Science teachers' professional learning about student motivation can play a key role in developing their ability to nurture student motivation and cope with motivational challenges. To advance the understanding of how on-the-job discussions facilitate teacher learning about student motivation, this study investigated how elementary-school science…

There have been many practical obstacles for teachers to implement evidence-based educational technology, especially in STEM classrooms. By implementing learning principles related to Cognitive Load Theory, we developed an innovative Technology-Assisted Guided Learning (TAGL) approach and its web-based instructional tool, combining expertise from…

The importance of "size and scale" in nanoscience and engineering has been recognized by both scientists and science educators. A solid understanding of this concept is key to the learning of nanoscience. Students, however, have been reported to have considerable difficulty grasping this concept; yet little is known regarding their state…

This investigation explores the effectiveness of a teacher preparation program aligned with situated learning theory on preservice science teachers' use of technology during their student teaching experiences. Participants included 26 preservice science teachers enrolled in a 2-year Master of Teaching program. A specific program goal was to…

This study examined the influence of field placements settings with varying demographic profiles on preservice elementary teachers. Data were gathered at three points during the participants' final year in their teacher preparation program in order to chart changes over time in science teaching self-efficacy beliefs. These measures were…

This study examined how 770 nonscience majors, enrolled in a core-curriculum science course, conceptualized their motivation to learn science. The students responded to the Science Motivation Questionnaire, a 30-item Likert-type instrument designed to provide science education researchers and science instructors with information about students'…

Pre-service teachers face many challenges as they learn to teach in ways that are different from their own educational experiences. Pre-service teachers often enter teacher education courses with pre-conceptions about teaching and learning that may or may not be consistent with contemporary learning theory. To build on preservice teachers' prior…

Describes the shortcomings of several indexes which have been used to make inferences about the validity of learning hierarchies and proposes a more satisfactory method of testing the validity of each hierarchical connection. (JR)

Grossberg's principles of neural modeling are reviewed and extended to provide a neural level theory to explain how analogies greatly increase the rate of learning and can make learning and retention possible. (PR)

This study aims to add to the growing research related to the implementation of non-traditional writing tasks in classrooms to encourage science literacy. A secondary reanalysis methodology was employed to review student interviews collected as a part of several individual studies during a ten year research program. This method established an…

Presents data that contradict the facilitating effect of advanced organizers demonstrated in 1960 by Ausubel when using the same materials. Suggests possible reasons for the discrepancy and lists conditions where organizers may be effective. (AL)

In this defense of Piagetian constructivism, sociocultural constructivism is critiqued as nihilistic, culturally relative, and dangerous when placed in the context of real science classrooms. (PR)

College freshmen chemistry students who performed best on the course examinations possessed both relevant facts and relevant subsuming concepts. This conclusion supports Ausubel's theory of learning. The presence of facts unorganized by subsumers had little facilitating effect on learning of new materials. (AL)

First graders who had been exposed to the Child-Structured Learning in Science curriculum (CSLS) were compared according to their achievement on a cognitive test instrument to two groups who had not had the CSLS treatment. Results revealed that a greater percentage of children in the CSLS treatment group performed on a concrete-operational level,…

Criticizes weaknesses in the Gagne research model for checking the validity of learning hierarchies, and proposes a new model which is designed to overcome these weaknesses. (JR)