The QuikSCience Challenge science education program combines a cooperative team project emphasizing community service with an academic competition for middle and high school students. The program aims to develop leadership abilities, motivate interest in ocean sciences, engage students in community service and environmental stewardship, and…

A new Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) approach was designed for youth who participated in the Minnesota State Fair Livestock interview process. The project and evaluation were designed to determine if the new SET approach increased content knowledge and science process skills in participants. Results revealed that youth participants not…

A pressing problem facing regulatory agencies, academia, and the food industry is a shortage of qualified food science graduates, particularly those with advanced degrees (that is, M.S. or Ph.D.). In 2000, the Cornell Institute of Food Science established the annual Food Science Summer Scholars Program as an experiential summer research program…

Citizen science programs are emerging as an efficient way to increase data collection and help monitor invasive species. Effective invasive species monitoring requires rigid data quality assurances if expensive control efforts are to be guided by volunteer data. To achieve data quality, effective online training is needed to improve field skills…

The role of mentor development in implementing an out-of-school math and science Saturday program for middle-school girls is examined, using content analyses performed on journal entries that four college and graduate school-level mentors completed during the second year of the pilot program. Findings suggest that mentors matured and changed from…

Some of the long-term and short-term successes and the progress of the Chemistry Merit Program are highlighted and updated at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). The results show that the program is vital for the university and for the science and technology sectors.

This study sought to explore qualitatively how participation in an informal science program might affect the following aspects of upper elementary school children's scientific thinking: conceptual understanding, epistemology of science, and the formation of their identity as science learners. A purposefully selected, maximum variation sample of…

Background: Health science programs can be demanding and difficult for many students, leading to high levels of stress. High levels of stress can have a negative effect on students and subsequently the practicing clinician. Research suggests that yoga, humor, and reading are simple, effective methods to help reduce stress. To date no research…

The purpose of the study was to analyze the science outreach program, Science In Motion (SIM), located in Mobile, Alabama. This research investigated what impact the SIM program has on student cognitive functioning and teacher efficacy and also investigated teacher perceptions and attitudes regarding the program. To investigate student…

Two leading science educators provide a comprehensive, state-of-the-field analysis of current trends in the research, policy, and practice of science education. This book offers valuable insights into why gaps in science achievement among racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic groups persist, and points toward practical means of…

Factors which make a science program effective are discussed, including such skills as: observation; data collection; classification; inference; measurement; prediction; communication; relationships; hypothesis; and models. (CB)

National science assessments and international comparisons indicate that science achievement in the United States is stagnant or declining. Of the many steps needed to improve U.S. science education, the authors write, none is more important than improving teacher training and preparation. Analyses of scores on the National Assessment of…

The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of an exemplary science program in grades six, seven, and eight in developing (1) pupil understanding of basic facts, concepts, and principles of science and (2) pupil understanding about scientists, the scientific enterprise, the methods and aims of science as compared to the traditional…

The Building Migratory Bridges (BOMB) program--a collaboration between the Marvel wood School and Audubon Sharon in Connecticut and Conservation Research Education Action (CR EA), a U.S. not-for-profit in Panama--uses nontropical migratory bird research in the United States and Panama to demonstrate how negative environmental impacts in one…

This study investigated (1) whether or not the institute was accomplishing its objectives to upgrade science and mathematics teachers' competency and to remove academic deficiencies due to inadequate or inefficient academic training and (2) whether the objectives of the institute were based on valid assumptions. The study population consisted of…