The Accelerated Math and Science (AMS) Project is a 3 year program funded by the California Migrant Education Program Improvement Program. It targets 6th, 7th, and 8th grade low-achieving migrant students who are 2 to 4 years behind their language peer group. Two questions guided the second year evaluation study for the Region IX Migrant Education…

In designing materials for use in a contructivist learning environment, instructional designers still have a role in selecting the situations that may provide a stimulus for knowledge construction and providing features that support students and teachers in using these materials. This paper describes the process of designing a series of case-based…

The identification of the characteristics of teaching experts can help beginning teachers to learn and provide a picture for both beginning science teachers and science educators on what has been accomplished and what has to be done in the future. This study, as part of an evaluation project, was intended to investigate the progress of a group of…

This study examines the instructional experiences of a national sample of 1992 high school seniors in the subjects of science and mathematics. The study analyzes data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). The information on instruction comes from the NELS:88 1992 survey of teachers, which collected questionnaires from…

Noting that reasonableness is not to be equated with rationality but is a form of rationality, this book explores ways in which educators can help children develop the capacity to be reasonable within the context of moral development. In Chapter 1, "Reasonable Children," the concept "reasonableness" is defined in the context of…

This summary outlines the National Science Education Standards, the guidelines which define the science content that all students should know and be able to do and which also provide guidelines for assessment of student understanding of the content. This document contains a definition of the National Science Education Standards, a rationale for…

This paper reports on part of a cross-national study of science classroom environments in Taiwan and Australia. It focuses on teachers' beliefs about science and science teaching and the effects these beliefs have on the learning environment in the science classroom. Better understanding of this relationship between teacher beliefs and learning…

This report describes a three-part effort by the Florida Postsecondary Education Planning Commission to identify some of the current outstanding efforts to improve science and mathematics at the postsecondary level and to explore ideas on how these positive practices can be expanded. Site visits to three selected postsecondary institutions…

This curriculum review presents and comments on state and county trends in the curriculum offerings of Oklahoma secondary schools. For comparison, it provides the secondary level curriculum offered by each secondary school in the state. Vocational education offerings are not included. The state mandates four units of English, two of mathematics,…

The Science Academy of Austin (Texas) was given a 4-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant beginning in 1990-91. This evaluation report covers the third year of implementation. The grant provides a vehicle for linking the public and private sectors in Austin with the school system, providing in-depth partnerships for creating a thinking…

The purpose of this brief is to draw from the findings of the 1990 Reform Up Close study of high school mathematics and science in six states by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education in order to: (1) characterize standard-setting policies in high school mathematics and science, (2) document the effects of these standard-setting policies…

This revision of the "Basic/Essential Skills Taxonomy" exhibits changes based on use of the original taxonomy in the field. It features more precise definitions of the levels of key words and phrases, the deletion of some science items that ranged above basic skills, the combination of the language arts sections from the original two parts, and…

Attitudes of middle grade science teachers toward use of hands-on science were examined through the use of a 12 question Likert scale survey. The population consisted of Georgia Southwestern College Graduate School Division of Education students attending the Fall Quarter, 1993. Subjects selected were teachers who had taught or were currently…

A simple model of scientific inquiry was developed using non-technical language. One group of elementary school teachers was introduced to the model during a two-week summer institute where the model was used in conjunction with activity-based approaches to teaching. Participants applied the model in planning and facilitating activities for…

A study investigated whether the academic writing task surveys conducted at American universities reflect accurately the need for student academic writing skills. These surveys are used as a basis for designing composition courses for both native English-speakers and students of English as a second language. The study is restricted to surveys in…