Outlines the first phase of a teacher inservice program that focused on familiarizing teachers with the New Zealand science curriculum document, Science in the New Zealand Curriculum. Reports that the teachers needed much personal support to interpret the document and to plan units using the document. Discusses key issues that emerged during the…

Summarizes a 10-year Chinese secondary school chemistry teaching experiment, programmed elicitation, which was found to be more effective than traditional Chinese elicitation. Includes sample programmed elicitation textbook section and lesson. (Author/MKR)

Outlines the importance of teaching the methods of science. Describes ways in which teachers can incorporate lessons about scientific methodology into any existing introductory science course. (JRH)

Advocates the use of event-based science which is dependent upon current phenomena and student interest and which brings spontaneity to the curriculum and facilitates student development in the affective as well as cognitive domain. (MKR)

Explains the tradition of practical reasoning and its relevance to science and science education. Suggests ways in which practical reasoning may be developed in students such that they are enabled to better understand how scientific knowledge is produced and how they may be better able to contribute to improving scientific practices. (PR)

Stresses that an important industrial area is product reliability, especially for semiconductors. Suggests that physics students would benefit from training in semiconductors: the many modes of failure, radiation effects, and electrical contact problems. (MVL)

Describes the Student Science Training Program (SSTP) held in Hawaii for 30 high school students gifted in science and math. The seven-week program presents coursework, laboratory experiments, recitation/discussion, computer programming, field trips, research participation, and socialization. (MVL)

Describes introducing archaeoastronomical concepts into science courses ranging from eighth grade to introductory college level. Archaeoastronomers attempt to reconstruct the astronomical techniques, religion, and lifestyle of ancient civilizations by connecting studies of their agriculture, folklore, architecture, and art. (PR)

Describes the history of the science of geology. The author expounds upon the discovery of deep time and plate tectonics, explaining how the theory of deep time influenced the development of Darwin and Wallace's theory of evolution. Describes how the history of earth science helps students understand the nature of science. (PR)

Describes the Capacitor-Aided System for Teaching and Learning Electricity (CASTLE) project which is a high school electricity curriculum developed by high school and college physics teachers. The project is motivated by research on students' conceptual difficulties in electricity. The instructional materials developed allow students to challenge…

Critiques the Capacitor-Aided System for Teaching and Learning Electricity (CASTLE) curriculum. Criticism is made of the model's use of a compressible-fluid model to demonstrate charge conduction. An alternative model is proposed. (ZWH)

Analyzes curricular implications regarding theoretical versus applicative preferences of students (n=119) studying a scientific-technological subject. A major conclusion relating to the curriculum designers and implementors was that even students who have difficulties with theoretical subjects stand a chance of coping with the demands of the…

Reports on gender differences in the perceptions of General Certificate of Secondary Education and A level pupils toward technology-based courses. The study involving 90 male and 94 female pupils revealed that technology is perceived as being similar to science subjects rather than to craft subjects and both group's perceptions of technology are…

Describes a course for science education majors that explores the uses of computer-interfaced experiments in a variety of interesting activities. Several examples of biology experiments are given. (ZWH)

Describes the development of a theme-based, multidisciplinary course. The article partitions into the following sections: (1) Constructing the Course; (2) Putting the Ideas to Work; (3) Connecting Science and Society; and (4) The Arts and Astronomy. (ZWH)