This study, conducted from a constructivist perspective, examined the belief system of a prospective elementary teacher (Barbara) about science teaching and learning as she developed professional knowledge within the context of reflective science teacher education. From an analysis of interviews, observation, and written documents, I constructed a…

This article explores the potential of using students' science notebooks to help elementary teachers monitor conceptual understanding. Data came from 25 teachers and their 4th- and 5th-grade students working on a unit on electricity. At the time data were collected, 8 of the teachers had received professional development on science content…

How can various features of internet-based instruction be adapted to help students with different learning styles to grasp important science concepts? Are there ways of defining and measuring these differences that instructors without much background in educational psychology might find easier to apply than some of the better-known examples? How…

Written words are laid out in space and exist on the page all at once, but a reader can only read a few words at a time. For readers, written words are trapped in the medium of time. So how can we best organize writing for readers? Traditional techniques of organization tend to stress the arrangement of parts in space and certain metadiscoursal…

The diversity and interdisciplinarity of computer science and the multiplicity of its uses in other sciences make it hard to define computer science and to prescribe how computer science should be carried out. The diversity of computer science also causes friction between computer scientists from different branches. Computer science curricula, as…

Scientific literacy is the ultimate goal in science education world-wide; especially in this modern society of science and technology. How to help individuals to make good judgments and promote their skills of argumentation becomes an important issue. Meanwhile, in the Information Age, visual image is an important medium for conveying information.…

Graphs of objects in motion are frequently used in introductory high school or college physics courses since they offer a valuable alternative to verbal and algebraic descriptions by offering students another way of manipulating the developing concepts. If graphs are to be a valuable tool for students, then the level of the students' graphing…

Pedagogical content knowledge, the content-specific knowledge which embodies the aspects of content most germane to its teachability and which is most likely to distinguish the understanding of the content specialist from the pedagogue, has been widely regarded as important for effective teaching of complex subject matter such as science. This…

Missouri's Framework for Curriculum Development in Science acknowledges that teachers will bring the vision, ideals, and principles of the Show-Me Standards of the state of Missouri into their classrooms in exciting and innovative ways. The role of the frameworks is to provide districts with a "frame" for building curricula using the…

This document examines children's and adults' knowledge of observational astronomy and characterizes the kinds of mental models students form when asked questions in astronomy. Mental models were grouped into three categories: intuitive, synthetic, and scientific. Implications for the design of curricula and for instruction are identified. In…

Cognetics provides an exciting cooperative learning experience for students that develops both thinking skills and content knowledge. In Cognetics, teams of students in grades 3 to 12 create solutions to problems. This set contains a student manual and a teacher's manual. The teacher's manual explains the concept of cognetics and then provides…

The program and abstracts of the presentations of the 1992 meeting of the Society for College Science Teachers are the topics of this report. Society officers are listed, a history of the society is provided, and membership information is given. The presentations reflect different topics in the teaching of college science. The abstracts of…

A research project identified new and emerging science concepts that should be taught in high school vocational agriculture. Agricultural scientists on an advisory panel identified the emerging science concepts. The majority were in the areas of plant science and animal science. Animal science was completely reorganized with greater emphasis on…

The purpose of the study was to identify differences in cognitive skills associated with differing rates of predictive reasoning success for high school biology students, to determine possible correlations between predictive success and cognitive operational level, and to assess whether directed practice facilitated problem-solving success. The…

This book provides examples of a few simple activities that parents can do with their children. Being "scientific" is defined as being curious, observing, asking how things happen, and learning how to find the answers. This book suggests ways parents can interest their children from about 3 to 10 years of age in science. Included are (1)…