Development of skills in bioscience undergraduates is seen as desirable by academic staff, students and employers, and this is reflected across most degree programmes. However, providing the opportunity for students to practise skills may alone be insufficient for their development. With an evident discrepancy between the skills expected of…

Describes a study designed to determine whether the Biology Critical Thinking (BCT) project (which incorporates activities for developing specific critical thinking skills into the biology curriculum) enhances critical thinking skills and how it affects students' biological knowledge and classroom learning environment. Results indicate that BCT…

Describes four instructional techniques used to deliver specific developmental objectives in both an introductory chemistry course and a general course in science and technology. The four techniques described are miniresearch projects, scenario-based research projects, short essay examination questions, and issues-directed research project. (PR)

In a study to evaluate an approach for improving the critical thinking skills of middle school science students, 60 students were given the assignment of completing three guided laboratory activities and writing a report for each. In writing their reports, students were expected to identify the manipulated variable, identify the responding…

Utilizes a factorial design with the variables "use or non-use of Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) inquiry slides" and "BSCS biology or non-BSCS biology." Eighteen classes of high school biology students were used in the study. Among other findings, groups using BSCS slides were found to be overall superior on…

This study investigated the teaching procedures of two groups of science teachers at the elementary school level. One group had received instruction in the Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) methods which included the inquiry-discovery approach. The second group had recieved no instruction in any "new" approach. SCIS-educated…