Students' difficulties in interpreting what counts as knowledge have been addressed in past research on science education. The implementation of progressivist pedagogy in terms of more student-active classroom practice and the introduction of a variety of discourses into the science classroom deepens students' difficulties. The integration of…

Many countries, including the United States, emphasize the importance of developing students' scientific habits of mind and their capacity to think deeply about scientific ideas in an integrated fashion. Recent science education policies in the United States portray a related vision of science teaching and learning that is meant to guide the…

This article evaluates a validity argument for the degree to which assessment tasks are able to provide evidence about knowledge that fuses information from a progression of core disciplinary ideas in ecology and a progression for the scientific practice of developing evidence-based explanations. The article describes the interpretive framework…

There is a chasm in our knowledge of the relationship that exists between reading-writing and scientific literacy. This article was written with the intent of stimulating research on writing and reading to learn science. (ZWH)

A 2x3x2 factorial design was used to study the effects of sex, verbalization of concepts by students, and information supplied by other students" or teachers" or performance in a multiple classification seriation task by fourth grade students. There was a significant interaction of sex and information source. (AL)

Reviews past studies on research in natural history museums and science centers, proposes a taxonomy of exhibits in museum settings, and focuses attention of factors which should be considered when studying/learning in these settings. Also presents potentially productive methods of conceptualizing research and suggests possible future lines of…

This study was designed to determine if experiences in manipulating physical objects could increase classification abilities of deaf students, ages 10 to 13. Goldstein-Sheerer Object Sorting Test forms were used in a pre- and post-test design. Analysis of data revealed increased scores of deaf children in experimental group. (PS)

Identifies possible similarities in an array of 16 instructional models available to teachers and teacher educators and reveals three large categories of models. Analysis of factor scores on 33 instructional parameters suggests which characteristics educators attend to in perceiving models, e.g., affective orientations, application emphases,…

Constructed response and multiple choice modes of programed instruction were compared. Both formats enhanced classification performance; the effect was greatest when the criterion test was in the same mode as the instruction. (AL)

A sample of ninth-grade students utilizing the Intermediate Science Curriculum Study (ISCS) and other materials was used to investigate the relationship between cognitive preferences and science process achievement. The three cognitive preferences examined were: (1) application; (2) memorization; and (3) questioning. (HM)

This study was conducted to analyze the classification ability of middle class, culturally diverse, and visually impaired children after instruction in a Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) unit. The SCIS unit was effective in improving student abilities to classify. (PS)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences among schools using student responses in the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study-1999 (TIMSS-99) data. Schools were classified into two groups based on eighth grade students' overall achievement in science. Two different discriminant function analyses were performed to distinguish…

Determined effectiveness of inquiry approach to science and language teaching to further develop classification and oral communication skills of bilingual Mexican American third grade students (N=64). Results indicate that participation in science inquiry lessons facilitated development of both classification and oral communication skills. (JN)

Determined extent to which eighth-grade students' (N=35) knowledge of concepts relevant to mineral classification influenced their ability to classify minerals and which concepts were most influential. Results showed that 58.7% of variance in correct mineral classification was accounted for by students' knowledge of relevant concepts, particularly…

Determined (1) if ninth-grade students (N=221) receiving pictoral treatment with critical attributes highlighted performed better on an identification test than those receiving diagram form instruction, and (2) if high verbal learners receiving a largely diagrammatic treatment performed better on a classification test than high verbal students…