Discussed is the continual depletion of the world's natural resources and the plea of conservationists. An examination of the dialectic nature/nurture controversy is used to see whether this may account for the state of disharmony recorded between man and nature. (KR)

Reports on the relationship between students' propositional knowledge, measured by concept mapping tasks, and their study strategies, measured by self-report questionnaires, as it relates to the concept of photosynthesis as presented in a first-year biology course. Results indicate that involved, purposeful study strategies, prompted by relevant…

Indicates science background is essential to student preparation for the Environmental Health Profession and provides examples of problems that occur because of the lack of scientific understanding. Reviews reasons for the declining enrollment in college science programs and discusses the challenge of recruiting students with the skills necessary…

Science teachers and teacher educators need to reexamine the geoscience content in their courses. Public ignorance about science, in general, and about key concepts of the geological sciences, in particular, inhibits effective action on problems relating to environmental change, land utilization, hazard mitigation, construction safety, cost…

Describes a decision-making lesson where students rank genetic defects and syndromes from least to most severe. Students are then asked to draw a line in the continuum where they would not feel obligated to support the life, or in the case of an in utero life, maintain the pregnancy. (PR)

Asserts that the Model of Institutions of Excellence (MIE) program encourages institutions of higher education to increase the quantity and quality of students who have been traditionally under-represented in the fields of science, engineering, and math. Includes student perceptions of how technology and federal aid have helped improve their lives…

This interpretive case study describes a collaborative project involving a physics professor and a science educator. We report what was learned about factors that influenced the professor's development of teaching strategies, alternative to lecture, that were intended to promote prospective teachers' meaningful learning and their use of canonical…

This inquiry-based lab is designed around genetic diseases with a focus on protein structure and function. To allow students to work on their own investigatory projects, 10 projects on 10 different proteins were developed. Students are grouped in sections of 20 and work in pairs on each of the projects. To begin their investigation, students are…

The Teacher-Centered Systemic Reform model (TCSR) recognizes teaching context, teacher characteristics, teacher thinking, and their interactions as influential factors in attempts to implement classroom reform. Using the TCSR model, teachers' personal practical theories, and conceptual change as a framework, the authors of this article studied…

In their senior year, biochemistry majors at the University of Detroit Mercy take a senior seminar course entitled "Recent Advances in Biochemistry Related to Societal Issues." Students read papers selected from the current literature and take turns presenting these papers to the class. Papers are grouped into units dealing with molecular biology,…

In 1979, North European researchers met informally to discuss issues regarding women in science. In addition to discovering that the issues raised crossed national boundaries and cultural differences, they found that numerous efforts were underway to address their concerns. What started as an informal meeting has evolved today into an…

Research in science education has begun to identify common characteristics of students who continue to participate in school science beyond the minimum requirements. The overall objective of this study was to synthesize research findings in this area and thus clarify the variables and relationships affecting school science participation.…

A 4-year program of naturalistic research on science teaching and learning was conducted in Australia. This program comprised a project entitled Teaching and Learning Science in Schools (TLSS), which ran from 1987-89, and a year of follow-up studies in which some of the major findings from the project were explored further. Participants included 5…

Virtually every aspect of chemistry education was examined to determine changes needed to improve public understanding of science in general and chemistry in particular, and to improve the effectiveness of chemistry education. Among the findings reported are those indicating that: misunderstanding of science is widespread and public understanding…

The Group Internationale de Recherche sur l'Enseignment de la Physique (GIREP), known in English as The International Research Group on Physics Teaching, is an independent association for the improvement of physics teaching in schools and, to a lesser extent, at the interface between school and university. Provided in this three-part book is…