The author was invited to write this opinion piece following a presentation at the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) conference on Methods in Education Chemistry Research related to translating creative teaching ideas and innovations into chemistry education research outputs. With a keen interest in learning and teaching and a solid training in…

Search the Internet for the qualities of a good teacher and you'll find that an entire range of ideas are offered. Having spent half a working life as a science teacher and the remainder as a science education consultant (and, for a period, an Ofsted team inspector!), the author would like to attempt to tease out what makes a "good science…

Whether it is a rapid-fire Twitter event as part of #ASEchat, or BBC Radio 4's "Inside Science," the discussion of practical work generates powerful debate. While it is right that the best use of practical work is continually discussed, its value in science teaching is without question. The level of discussion is being further heightened…

Maria Andree focuses on an immigrant student whose error in a laboratory activity leads to a novel, colorful outcome that she excitedly shares with peers. After engaging in class activities for a few weeks she returns to her earlier dislike of science, saying: "I hate science, particularly Chemistry." The classroom activity system…

Theory and practice are an odd couple. There is little doubt that theory deserves a place within today's primary classrooms. Pring (2004) suggests that theory is perceived as having come adrift from common sense. It is easy to see how, swept along in the daily pressures of the job, busy classroom teachers may question the relevance of seemingly…

Briefly reviews arguments for and against high school science laboratory instruction and suggests using the microcomputers as a laboratory instrument. How the microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) works is explained and some hardware and software packages are noted. (MBR)

Investigates whether replacing a single traditional laboratory activity with a widely-used, non-microcomputer-based laboratory, research-based activity could produce improved conceptual understanding of a topic in electricity. Shows that a single instructional experience utilizing the research-based tutorial materials is superior to a traditional…

"Cell Biology Education" calls attention each quarter to several Web sites of educational interest to the biology community. The Internet provides access to an enormous array of potential teaching materials. In this article, the authors describe one approach for using the World Wide Web to develop a new college biology laboratory exercise. As a…

Current scientific and technologiical issues should be incorporated into more active classroom, laboratory, and extracurricular learning so that students can perceive the future as personally relevant. (MJL)

Criticizes the way organic chemistry teaching laboratory experiments are approached from the viewpoint of physical chemistry. Compares these experiments to cooking. Stresses that what matters is not the practice of the finger skills of organic chemistry but practice in the style of thinking of organic chemists. (CW)

Suggests a practical approach for coping with training students in laboratory skill through the use of videotaped (VTR) materials and discusses the technical advantages of using VTR as opposed to laboratory research. Six references are provided. (MER)

Contains three policy statements involving the use of animals for proper teaching of students, research, and the utilization of pound animals. Discusses the benefits to society of using animals in the biomedical sciences. (CW)

Presents an overview of biochemical education in China, including a description of the overall Chinese educational system. Summarizes workshop sessions which dealt with teaching objectives, teaching methods, self-instruction, and the education of graduate students (including the use of "dry" laboratory exercises and research…

Provides a point of view that the organic lab is a good place for the student to use and learn problem solving skills while performing the cookbook experiments. Notes that an equilibrium between the theoretical and practical aspects of organic chemistry should be established. (MVL)

Presents the National Science Teachers Associations's (NSTA) position statement on the place of the laboratory in science education followed by other statements unique for teaching science in middle, junior, and senior high schools. Statements focus on teaching, research, and curriculum perspectives, laboratory's role, and laboratory's enhancement…