A packet of supplementary materials for eighth grade science instruction for limited-English-proficient students is intended for beginning and intermediate students of English as a second language (ESOL). It contains worksheets and activities designed to increase student participation, challenge them within their language ability, create positive…

This study consolidated observations of teachers in an institute setting designed to facilitate science learning content through performing science processes and asking questions related to self-perceived conceptual difficulties. The subjects were 11 elementary school teachers from a school district in Northeast Florida; they were enrolled in a…

Some central issues in discussions of creative processes in science are: (1) the mechanism(s) by which hypothesis formation takes place; (2) the sources of new knowledge during hypothesis formation; and (3) the "Eureka" versus steady accumulation (accretion) issue concerning the pace of change during hypothesis formation. This paper…

The Educational Technology Center (ETC) Complex Systems Project was initiated to explore ways of using computers to help students understand systems which have often proven too complex for most high school students to understand. Preliminary work concentrated on the cognitive processes involved in modeling simple systems. This paper describes an…

An understanding of the concepts of atoms and molecules is fundamental to the learning of chemistry. Any misconceptions and alternative conceptions related to these concepts which students harbor will impede much further learning. This paper identifies misconceptions related to the fundamental characteristics of atoms and molecules which Grade 12…

This study examines the relationship between student misconceptions and learning by focusing on six fifth-grade students as they attempt to make sense of classroom instruction on light and seeing. Pretests, posttests, and classroom observation narratives served as student data. Pretests indicate that students held the misconception that sight is…

Ciencias 1 is the first in a series of science books designed for elementary Portuguese-speaking students. The book contains five sections divided into 43 lessons. The five sections are (1) Matter, (2) The Human Body, (3) Weather, (4) Solids, Liquids, and Gases, and (5) Living Things. Pictorial presentations and picture exercises are included for…

This exploratory study was aimed at uncovering children's beliefs and ideas about the human circulatory system. Thirty-two subjects, aged 7 to 14 years, were interviewed using a modification of Piaget's clinical method. The data were analyzed by developing a conceptual inventory of beliefs for each of five research questions. It was found that the…

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate two hierarchically related measures of concept generalizability. The two concepts were "Insect" and "Animal." The tests were organized in a novel format consisting of three degrees of stimulus complexity. The three degrees of complexity contained sets of pictures of each…

It is suggested that most standardized science tests do not adequately assess the majority of concepts taught as part of the very diversified middle school science curriculum. The 50-item Life Science Test constructed by Portland Public Schools, Maine, herein presented, aims to resolve this inadequacy. The 40-minute multiple choice test…

Described is how teachers can use the Concept Structuring Analysis Technique (ConSAT) as a diagnostic, learning, and assessment task in teaching science. In essence, ConSAT assists students in organizing concepts on paper so that they may link what they already know to what they have to learn. The technique thus applies the philosophical notion of…

This paper argues that if researchers studying a recognized category of behavior, such as fantasy play or aggression, were to focus on prototypical instances of the behavior, there should be high inter-researcher agreement of just the sort that operational definitions were intended to secure. A study of fantasy play was conducted using a paradigm…

This publication was developed as a portion of a two-semester sequence commencing at either the sixth or seventh term of the undergraduate program in electrical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. The materials of the two courses, produced by a National Science Foundation grant, are concerned with power conversion systems comprising power…

This publication was developed as a portion of a two-semester sequence commencing at either the sixth or the seventh term of the undergraduate program in electrical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. The materials of the two courses, produced by a National Science Foundation grant, are concerned with power conversion systems comprising…

To further evaluate a method of content analysis and aid in identifying scientific concepts appropriate at the elementary level, science material in a standard textbook series was examined. This paper reports and summarizes the analysis of sections of the California state-adopted textbook series, "Concepts in Science." The conceptual…