In the 1960s, the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) developed a programming language called LOGO. Underpinning this invention was a profound new philosophy of how learners learn. This paper reviews research in the area and asks how one notion in particular, that of a microworld, may be used by secondary school educators to build powerful…

Reported is a study to determine differences between selected elementary Index, Revised Inquiry Index, percentage of class time spent in pupil experiment Index, Revised Inquiry Index, percentage of class time spend in pupil experiment and time spent in reading and/or extended viewing activities. Audio-tape recordings were made using materials from…

Fifty-nine secondary school physics students were assigned to treatment groups: (1) Project Physics units, (2) Project Physics and verbal learning unit, and (3) a training program in scientific inquiry. Posttest results revealed that, on most aspects of a science inquiry test, treatments 2 and 3 had significantly greater effect on achievement than…

Investigated were three questions related to the relationship between a science teacher's attitude regarding the use of a newer science program, in this instance the Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS): (1) Could the Projective Tests of Attitudes, originally designed for fifth-grade students, be modified for use with adults? (2) Is there a…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is an information-gathering project that surveys the educational attainments of 9-year-olds, 13-year-olds, 17-year-olds, and adults (ages 26-35) in various learning areas. All areas are assessed by a group of educators who design objectives for each area and create measurement tools…

The purpose of this study was to determine if any differences exist in inquiry skills between science students using the Intermediate Science Curriculum Study (ISCS) materials and those using a more traditional approach. The Tab Science Test was administered to seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-grade science students in both ISCS and non-ISCS groups.…

Reported is a study using tasks described by Piaget and Inhelder to evaluate changes in reasoning ability. The tasks were to evaluate the development of interpropositional logic, i.e., formal operations. The tasks used were validated using a formal operational population. They were administered at the beginning and end of the school year to…

Reported is a study into the teaching behaviors of elementary science teachers based on the philosophy of Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS). One hundred eighty-four teachers were selected from a large geographical area, having widely differing backgrounds and varying education and/or experience with SCIS programs. The Predicted Role…

This study was concerned with junior high school students' understanding of the scientific enterprise, the methods and aims of science, and of scientists. A comparison was made between the use of the Earth Science Curriculum Project (ESCP) and the traditional general science course approach. The ESCP sample was taught by teachers trained in the…

Describes some of the conceptual, measurement, and methodological problems associated with evaluating science curricula in terms of their impact on students' content-free cognitive outcomes. A study of the effects of including ASEP (Australian Science Education Project) materials into a seventh-grade program revealed several significant…

Findings from a five-year study of the use of Level I of the Intermediate Science Curriculum Study in a suburban Philadelphia school district are reported and discussed. (PB)