Many studies have characterized students' difficulties in understanding and reasoning about scientific mechanisms. Some of those studies have drawn implications on teaching mechanisms and how to guide students while reasoning mechanistically. In this theoretical article, I claim that one component that has not garnered much attention in the…

Data from 60 observations of 10 teachers and 10 each of their students showed that type/quality of teaching strategy predicted 37 percent of variance in engagement and that the more indirect the teaching strategy, the greater the students' involvement in learning tasks. Implications of these and other findings are discussed. (Author/JN)

Seventh-grade students enrolled in two average classes were pretested, randomly assigned to two training groups--an active group in which physical materials were employed and a verbal group in which standard textbook procedures were employed--immediately posttested and posttested one month later. The active group showed greater achievement and…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of three instructional methods and conceptual systems orientation on achievement in a freshman general chemistry laboratory course. Traditional approach, learning cycle, and computer simulations are discussed. (KR)