Purpose: This study explored the relationship of robotics activity with the development of conceptual understanding skills among secondary school students. Method: Forty-four sixteen-year-old Form 4 (Year 10) students in a fully government-aided school who have access to functioning LEGO-Mindstorms sets during physics lessons participated in the…

In classrooms, science is usually taught within the cognitive domain while the psychomotor learning domain is achieved through performing science experiments in the laboratory. Although students attend civic and moral education and pastoral care classes where values and life skills are often taught directly, learning experiences in most school…

The objective of this naturalistic study was to explore, model and visualise the learning progress of 13-year-old students in the domain of evolution theory. Data were collected under actual classroom conditions and with a sample size of 107 learners, which followed a teaching unit on Darwin's theory of natural selection. Before and after the…

The Lawson Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning (LCTSR) was used to gauge the relative effectiveness of three different methods of pedagogy, "Reading, Presenting, and Questioning" (RPQ), "Experimenting and Discussion" (ED), and "Traditional Methods" (TM), on increasing students' level of scientific thinking. The…

This paper reports a two-year longitudinal study of the effects of cooperative learning on science attainment, attitudes towards science, and social connectedness during transition from primary to high school. A previous project on cooperative learning in primary schools observed gains in science understanding and in social aspects of school life.…

This article reports data from a 2-year longitudinal study on cooperative learning in school science. The study reported the effects of cooperative learning in science on science attainment, effective development and social connectedness, and interactions during transition from elementary to high school in rural and urban school settings. The…

SEVERAL APPROACHES FOR TEACHING BIOLOGY IN EIGHTH GRADE CLASSES WERE COMPARED FOR EFFECTIVENESS IN IMPROVING STUDENT'S CRITICAL THINKING ABILITIES, UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE, AND KNOWLEDGE OF MAJOR CONCEPTS AND FACTS. STUDENTS WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO THREE CLASSES, EACH TAUGHT BY A TEAM OF THREE TEACHERS. CLASS A USED A TEXTBOOK LABORATORY…

Suggests that, to a large extent, science educators tend to separate epistemology from the content and methodology of science. Questions the appropriateness of this practice. (CP)

Presents a physics instruction technique which utilizes study modules to aid students to think better and not to depend upon memorized facts. (SL)

Reports the results of a study that indicate that junior and senior high school science students are penalized (by receiving lower grades) for not being able to think at the formal operational level. Outlines some methods that may be used to facilitate growth in cognitive development of students. (JR)

Discusses the challenge of teaching scientific concepts to children whose world view differs from adults. (SL)

Questions how cognitive ability and aptitude of graduating high school students taking science courses compare to students in other programs. Explores a related question concerning the extent to which different Piagetian schemes are related to instructional patterns. Results show that students operating at higher cognitive levels take more science…

Discusses the problem of mastering terminology, the role of language, and the structure of terminology in biology education. Provides a checklist for the presentation of science terms. Describes complexity of biological terminology and the difficulties often encountered by students. (CW)

Defines one approach to problem solving in terms of student use of algorithms to find their solutions and gives examples. Discusses how problems and algorithms relate to each other. Describes strategies for teaching problem solving using algorithms. (CW)