Ginni Sackett shares insights ignited by a presentation given by Professori Raniero Regni in Rome at an AMI International Trainers Meeting. Dr. Regni stated that, "To go beyond Montessori is to rediscover Montessori. Montessori is waiting for us in the future." By re-examining Montessori's writings, Sackett traces the subtle ways in…

For a first-year seminar, Windows on Science, the authors developed a cooperative learning activity around film designed to meet two of the campus-wide Principles of Undergraduate Learning. The teaching method utilizes the power of storytelling by screening narrative and documentary films. In the process, the methodology helps students to realize…

The purpose of the study was to examine what scientists studying to become teachers know about the nature of science (NOS) before, during and after a course focused on NOS. The 16 scientists had an average of 9.7 years of work experience. The course was structured to teach knowledge about the aspects of NOS, demonstrate effective methods of…

This qualitative case study conducted at a small private university in the U.S. found that preservice teacher self-efficacy increased over the course of four semesters when taught inquiry-based instruction from a Social Constructivist Theoretical framework. This study utilized "A Draw a Science Teacher Test Checklist (DASTT-C)" created…

A gap has existed between the tools and processes of scientists working on anthropogenic global climate change (AGCC) and the technologies and curricula available to educators teaching the subject through student inquiry. Designing realistic scientific inquiry into AGCC poses a challenge because research on it relies on complex computer models,…

What do children really wonder about? What encourages children to wonder? Where is space found for children to share their wonderings in school? What, if any, is the role of the teacher in a child's wondering? And what is the value of wondering in primary science classrooms today? Lynne Bianchi shares the answers she and others found in a recent…

Assessments, understood as tools for tracking what and how well students have learned, play a critical role in the classroom. "Developing Assessments for the Next Generation Science Standards" develops an approach to science assessment to meet the vision of science education for the future as it has been elaborated in "A Framework…

How can educators provide children with a genuine experience of carrying out an extended scientific investigation? And can teachers change the perception of what it means to be a scientist? These were key questions that lay behind "The Human Condition" project, an initiative funded by the Primary Science Teaching Trust to explore a new…

This monograph provides a psychological rational for the novel field of "Educational Science" and how it conducts in-depth research investigations first presented in an article by the author in the i-manager's "Journal on Mathematics" through the trichotomous analysis of the affective domain. Educational Science uses the…

The authors of this paper portray the perspective of Professor Leon Cooper, a theoretical physicist, Nobel laureate, active researcher, and physics textbook author, on teaching science and on the nature of science (NOS). The views presented emerged from an interview prepared by the authors and responded to in writing by Professor Cooper. Based on…

Monk and Osborne ("Sci Educ" 81:405-424, 1997) provide a rigorous justification for why history and philosophy of science should be incorporated as an integral component of instruction and a model for how history of science should be used to promote learning of and about science. In the following essay we critique how history of science is used on…

This paper argues that the dominant form of science education that is common across the world rests on a set of values that have no merit. Moreover, such practice has a negative impact on students' attitudes to science. It makes the case that the primary goal of any science education should be to develop scientific literacy and explores what that…

Describes a lesson that engages middle school students in learning about peer review. Uses the article "Archaeoraptor Fossil Trail," which was published in the November, 1999 issue of "National Geographic" as an example of a real life story of how peer review forces scientists to critically re-examine a fossil discovery. (SOE)

Every time an English professor assigns a novel, poem, or play for a class to analyze, he or she is using the case study method. Why shouldn't scientists do the same? They don't always have to write their own material. After all, there are some pretty good writers out there, and some of them actually slip a lot of science into the nooks and…

The practice of science has been characterized as the systematic application of common sense. This view, frequently held by scientists themselves, holds that the same qualities that allow pre-industrial societies, pioneers, cast-aways, and common folk everywhere to cope with their environment and prosper also make for good scientists. However,…