A graduate-level computational chemistry course was designed and developed and carried out in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the Fall of 2005. The thrust of the course was a reaction assignment that led students through a series of steps, beginning with energetic predictions based upon fundamental…

Results of recent studies into the use of concept mapping heuristic seem to demonstrate that meaningful learning results through its use in science classrooms. This study sought to find out if the metacognitive strategy of concept mapping reduces anxiety and thereby enhances achievement in biology. A total of 51 senior secondary one (grade 10)…

This document outlines the use of machine-scorable open-ended questions for the evaluation of Physics 30 in Alberta. Contents included are: (1) an introduction to the questions; (2) sample instruction sheet; (3) thirty sample items from the complete course; (4) item information including an answer key, difficulty, and source of each item; (5)…

A study examined text-based scientific concepts and described how those concepts were elaborated in three high school biology textbooks. The three textbooks were aimed at different student audiences: non-college bound students, special education students, and high school students at all levels. A concept analysis was established for each text, and…

This book is written for children ages 5 through 10. Part of a series designed to develop their curiosity, fascinate them and educate them, this volume explains in text and pictures how plastic is made from oil, the problems with this nearly indestructible material, and the future of plastics. Topics include: (1) formation of oil; (2) history of…

The processes of photosynthesis and respiration are basic to the understanding of many other aspects and functions of biological systems. Because of their curricular significance, these processes served as the focal point in an investigation of student conceptions and instructional effectiveness. In this study, students in a college nonscience…

Four questions are posed: (1) Is knowledge utilization a rhetorical evocation? (2) Is the conjunction of knowledge with utility part of a cultural system of common sense? (3) Is utility a normative or a descriptive concept? and (4) How does the concept of knowledge utilization figure in the specialized discourse of social scientists? This paper…

An examination of the introspective evidence of artists and scientists on their creative processes suggests that determining the causes underlying the transformation of material in thought is the key for understanding creativity. A similar problem underlies the transformational process of understanding metaphor. T.S. Kuhn's view of scientific…

This paper draws from several disciplines to provide a foundation for making progress toward a unified conception of thinking in science education. Areas covered include: (1) the philosophy of science (discussing contextual realism); (2) cognitive psychology (describing development of scientific thinking skills); and (3) artificial intelligence…

The twentieth century has witnessed a burst of discovery in physics unparalleled in human history. Despite the fact that general relativity and quantum mechanics are well over half a century old, introductory physics classes in high schools, colleges, and universities essentially ignore them. These two seminal ideas, the phenomena of…

Presented is an overview of the content of some of the science courses taught in the schools of Victoria, Australia, in order to emphasize the relationships between these courses and the structure of knowledge. (PEB)

Describes a number of activities designed to assist student understanding of the phenomenon of light bending when it passes from one meduim to another. (JR)

This is the last in a series of studies of experimenter and student supplied cognitive strategies for acquisition and retention of concepts in science. A lesson in electrochemistry was used as the subject matter with 96 undergraduate college students. A verbal multiple choice test and a graphic recognition test were used to measure retention.…

Questions as tentative and not universally acceptable some of the assumptions put forth by Romer, namely, that a scientific theory: is a deductive exercise; must accord with the facts; ought to be inflexible; is an explanation. (GH)

This master's thesis reports results of a study that: (1) developed, used, and validated a classification instrument of Piagetian developmental levels of high school science students (N=16); (2) determined the effects of traditional and Piagetian-based instruction of two formal topics, the mole concept and atomic theory, on students not classified…