Discussion of the use of manipulative materials in kindergartens focuses on a new generation of computationally enhanced manipulative materials, called digital manipulatives, designed to allow all students to explore mathematical and scientific concepts through direct manipulation of physical objects rather than more abstract methods of learning.…

Describes a method for demonstrating beat phenomena by creating standing waves in strings. (WRM)

Presents relatively simple experiments that allow students to see inductive current and electromagnetic force caused by the earth's magnetic field. (WRM)

Galileo fit in well with the neo-Protagorian, person-relative framework that was emerging around him in the late 16th and early 17th centuries in Western Europe. For Galileo, all knowledge depended crucially and essentially on first person experience, and at the same time this knowledge was objective, not subjective. Comments on the educational…

Presents the result of an empirical study on the reception and effectiveness of historical material being included in the physics program of a Swiss high school. (Author/NB)

Evaluates concept maps (n=36) spontaneously constructed by applicants in a medical school entrance examination for content of relevant terms and the number of interrelationships indicated. Finds that merely including the relevant concepts in a map has little effect on the comprehension of those concepts, but map complexity is strongly related to…

Presents the findings of research designed to find out whether students in a college chemistry course could perform self-assessments that were compatible with assessments performed by their professors, and in which the students would be confident. Discovers that, although a gap exists between student and professor assessment of performance, the…

Suggests a new approach to teaching about biochemical cellular processes by stimulating student interest in those biochemical processes that allowed for the outcomes of modern biotechnologies. Discusses the development of students' ability to ask meaningful questions about intra-cellular processes, and the resulting meaningful learning of relevant…

Discusses the performance of 11th-grade students from Barbados, Belize, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Trinidad (n=1216) on an Errors in Biological Labeling Test (EBLT). Concludes that performance was low in six categories of errors, and that girls performed significantly better on each category of error than did boys. Contains 15…

Describes an iodine clock reaction incorporating sodium metabisulfite that can be used to demonstrate the kinetic order of a reaction. (WRM)

Describes a laboratory activity in which students speculate about the extent to which Galileo actually performed an experiment to determine that all pendulums of a given length have the same period, independent of amplitude. (WRM)

Presents two classroom activities that help students visualize the concept of entropy and appreciate that entropy tends to increase spontaneously. Contains 20 references. (WRM)

Reviews a special issue of The Journal of Research in Science Teaching dedicated to concept mapping. Describes four ways in which concept mapping can be of value in science education: (1) as a learning strategy, (2) as an instructional strategy, (3) as a tool in the instructional design process, and (4) as a means of assessing a student's…

Presents a teaching activity that uses photographs and diagrams to simulate two microscopic laboratory techniques used to observe the structure of chromosomes. Techniques include observation of squashed onion root tips and the salivary glands of some fruitfly larvae. (WRM)

Explains how a school developed a model for ensuring progression in experimental and investigative science. Provides progression steps and examples of models. (CCM)