The purpose of the study was to explore students' conceptual frameworks of models of atomic structure and periodic variations, chemical bonding, and molecular shape and polarity, and how these conceptual frameworks influence their quality of explanations and ability to shift among chemical representations. This study employed a purposeful sampling…

The study of shadows is a common elementary science topic that facilitates students' development of understanding about light and associated waves. All elementary students have observed numerous shadows, but need assistance in developing understanding. Previous research studies about shadows were utilized in organizing aspects associated with…

VonAalst (2010) used Google Scholar to identify the top four science education research journals: "Journal of Research in Science Teaching," "Science Education," "International Journal of Science Education," and "Journal of Science Teacher Education." U.S. institutional productivity for 2000-2009 for the…

This study employed a case-study approach to reveal how an ability to think with mental models contributes to differences in students' understanding of molecular geometry and polarity. We were interested in characterizing features and levels of sophistication regarding first-year university chemistry learners' mental modeling behaviors while the…

Two years and seven months after the initiation of the U.S. satellite program, Soviet Russia launched a rocket north of the Caspian Sea carrying the now famous "Sputnik I" satellite. U.S. scientists were aware that Soviet Russia was planning on putting an artificial satellite into orbit; however, secrecy surrounding the timing and the…

Inquiry is a goal of science education reform. Middle school science teachers and their students can develop understanding of inquiry by using an experimental design format. Facilitating this format with the four-question strategy helps students to design their investigations. An example of varying concentrations of vinegar and water illustrates…

"What starts out long but gets shorter then longer each day?" Shadows! This student's clever riddle was an opportunity to investigate how the Sun's daily position in the sky influences shadow length. Thus began a mini-lesson which was created to help third-grade students understand that a shadow occurs when an opaque object blocks light (Shapiro…

A series of magnet trade books were analyzed against a validated list of magnet concepts (Barrow, 1990a) and their Flesch (1974) Readability was determined. These trade books were used to supplement a second grade unit on magnetism locally constructed from AIM's "Mostly Magnets" (1991). All trade books accurately described how like and unlike…

This is a cross-sectional study of 519 undergraduate engineering majors' self-efficacy beliefs at a large, research extensive, Midwestern university. Engineering self-efficacy is an individual's belief in his or her ability to successfully negotiate the academic hurdles of the engineering program. Engineering self-efficacy was obtained from four…

The purpose of this study was to identify the major science education programs in the United States, where the science education researchers published their research. This research is the first study of the scholarly productivity of science education programs at domestic institutions of higher education. Each issue of the eight research journals…

The "National Science Education Standards" provide a vision and standard of science instruction that includes not only the factual, content-rich history of science but also an understanding of the processes and skills necessary to "do" science. Moreover, the "Standards" provide the framework for science instruction that embodies the use of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate students' understanding about scientifically acceptable content knowledge by exploring the relationship between knowledge of diffusion and osmosis and the students' certainty in their content knowledge. Data was collected from a high school biology class with the Diffusion and Osmosis Diagnostic Test…

The purpose of this study was to analyze science education searches and hiring practices for faculty positions listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education for an academic year. Chairs of searches completed a survey about successful and unsuccessful searches. Over 70% of searches were successful in hiring new science education faculty with 33%…

This research study was designed to provide an introductory examination of how high school students' out-of-school science experiences, particularly those relevant to the physical sciences, relate to their learning of Newtonian mechanics. A factor analysis of the modified Science Experiences Survey (SES, Mason & Kahle, 1988) was performed,…

This paper describes how interpretations of inquiry have changed during the 20th Century. These multiple meanings have resulted in (a) confusion among K-12 teachers of science and (b) various interpretations by science teacher educators. Suggestions are provided for preservice programs (both science and methods courses), professional development…