student-scientist-teacher interactions provide students with several advantages. They provide opportunities to interact with experts and professionals in the field, give students a chance at meeting a role model that may impact students' career choices, and increase awareness of available career options combined with an understanding of how their…

The beginning of modern science is marked by efforts of pioneers to understand the natural world using a quantitative approach. As Galileo wrote, "the book of nature is written in the language of mathematics". The traditional undergraduate course curriculum is heavily focused on individual disciplines like biology, physics, chemistry,…

This book meets a demand in the science education community for a comprehensive and introductory measurement book in science education. It describes measurement instruments reported in refereed science education research journals, and introduces the Rasch modeling approach to developing measurement instruments in common science assessment domains,…

This article discusses problem solving and how science educators can integrate problem solving into their instruction. The Search, Solve, Create, and Share (SSCS) model was developed based on the findings of problem solving research. (YP)

"Approaches and Strategies in Next Generation Science Learning" examines the challenges involved in the development of modern curriculum models, teaching strategies, and assessments in science education in order to prepare future students in the 21st century economies. This comprehensive collection of research brings together science educators,…

Discusses Walberg's psychological theory of educational productivity, which is based on the Cobb-Douglas economic production function. The empirical finding that the educational production function is approximately homogeneous of degree one in the productivity factors, in accordance with theory, is noted, and it is shown how this agreement could…

Presents a framework for model development that, when used, will help the student (or professor) avoid the major pitfalls associated with modeling. Includes not properly identifying the controlling factors, lack of model validation and developing a model that is incompatible with its end use. (CW)

A neuromathematical model of information processing applied to science learning is expanded to include two coefficients representing the motivational state of the learner. The inclusion of these coefficients (which are described) permits modeling of the effects of variations in motivation on the rate and amount of information in learning tasks.…

Outlines a narrative method for the study of classrooms. The main feature of the method is the reconstruction of classroom meaning in terms of narrative unities in the lives of classroom participants. The work's theoretical character is introduced by comparison and contrast with Schon's "The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in…

Investigated children's conceptualization of scientific phenomena and intuitive methods learned from their everyday experiences. Explores the nature of tinkering within the context of electricity. Presents a model of tinkering that provides a conceptual framework for the interpretation of tinkering as one of the methods students use to make sense…

When one encounters a problem that one has no adequate way of representing, a new mental model for the problem may have to be found. When a possible model is found, an important next step is to evaluate the validity of the model. In this document, examples of subjects finding and evaluating mental models used as problem representations are…

The 21 essays in this two-part book provide conceptual and operational understanding of the nature of models as representations of reality and as tools for description, analysis, interpretation, and forecasting. Topic areas addressed in part 1 (concept) include: the nature of models; the earth as a system; the determination of form; some…

The results of a study of the meiosis models utilized by individuals at varying levels of expertise while reasoning about the process of meiosis are presented. Based on these results, the issues of sources of misconceptions/difficulties and the construction of a sound understanding of meiosis are discussed. Five individuals from each of three…

Describes the major components of the solar system and proposes several features that a theory about the solar system should include. Contains explanations of several theories about the origin of the solar system. (TW)

This exploratory study determined whether a mathematical model of mastery learning provided a good fit for achievement data obtained from student progress in an introductory, college-level astronomy course for nonmajors. Results provide positive but not compelling evidence that the model of mastery learning is correct. (JN)