The theme of this Indiana University-Bloomington newsletter is campus teaching improvement. Anya Royce outlines efforts of the Dean of Faculties Office to help improve teaching overall and especially the training of graduate student instructors, called associate instructors (AIs). Training AIs in three departments is described: Cathy Pons for…

This document contains prepared remarks and testimony of the hearings before the subcommittee on science, research and technology regarding the oversight of the National Science Foundation (NSF) particularly the status of science education in the United States. The document includes the testimony and prepared statements of: (1) Hon. Sherwood…

In 1988, the Office for Undergraduate Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Education (USEME) convened a series of disciplinary workshops designed to obtain a better understanding of the conditions and trends in undergraduate education in the United States in seven critical areas: Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Geosciences,…

The purpose of this study is to improve attitudes toward learning science and inquiry-based, science teaching through specially designed instruction in a science methods course for preservice teachers. Eighty preservice teachers over two terms elected to complete one of two projects as part of their science methods course. The "Discussions in…

Research indicates that the educational effectiveness of Microcomputer-Based Laboratories (MBL) may be due to the real time nature of the experience. This article describes a study where kinesthetic feedback was completely removed by giving students only visual replications of a motion situation. If simultaneity of perception is the important…

One of the primary goals in many teacher education programs is to design and to implement specific courses, strategies, and methods that promote positive attitude toward science and science teaching among elementary education majors. This paper describes the effects of a biology content course, patterned after innovative elementary school science…

The purpose of this investigation was to measure the attitudes of college students across the United States concerning the possible use of genetic manipulation, especially in terms of enhancing human physical and intellectual characteristics. The instrument used was divided into three general areas of inquiry: the first, designed to measure the…

"Women and Minorities in Science" was developed as a course that would bridge the gap between traditional women's studies and Afro-American studies courses. This paper provides a descriptive account of how the course was developed and discusses its content and instructional approach. The class schedule is provided and includes a listing of the…

Attitudes toward science and technology issues and policies are reviewed in this analysis of the "attentive public." The study establishes the size of the attentive public for science, its growth over time, its social composition, the recruitment and socialization of science attentives in the high school and college years, the areas of…

In this paper examples of the role of analogical reasoning in expert problem solving are presented. These are intended to show that using an analogy can change an expert's understanding of a problem situation by changing the conceptual model he or she uses to think about the situation. This suggests that using a good analogy may allow students to…

This paper presents evidence to indicate that spontaneously generated analogies can play a significant role in the problem solving process of scientifically trained individuals. In addition, it is suggested that these individuals exhibit more than one method for generating analogies. Ten scientists (representing physics, mathematics, and computer…

In this study 34 spontaneous analogies produced by 16 college freshmen while solving qualitative physics problems are analyzed. A number of the analogies were invalid in the sense that they led to an incorrect answer from the physicist's point of view. However, many were valid, and a few were powerful in the sense that they seemed not only to help…

The English version of a Polish journal on higher education is presented. Included are 19 articles on the problems and experiences of these institutions, three articles on teacher's workshops, and three review articles. Titles and authors include: "Polish Science in 1973-1986" (Benon Miskiewicz); "The Humanism of the Contemporary…

Knowing the relationship of the ocean to man, the weather and climate, availability of resources from the ocean, use of the ocean in transporation, waste disposal, and defense, and developing an understanding of the impact on the oceans of human activity are all goals of oceanographers. The goal of this brochure is to provide concise informative…

This publication is a compilation of papers presented at a research seminar in November 1986 at Curtin University of Technology, Australia. Five papers are included. Jane Butler Kahle's keynote address, "Images of Science: The Physicist and the Cowboy," outlines several aspects of the role of schools in the reproducion of the masculine image of…