Parents may better prepare their children to enter school by making sure that daily activities and household routines serve educational ends: learning scientific concepts through helping in the kitchen; being encouraged to read by having access to a variety of books. Specific activities are described. (JL)

Described are responses of first-year college students to questions regarding acceleration. Responses regarding acceleration and possible reasons for student errors are discussed. (RH)

Listed are ways to demonstrate physical and chemical properties of matter and to show electrolysis using an overhead projector. (RH)

Argues for a greater emphasis on the reality of fields in electronics and gravitation instruction. Advocates that the potential energy in a system be regarded as stored in the field rather than in the material bodies of the system. Provides a rationale and examples for this position. (ML)

Appraises current explanations of how visual processing occurs. Highlights the basics of simultaneous and serial levels of processing. Discusses the results of a series of experiments on visual-search tasks and also on the role of prior knowledge in processing. (ML)

Investigated common belief patterns secondary school students (N=84) have about inheritance, noting the most prevalent misconceptions about genetics which occur at different age levels. Implications based on findings and suggestions for teaching lower secondary courses are included. (ML)

Discusses the development of the concept of atomicity and some of the many which can be used to establish its validity. Chemical evidence, evidence from crystals, Faraday's law of electrolysis, and Avogadro's number are among the areas which show how the concept originally developed from a purely philosophical idea. (JN)

Suggests examining population density to help students understand density as a chemical concept. Simple experiments and demonstrations with carbon dioxide, burning oil, natural gas, and temperature are also suggested. (DH)

Discusses the historical development of the concept of geologic time. Develops the topic by using the major discoveries of geologists, beginning with Steno and following through to the discovery and use of radiometric dating. An extensive reference list is provided. (JM)

Examines the thesis that people must derive more cognitive mileage from environmental education programs by involving themselves in the physical interactions in the environment and their underlying principles. Environmental education has too often focused only on sensitivity, understanding, and sympathy with regard to plant and animal…

Several experimental studies are reviewed, the results of which suggest that students often fail to acquire an understanding of some of the concepts, relationships, principles, and processes that are fundamental to traditional high school course material. Questions of what it means to understand something and of how to assess understanding are…

Discussed is the tendency in science to challenge obvious explanation for observed phenomenon. Ten examples are given where the initial obvious explanation was subsequently shown to be totally incorrect. Four examples that relate to biomedicine are presented in detail. (SL)

Summarizes 12 papers presented at the Fourth Biennial Conference on Chemical Education that dealt with suggested modifications in the ideas and terminology taught in a variety of chemistry courses. (MLH)

Describes 20 chemical demonstrations designed for elementary school science classes. These can be presented as a magic show, but each illustrates one or more of seven basic chemical concepts. (MLH)

The integration of History in the educational practice can lead to the development of a series of activities exploiting genetic "moments" of the history of Mathematics. Utilizing genetic ideas that developed during the 14th century (Merton College, N. Oresme), activities are developed and mathematical models for solving problems related to uniform…