Teaching strategies associated with a conceptual change model of science teaching were examined in a study of seventh-grade life science teachers (n=13). Greater use of conceptual change teaching strategies was associated with use of the special instructional materials, not with the training. Students in classes where teachers were provided with…

In introductory physics courses at the Pennsylvania State University, student preparation outside class was inadequate to meet course needs. The plan-do-check-act cycle of the Total Quality Management approach was successfully used in this situation to evaluate instructional changes and help balance increased student assignments with increased…

Describes three programs designed to attract students to science education: Project 2061, developing curriculum models and blueprints for science teacher education; the Scope, Sequence, and Coordination Project, recommending that science be taught each year in grades 6-12; and the National Science Education Standards project, developing standards…

Presents an activity that models the changes in the concentration of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere during the last 200 years as determined from glacial records. (PR)

A new classification of rocks that requires no tools other than a hand lens and that is both comprehensive and informative is described. Each of the three main rock groups is treated in two-dimensional, rectangular charts with additional appended boxes that provide optional mineralogical and textural terms that can be used in rock names. (PR)

Requiring students in one introductory college course on weather/climate to keep logs with articles from popular media was found to produce three types of log topics with three kinds of relationship to course content. The technique helped students think more actively and provided the teacher with new course material. (MSE)

Describes a study that investigated the effects of using different forms of computer-based feedback on high school students' learning of science material. Hypotheses tested are discussed, five feedback conditions are described, posttests are explained, and results are discussed in terms of the information processing effects of different feedback…

Describes an activity where students generate a plan and test their ideas on trying to cope with a small oil spill. (PR)

Explains how literature constructs can support science curriculum in an integrated unit model. Literature is integrated to complement science, but the literature activities are feasible in their own right. The result is an organized and purposeful exploration of concepts from two points of view that may be used as separate lessons or incorporated…

Explains that the science curriculum does little to raise the self-esteem of children from some ethnic groups and is seen by many as irrelevant to their experiences, needs, and interests. Explores ways these deficiencies can be rectified to help all children acquire scientific knowledge, interests, and skills without doing violence to their…

Describes a lesson on pseudoscience for a teaching methods course that promotes active student participation, is not a laboratory activity, and follows the sequence of the three phases associated with the learning cycle model. Contains a true-false science questionnaire to be administered to students as a bridge to discussion. (PR)

Describes the SCI-LINK Project that explored ways of linking research scientists and school science teachers. From the evaluation of the project, it is concluded that it helped teachers have a better understanding of scientific environmental research and recent findings. It also allowed teachers to develop activities and other instructional…

Describes school science as a rite of passage, and exposes problems in school science that are made visible through the use of this metaphor. (PR)

Describes a contemporary adaptation of the "Footprint Puzzle," whigh was first developed in the 1960s for the Earth Science Curriculum Project. Students sequentially look at three frames of track drawings. For each frame, students first list observations and then make inferences about the observations. (PR)

Describes a sequence of activities in which students set up a classroom aquarium to learn about aquaculture. Discusses the aquarium system, filtration and maintenance, adding organisms to the system, technological considerations, aquaculture economics, and political and social aspects of aquaculture. (MDH)