This article focuses upon the role of the peripatetic pre-school teacher for children who have special educational needs. It explores the key issues involved in home-based teaching; the importance of developing meaningful partnerships with parents; early intervention; and the significance of play in promoting learning for young children. The…

The development of deeper understanding and transferable skills in science requires continuous interactive discussion and feedback and extended practice in various contexts for generalisation. In primary schools, these desiderata are difficult to supply through direct teacher instruction, but might be feasible through interactive peer tutoring.…

This study examines Turkish pre-service science teachers' understanding of science concepts and their confidence in its teaching. A total of 299 senior science education major students participated in the study. Data collection instruments included the Science Concepts Test, and the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument. Although findings of…

In foundation biochemistry and biological chemistry courses, a major problem area that has been identified is students' lack of understanding of pH, acids, bases, and buffers and their inability to apply their knowledge in solving acid/base problems. The aim of this study was to explore students' conceptions of pH and their ability to solve…

The objective of this study was to examine middle school students' developing understanding of the nature of matter and to compare middle school students' ideas to those of elementary schools students, as was done by Nakhleh and Samarapungavan ["J Res Sci Teach" 36(7):777-805, 1999]. Nine middle school students were interviewed using a scripted,…

"What's good for English learning students is good for all students" is a phrase that the author often hears as a teacher educator. However, English language learners have special needs that must be met with pinpointed strategies that target language so they can understand the content being taught. To better incorporate these strategies into the…

In this article, the author shares a very successful 50-minute inquiry-based physics lesson that uses only small metal cans, a bit of string, and the inquiring minds of middle schoolers. The topic of the lesson is wave motion and energy transfer. The intent of this article is to show that tests of student-generated hypotheses can be simple, quick,…

Nanoscience refers to the fundamental study of scientific phenomena, which occur at the nanoscale--nanotechnology to the exploitation of novel properties and functions of materials in the sub-100 nm size range. One of the underlying principles of science is development of models of observed phenomena. In biology, the Hardy-Weinberg principle is a…

One of the challenges in teaching biochemistry is facilitating students' interest in and mastery of metabolism. The many pathways and modes of regulation can be overwhelming for students to learn and difficult for professors to teach in an engaging manner. We have found it useful to take advantage of prevailing interest in popular yet…

Epistemic dialogues, involving explanation and argumentation, have been recognized as potential vehicles for conceptual understanding. Although the role of dialogue in learning has received much attention, the problem of creating situations in which students engage in epistemic dialogue has only begun to be addressed. This article highlights the…

This article presents information on the development of an integrated curriculum that uses both art and science in the study of the solar system. The art aspect of this lesson is introduced with the use of multiple images of space and its visual offerings, which will focus the class on the lesson and gain their attention. Among other things, the…

Plant tropisms--their directional movement in response to stimuli--are a fundamental concept in plant science and excite students because they are the observable signs of life in plants. Unfortunately, the precollege teaching literature is full of tropism misconceptions. An inexpensive clock clinostat is invaluable for student gravitropism and…

The Senior Seminar in Biology course at Kean University teaches students who have taken core biology courses and achieved senior status to research primary literature on current topics in biology and produce a traditional seminar presentation that includes a written report and a clear and comprehensive oral talk with ensuing discussion. Senior…

This Classroom Idea-Sparker was submitted by Dorothy L. Haggerty, Associate Professor of Professional Practice, University of New Orleans. Too often, students are bored with science. Irrelevant facts, numerous definitions, and confusing diagrams clutter the student's mind. To help motivate students, teachers should, instead, choose fun,…

In Experiments 1A and 1B, students read a concise booklet containing 653 words and 6 illustrations describing the formation, propagation, and dispersion of ocean waves (concise group) or an expanded booklet containing 327 additional words and 5 additional illustrations describing relevant mathematical formulas and computations interspersed…