Recent calls for reform in K-12 science education and the National Academy of Engineering's Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century emphasize improving science teaching, students' engagement, and learning. In this study, we designed and implemented a curriculum unit for sixth-grade students (i = 1305). The curriculum unit integrated…

For more than half a century concerns about the ability of American students to compete in a global workplace focused policymakers' attention on improving school performance generally, and student achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) specifically. In its most recent form--No Child Left Behind--there is evidence…

This longitudinal study examined factors that contribute to the persistence of underrepresented racial minority (URM) undergraduates in STEM fields. The primary source of data came from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program's 2004 "The Freshman Survey" (TFS) and 2008 "College Senior Survey" (CSS). The sample…

Attitude toward an undergraduate audio-tutorial biology course became more favorable as the course progressed. Aptitude scores were significantly related to achievement, with math aptitude the best predictor, but not to attitude toward the instructional technique. (AL)

Different learner characteristics are related to success in audio-tutorial and traditional" courses when step-wise multiple regression analysis is used. (AL)

Community college students achieved higher scores on biology knowledge tests than did university students, but were equivalent on tests of biological comprehension, application and analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Students attending universities had higher mean critical thinking scores than those at community colleges. (AL)

Advocates the analysis of student characteristics in determining the outcomes of instruction and the analysis of instruction to determine effects on student characteristics. (CP)

The influence of five background variables (sex, race, home environment, amount of homework, and parents' education) on three dependent variables (student perception of science instruction, student attitudes, and student achievement) was examined. Sex, race and home environment were shown to have influence on science achievement. Other results are…

Data on 30,030 sophomores in the "High School and Beyond" project were analyzed to test the private school superiority hypothesis for science achievement. The supposition that private schools are superior to public schools in producing science achievement is rejected. Other factors related to achievement are noted and discussed. (JN)

Studies effects of verbal participation during enquiry on achievement among three differently treated groups of four eighth-grade classes each with I.Q. test, reading test, sociometric, and academiometric results taken into account. Indicated the preference of strategies involving more students, particularly more girls, in class discussion. (CC)

Studied the effects of eighth grade students' cognitive, motivational, personality, and classroom interaction characteristics on their academic achievement, attitudes toward science, and socio-metric measures. Concluded that a specified combination of student traits and teacher attention could lead to different unintential consequences in science…

Examined personality (persistence, future orientation, and the tendency toward reckless/rash behavior) and cognitive factors related to success or failure in college science courses. One finding noted is that both men and women were more apt to attribute their success to effort/ability, and their failure to the difficulty of a task. (JN)

Studied performance of 15 low-socio-economic-status 14 year olds in learning controlled-experiment design and evaluation, and indicated that experimental subjects significantly outperformed matched controls. (CC)