Are students more engaged and do they perform better in science if their school encourages them to work on science projects, participate in science fairs, belong to a science-related club or go on science-related field trips--in addition to teaching them the mandatory science curriculum? To find out, PISA (Programme for International Student…

Having the right data is a key component of individualizing instruction for each child. The Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) has the ability to measure a student's achievement and academic growth, independent of grade, across time. From the insight provided with Measures of Academic Progress® (MAP®) and its reports, educators can compare…

Few elementary school teachers command a science background sufficient to offer children early and sustained opportunities to develop an understanding of science concepts, and facility with scientific modes of reasoning. This four-year, NSF-funded study was designed to investigate how and to what extent particular combinations of science content…

In May 2005, the International Technology Education Association (ITEA) was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to develop curricular units for Grades K-12 on Space Exploration. The units focus on aspects of the themes that NASA Engineers and Scientists--as well as future generations of explorers--must consider, such…

Identifies misconceptions related to the fundamental characteristics of atoms and molecules held by twelfth-grade students. Data were obtained by administration of semistructured interviews to a stratified, random sample of 30 students. Fifty-two misconceptions were observed and reported. Some of the misconceptions identified parallel the…

The documents enclosed in this report provide a comprehensive and systematic review of the progress made in developing a network organization capable of supporting nanoscience education for the public on a national scale. There is a logic to the studies that were done and to the reports that are included in this notebook. The following are the…

In 2003 the first nationally-comparable science assessment was designed, developed and carried out under the auspices of the national council of education ministers, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). In 2006 a second science assessment was conducted and, for the first time nationally, the…

The North Carolina End-of-Course Testing Program was established to provide student, school, and school system information about achievement in high school courses. This report describes: (1) "Characteristics of Biology Students"; (2) "Student Performance on the Core Test"; (3) "Anticipated Final Grades and Scores on the…

The North Carolina End-of-Course Testing Program was established to provide student, school, and school system information about achievement in high school courses. This report describes: (1) "Characteristics of Chemistry Students"; (2) "Student Performance on the Core Test"; (3) "Combining Performance and Participation:…

The North Carolina End-of-Course Testing Program was established to provide student, school, and school system information about achievement in high school courses. Approximately 83.4 percent of the 77,154 students who took the biology test were in the tenth grade. Students taking biology in the ninth grade (8.3 percent) were on an accelerated…

In 1996, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessed the knowledge and skills of students in the areas of earth science, life science, and physical science. It also collected information related to the background of students (grades 4, 8, and 12), their teachers (grades 4 and 8), and the schools they attended (grades 4, 8, and…

In July 2001, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) agreed to the development of assessment instruments and key performance measures for reporting on student skills, knowledge and understandings in primary science. It directed the newly established Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce…

This paper reports design experiments on two Japanese elementary science lesson units in a sixth-grade classroom supported by computer support for collaborative learning (CSCL) technology as a collaborative reflection tool. We took different approaches in the experiments depending on their instructional goals. In the unit 'air and how things…

In this study, an interactive process in a Web-based learning environment was planned for the cultivation of students' cooperative learning skills and capacity for scientific inquiry. Based on detailed analyses of students' computer protocols, interview protocols, and test scores, this project sought to analyze the changes in students' scientific…

In this paper we have set out to search for similarities and differences between the Nordic countries concerning patterns of competencies defined as scientific literacy in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study. The first part focuses on gender differences concerning the two types of competencies, understanding of…