The washback effect is particularly relevant when it comes to high-stakes tests, such as university entrance exams. This article presents a research study performed with the aim of determining the current influence of these exams on the teaching of chemistry in upper secondary education. The study was based on a questionnaire distributed among…

In Australia we are at a crossroads in science education. We have come from a long history of adopting international curricula, through to blending international and Australian developed materials, to the present which is a thoroughly unique Australian curriculum in science. This paper documents Australia's journey over the past 200 years, as we…

Over the last ten or so years this researcher's educational focus has been on providing a science education program that is both liberating and empowering for students. Although there have been a number of motivating themes, the central one has been his work with student images of the future. He has taken these seriously and used them to inform by…

The Learning in Science Project (Primary)--LISP(P)--investigated the ideas and interests children have about hot and cold. Data were obtained from 25 children (12 boys and 13 girls), ages 8 to 11, using the "interview-about-instances" (IAI) procedure. Areas investigated included: (1) the meanings of the words…

The Learning in Science Project investigated teaching and learning in science at the Form 1 to 4 level to identify some of the key difficulties in this subject area and to find ways of overcoming such difficulties. Included in this final report are: (1) brief accounts of the three major phases of the research; (2) a list of papers derived from the…

The traditional methods of university education and some alternative approaches are considered in light of the course needs of both students and teacher. The self-teaching system is examined in the overall context of the learning process. This is followed by three case studies of the development and use of self-teaching systems, one for chemical…

The seven working papers in this collection set out the underlying philosophy and research methods of the Learning in Science Project. The project was established in 1979 to identify, describe, and investigate problems and difficulties in the teaching and learning of forms 1-4 science, and to explore possible solutions. The papers describe the…

The Learning Environment Inventory (LEI) was administered to tenth-grade biology classes (N=572) in urban and kibbutz district schools in Israel. Findings indicated that seven out of nine scales of the LEI yield significant differences in scores for urban and kibbutz samples indicating a more positive learning climate in the kibbutz. (Author/DS)

Perspectives on the nature of subject matter in science are offered in this paper. It is proposed that science and its context are better viewed as shifting rather than remaining fixed. The rational, moral, and authentic nature of science is explained in reference to education in general and more specifically to the contexts of the science teacher…