Discusses an approach to general chemistry used to make chemistry relevant for students in chemical and environmental technician programs using the following ideas: utilizing group project teaching methods, involving local industry in the education process, and assigning oral presentations and written reports to students. (JRH)

Proposes a model to explain secondary students' achievement in chemistry that uses the following predictor variables: students' attitude towards chemistry, understanding of science, scientific attitude, traditional cosmological world-view, cognitive style, and teachers' attitude towards the teaching of chemistry and understanding of science.…

Explores links between science education and current developments in environmental education that take account of the concept of sustainability and the impact of local action on global issues. Uses the greenhouse effect as a case-study example with 16-year-old students. Reports that students learned more effectively using a discussion-based…

Discusses the constraints placed upon humans by natural environmental capacity laws. Using analogies of exponential growth in economics and ecology, the author argues that exponential growth needs to be seen and taught as a severely time-limited process, for which costs must be paid. (ZWH)

Describes a project making a model of the celestial sphere that will show how the ancients imagined the universe. (PR)

Describes science experiments with the enzyme lactose, which is available commercially as Lactaid and Dairy Ease. Experiments show how the rate of reaction of lactose converted to glucose and galactose is influenced by temperature, pH, and substrate concentration. (PR)

Presents a study of four different teaching strategies dealing with comparing lower-level questions with higher-level questions and comparing feedback correctives with no feedback correctives. The lowest levels of achievement were in the class with low-level questions and no feedback correctives. (PR)

Presents an activity that allows students to experience the type of discovery process that paleontologists necessarily followed during the early dinosaur explorations. Students are read parts of a story taken from the "American Journal of Science" and interpret the evidence leading to the discovery of Triceratops and Stegosaurus. (PR)

Presents activities to familiarize junior high school students with the processes behind and reasons for volcanism, which is generally a planet's way of releasing excessive internal heat and pressure. Students participate in the creation of four important volcano-related simulations: a lava flow, a shield volcano, a cinder-cone volcano, and a…

Presents three patterns found in math for elementary students. Spirolaterals are patterns made by repeatedly tracing a series of three numbers in four directions on dot paper. Tessellating can be a combination of teaching about patterns, geometry, and art. The King's Problem requires recognition of a problem to find a solution. (PR)

Describes a method for determining the distance to the horizon which leads to determining the radius of the Earth. The article answers two interesting science questions: (1) Can you see the state of Kansas from Pike's Peak in Colorado? and (2) Can you see two sunsets in one day on the Keys of Florida? (MVL)

Presents findings from a case study into the development of student understanding of chemical bonding. Reveals significant progression in student understanding but also highlights issues of how such progression should be addressed. Emphasizes factors associated with blocks to appropriate concept development. (33 references) (Author/MKR)

Carried out an investigation to identify conceptions of some components of worldview held by science student teachers (n=48) in a South African context. Explores relationships among worldviews, student characteristics, and scientific concepts. Reports that students' conceptions of time and distance were nonmechanistic and psychologically bound and…

Describes a successful partnership program between the Museum of Natural History and local schools that empowers young people from Glendale Intermediate School to learn science and natural history, then share what they learn with 60 children, ranging in age from 6-12 years, enrolled in Mountain View Elementary School's extended-day program. (JRH)

Investigated the problems chemistry majors have with learning distillation concepts in traditional chemistry laboratory courses. Reports that students take the generalized concepts at face value, construct decontextualized concepts for distillation, and cannot interpret their observations or make reasoned decisions based on the theoretical…