Discusses the need for chemistry laboratory safety procedures. Provides descriptions of techniques to increase students' awareness of the symptoms of such things as toxic gas clouds that could escape into the laboratory, along with defensive strategies for reacting to such situations. (TW)

Describes a procedure for constructing point groups based on the symmetric parent molecules of methane and adamantane. Intended for use in teaching concepts such as subgroups and cosets to beginners in group theory. (TW)

Advocates using classic lectures in chemistry as guidelines for good teaching. Uses quotes from an 1848 book of lectures by John Scoffern to illustrate teaching principles relating to teacher enthusiasm, relevant materials, simple demonstrations, good laboratory experiences, nomenclature, and practical applications. (TW)

Reports on a chemistry laboratory accident intervention study conducted throughout the state of Colorado. Addresses the results of an initial survey of institutions of higher learning. Discusses some legal aspects concerning academic chemistry accidents. Provides some observations about academic chemistry laboratory accidents on the whole. (TW)

Describes a teacher's system for rotating chemistry laboratory exercises in an effort to teach the basic laboratory techniques with a minimum of equipment. Outlines the basic techniques and procedures taught during a two-week rotation schedule. Lists advantages of this approach and guidelines for scheduling. (TW)

Describes two demonstrations used in laboratory chemistry courses. Discusses a "pH-activated" display used to chemically and visually supplement lecture demonstrations. Outlines another demonstration designed to show that copper(II) chloride is made of two ions, blue and yellow, which are combined to produce green. (TW)

Contains six abstracts of papers from the National Educational Computing Conference of 1986. Topics of the papers focus on the effects of teacher involvement, computer programs in applied mathematics and physics, microcomputer labs in science, graphing misconceptions, science simulations, and mastery learning with computers. (ML)

Reviews the objectives, techniques, and offerings of an Environmental Science program at Netherley School in England. Provides samples of activities and suggests how exercises in the immediate surroundings can help develop scientific and decision making skills as well as foster respect and appreciation for the environment. (ML)

A causal model, which included background/family traits, secondary school experiences, pre-college career choice, college major, college achievement and on-campus science-oriented work experience, was tested on 5162 students from 74 institutions. Science oriented on-campus work experience positively influenced science career choice for both sexes,…

Presents results of interactive discussions between teachers and educational researchers on student learning theories. Emphasizes the need for development of alternative teaching and learning activities for understanding science concepts. Also recommends active engagement of the learner and consideration of existing knowledge in constructing…

Two separate reports are presented. The first report describes an activity-based science program for students who have English as a second language. Results of an investigation into the educational experiences and attitudes of girls studying physical science are discussed in the second report. (ML)

The effects of controversy and concurrence seeking and participation in age-homogeneous and age-heterogeneous cooperative learning groups were compared on achievement, achievement motivation, perspective-taking accuracy, and interpersonal attraction. In addition, the interaction among students (N=112 fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-graders) within the…

Long-term retention effects of two methods of instruction used one year earlier to teach field-dependent and field-independent sixth-grade students to control variables and to transfer this ability to novel tasks were investigated. Also examined whether or not uninstructed seventh-grade students had acquired this ability on their own. (Author/JN)

Provides abstracts of papers, workshops, and symposia presented at the January 21-24, 1985 joint winter meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) and the American Physical Society (APS). The complete program of the meeting is included. (JN)

The 338 14-year-olds who participated in a study to determine effects of pictures on readability of science topics completed a cloze test during the study and an objective items recognition test afterwards. Posttest scores showed pictures made topic easier to remember although they had little effect on cloze test results. (MBR)