This book is intended to offer college faculty members the insights of the development of reasoning movement that enlighten physics educators in the late 1970s and led to a variety of college programs directed at improving the reasoning patterns used by college students. While the original materials were directed at physics concepts, they quickly…

Suggests using activities from "Physics Resources and Instructional Strategies for Motivating Students" designed to promote student understanding of physics principles. The activities are part of a learning cycle in which student explorations of concrete phenomena precede the introduction or development of abstract concepts. (SAH)

Investigations in Natural Science is a program in secondary school biology, chemistry, and physics based upon the description of science as a quest for knowledge, not the knowledge itself. This teaching guide is designed for use with the 36 physics investigations found in the student manual. These investigations focus on concepts related to:…

Describes a teaching experiment that uses the Learning Cycle to achieve the reorientation of physics' students conceptual frameworks away from commonsense perspectives toward scientifically rigorous outlooks. Uses Archimedes' principle as the content topic while using the Learning Cycle to remove students' nonscientific preconceptions. (JRH)

Presents a motion problem that students in a college physics class are asked to solve and later asked to continue to analyze until they have stopped learning from the problem or the problem itself is finished. (MDH)

Discussion of the use of computers in education focuses on ways to teach with limited computer resources. Learning processes with computers are described, the teacher-student relationship is examined, and examples of instruction using only one computer are given, including simulation programs in physics and the use of spreadsheets in mathematics.…

This manual was developed to provide guidance to individuals working in Project SOAR (Stress on Analytical Reasoning), a pre-freshman summer program for science majors anticipating matriculation at Xavier University of Louisiana. Following an overview of Xavier University and Project SOAR and an outline of general instructions, specific…

Argues that cookbook chemistry laboratory experiments do little to teach scientific inquiry. Suggests providing students with laboratory experiences that follow the introduction of a concept and challenge students to investigate that concept through an experiment involving very few initial instructions. Lists some such challenges used in chemistry…

Teaching strategies are becoming increasingly oriented toward guiding students' knowledge construction through cooperative learning. Enhancing students' cognitive development is a priority; students must "learn how to think." Inquiry instruction provides students with tools to make decisions based upon available evidence and an opportunity to…