In the midst of a global pandemic in spring 2020, physical chemistry faculty gathered to share strategies and resources for teaching remotely. During this conversation, instructors created a shared document compiling the challenges they faced in spring 2020 and ways to improve teaching and learning in the physical chemistry classroom and…

Technology and Engineering (T&E) education has traditionally included safety as a core component of its curriculum and instruction. Recommendations for safety instruction can be found in manual arts and industrial arts documents (Christy, 1938). Safety was emphasized across all grade levels, including the elementary grades (Miller & Boyd,…

An increase in online education is causing science educators to evaluate student cognitive understanding after completing virtual, computer-simulated laboratories. Online education has demonstrated comparable learning gains when analysed to those of the traditional classroom, but research is mixed when reviewing students' ability to manipulate…

The language of physics is mathematics, and physics ideas, laws and models describing phenomena are usually represented in mathematical form. Therefore, an understanding of how to navigate between phenomena and the models representing them in mathematical form is important for a physics teacher so that the teacher can make physics understandable…

This study sought to determine the beliefs that tenured, in-service high school science teachers hold about how their participation in a large mid-Atlantic university's 6-week summer research experiences for teachers (RET) program might influence their pedagogical practices. The findings show a number of factors that teachers believed helped them…

This paper analyses the real origin and nature of scientific errors against claims of science critics, by examining a number of examples from the history of electricity and optics. This analysis leads to a conclusion that errors are a natural and unavoidable part of scientific process. If made available to students, through their science teachers,…

The aim of this study is to investigate biology student teachers' ideas about the purpose of laboratory work in teaching biology. Data has been collected from 82 participating students using an open-ended questionnaire and analyzed using content analysis techniques. The results show that almost all of the student teachers considered laboratory…

One hundred years after its conception, the scientific method continues to reinforce a kind of cultural lore about what it means to participate in inquiry. As commonly implemented in venues ranging from middle school classrooms to undergraduate laboratories, it emphasizes the testing of predictions rather than ideas, focuses learners on material…

We use identity as a multidimensional lens to explore ways in which beginning teachers saw themselves as scientists and as science teachers during and after 10-week summer apprenticeships at a science lab. Data included four interviews with each teacher, three during the apprenticeship and one after the first year of teaching. Two themes emerged…

This document reports on the evaluation study of the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology (FCCSET) 1993 Summer Institutes that provided opportunities for teachers from around the country to participate in hands-on education programs in areas such as environmental and ecological studies, material science, space…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the beliefs of six experienced high school science teachers about (1) what is successful science learning; (2) what are the purposes of laboratory in science teaching; and (3) how inquiry is implemented in the classroom. An interpretive multiple case study with an ethnographic orientation was used. The…

Presented is an evaluation of a leadership training program to prepare junior high school teachers to use the Introductory Physical Science Curriculum. Emphasis of the leadership program is on administrators and their problems, leaders and their problems, and teachers. Recommendations are given. Included in the appendices are sample letters of…

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) in the sciences are a common feature of U.S. universities that have a prominent mission of research. During the past 2 decades, increased attention has been paid to the professional development of GTAs as instructors. As a result, universities have created training programs to assist GTAs in selecting…

A program for remediating science illiteracy among primary level students is offered in this publication. A practicum was designed to address the lack of science teaching and student science experiences at the Marian Boyd School in Warrentown, North Carolina. Priorities included in-service education for teachers, a science laboratory for students,…

Describes two recently completed projects at Utah State University which have provided marked improvement to the preparation of prospective secondary science teachers. The projects focused on cognitive psychology and conceptual change teaching and construction and furnishing of a new secondary science teacher preparation laboratory. (LZ)