Informal learning settings such as museums have been identified as opportunities to enhance students' knowledge and motivation in science and to optimize the connection between science and everyday life. The present study assessed the role of a self-paced science education program (situated in a medical science museum) in enhancing students'…

This study examines the process by which system thinking perceptions develop within the context of a water cycle curriculum. Four junior high school students undergoing an especially designed inquiry-based intervention were closely observed before, during, immediately after, and 6 years after completing a year long systems-based learning program.…

Describes the Intermediate Science Curriculum Study (ISCS) instructional system and its underlying rationale, and outlines the planning and developmental procedures used to construct this individualized junior high school science program. (JR)

The Rutgers Astrophysics Institute is a program in which gifted high school students learn about contemporary science and its methods, and conduct independent authentic research using real-time data. The students use the processes of science to acquire knowledge, and serve as cognitive apprentices to an expert astrophysicist. A variety of…

Surveys of program graduates of a model science teacher education program were compared with responses from a national sample of exemplary teachers. Results indicated a high degree of similarity between the two groups and provided evidence that a good preservice science teacher education can have a positive effect on the development of preservice…

Project LIFE, a state systemic initiatives professional development program for middle-grade life science teachers, has been successful in improving the science content knowledge, process skills, and attitudes toward teaching science of the teachers participating in the project. The essential characteristics of this project are described as a…

Presented are the results of a study of the effects of peer-led tutoring groups on achievement in college chemistry. Supplemental instruction was effective in increasing students' achievement in chemistry as measured by final grades in chemistry and responses to a questionnaire. (CW)

The effect of intervention lessons designed to accelerate the development of formal operations taught over a period of two years to adolescents was assessed. Results indicated that the experimental group had achieved a significantly greater gain in cognitive levels than the control group. Implications are discussed. (CW)