This qualitative study examined how college science faculty who teach introductory level undergraduate science courses including the fields of chemistry, biology, physics, and earth science, understand and define science and nature of science (NOS). Participants were seventeen science instructors from five different institutions in the…

As popular as field trips are, one might think they have been well-studied. Nonetheless, field trips have not been heavily studied, and little research has mapped what actually transpires during field trips. Accordingly, to address this research gap, I asked two related research questions. The first question is a descriptive one: What happens on…

This research used a survey and interviews to find out which science subjects 174 Year 10 students wanted to study in Year 11 and why. The results showed that the major reasons students wanted to study a particular science subject were because they were interested in the subject matter and because they felt they would achieve well in that subject.…

The Earth sciences are newly marginalized in K-12 classrooms. With few high schools offering Earth science courses, students' exposure to the Earth sciences relies on the teacher's ability to incorporate Earth science material into a biology, chemistry, or physics course. ''G.E.T. (Geoscience Experiences for Teachers) in the Field'' is an…

Uses interviews and a written questionnaire to probe students' ideas on the origin of earth and life on earth. A significant number of commonly held misconceptions were prevalent in the sample (N=493). Provides guidelines to assist learners in challenging existing views. Contains 64 references. (DDR)