Informal science education occurs in many settings, often without an explicit goal of teaching or learning science. Sometimes scientific content and practices are opportunistically encountered through daily activities. Such is the case with fish consumption advisories, which inform people who eat fish about their potential exposure to harmful…

The ultimate goals of this study were to determine ways to reconcile technology with public interest and to understand the relationship between what we know and how we feel about technology. To achieve the goals, related literatures were reviewed; the mechanism of technology development was described with empirical data; and human perception of…

The problem for this research study developed from the current lighting environment in our homes, workplaces, and classrooms that are producing unwanted side effects in the form of too much blue light. As a result, educators, students, and their parents are all impacted by what some healthcare providers are calling "the looming public health…

Insects are the most abundant and diverse group of animals on Earth. Though as a group they do far more ecological good than harm, previous studies have shown that human attitudes toward insects are mainly negative. Attitudes have affective (emotions) and cognitive (beliefs, mental representations) components that interact to influence behavior.…

This study seeks to address the question "How do school and district leaders and teachers become aware of, take steps to comprehend, and form opinions about state policies?" These "first impression processes" represent significant parts of the processes by which district administrators, school administrators, and teachers make…

The theory of evolution has long generated controversy in American society, but Americans' attitudes about human evolution are often neglected in studies of "culture wars" and the nature of mass belief systems more generally (Berkman and Plutzer 2010; Freeland and Houston 2009). Gallup and other survey organizations have polled…

Prior researchers (Anderson et al. 1994; Ballard & Johnson 2004; Hoag & Benedict 2010) have shown that different math abilities do not equally correlate with success in economics, yet no research has specifically compared algebra and geometry skills as predictors of economics success. In the first essay, I find that students' standardized…

The PDK/Gallup Poll on the Public's Attitudes about Public Education continually reports that there is a positive grading trend with parents when asked to assign a grade to their local school, however, less than 20 percent of the public give our schools across the nation a grade of an A or B. This negative perception of education encourages the…