Questionnaire and interview findings from a survey of three Year 8 (ages 12-13 years) science practical lessons (n = 52) demonstrate how pupils' data collection and inference making were sometimes biased by desires to confirm a personal theory. A variety of behaviours are described where learners knowingly rejected anomalies, manipulated…

In this article, the author presents a field study project that explores factors influencing forest community structure and lifts the veil off of "plant blindness." This ecological study consists of three laboratories: (1) preliminary field trip to the study site; (2) plant survey; and (3) analyzing plant community structure with descriptive…

This descriptive study was conducted to evaluate the relative emphasis secondary school teachers place on the science teaching goals of the 1960s which focused on processes and techniques designed to produce scientists, as compared to the goals of the 1980s which give priority to the relationship of science and technology to society. An eight-item…

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) partnered with Andrew Porter and John Smithson of Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) to develop an advanced, in depth approach to collecting and reporting data on the "enacted curriculum" in K-12 math and science, i.e. the actual subject content and instructional practices experienced…

A study was conducted on the enrollments of students (N=13,856) in first and second year science courses at Pima Community College, Arizona, over a 5-year preiod. Of those students who passed these courses with a C grade or better (N=5,974), frequency distributions by sex were made. It was found that the distribution of male/female registered as…

The study reported here was conducted as part of a larger investigation designed to identify instructional strategies most beneficial for English language learners with disabilities. Other aspects of the investigation are examining the research literature, information from parents and students, and the effects of specific strategies. In this…