Background: How do we account for the persistent difficulty the U.S. community of science has in educating larger numbers of talented and diverse undergraduates? We posit that the problem lies in the community's unremitting focus on scientific subject matter knowledge and students' ability to learn, to the neglect of interpersonal social…

Museums often evaluate various aspects of their audiences' experiences, be it what they learn from a program or how they react to an exhibition. Each museum program or exhibition has its own set of goals, which can drive what an evaluator studies and how an evaluation evolves. When designing an evaluation, data collection methods are purposefully…

Research on student achievement indicates the U.S. K-12 education system is not adequately preparing American students to compete in the 21st century global economy in the areas of science and mathematics. Congress has asked the scientific entities of the federal government to help increase K-12 science learning by creating standards-based…

Argues that science educators often face the problem of abnormal distributions when conducting large-scale assessments or evaluating national curriculum projects that require complex sampling plans. Examines the precision of science test scores. (DDR)

The Illinois Rivers Project was developed as an integrated, multidimensional science/technology/society pilot project designed to introduce water quality dimensions into Illinois high schools. The project involved high school science, social science, and English teachers in an integrated study of their local river and community. Science students…