This study examined the moral values embedded in the instruction and practice of higher education, focusing on instruction within three disciplines at a mid-sized residential university in the Pacific Northwest over the course of three semesters. Through classroom observations and transcriptions of tapes of classroom interaction in 46…

Science process skills include basic skills like observing, inferring, measuring, communicating, classifying, and predicting, as well as integrated skills like controlling variables, defining operationally, formulating hypotheses, interpreting data, experimenting, and formulating models. Recognition of the value of science process skills has…

This Dwight D. Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Education in-service project in northwest Indiana, based on a contextual constructivist perspective, sought to enhance science learning by improving science teaching in grades K-8. Elementary and middle school teachers from urban, suburban, and rural public and parochial schools attended a summer…

This book was written on the premise that learning science should be fun and rewarding. The teacher may use it as the foundation for an extended middle school curriculum spanning more than one year or to supplement an existing curriculum with individual sections or exercises from the book. The activities have been organized and designed in a…

This paper describes the task analysis of performance-based science tasks that were designed for the 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science assessment, now postponed until 1996, and field tested in 1993. A brief description of the science performance tasks is followed by a description of the task analyses performed and a…

This document presents the framework of standards in New York state for mathematics, science, and technology at elementary, intermediate, and commencement levels. This revised edition incorporates changes to the content standards and performance indicators based on extensive review by the public. As educational practice improves, these standards…

This study investigates the effectiveness of traditional and reform approaches in teaching earth science to future elementary school teachers. The research team was interested in whether reform strategies produce more content knowledge and a more positive change in attitude toward earth science among elementary education students when compared to…

Practicality is the "Achilles heel" of alternative assessment in middle school science. This 5-year study of an "early adopter" school explores factors that enable alternate assessment to thrive in spite of practical problems. Interviews with five seventh-grade life science teachers and five eighth-grade physical science teachers who initiated and…

The Lead Teacher Project at Ohio University included 84 teacher participants who represented 42 schools from 13 school districts in Appalachian Ohio. The project was designed to enhance the teaching and learning of science and mathematics at the elementary school level by helping the teacher participants develop skills, knowledge, attitudes, and…

More than one-fifth of American school-age children and youth come from language-minority families--homes in which languages other than English are spoken. This volume, the first in a series of three, presents findings of a study that examined exemplary school-reform efforts involving the education of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students. The…

Although portfolio assessment is becoming increasingly popular, it may not survive unless portfolio scoring can meet the demands of large-scale assessment standards. The results of studies of interrater reliability with large-scale portfolio assessments have been mixed. This paper reports the scoring results of a nationwide portfolio pilot in…

The Learning Cycle Strategy enables students themselves to construct discrete science concepts and includes an exploration phase, introduction phase, and application phase. This book focuses on the use of the Learning Cycle to teach physical sciences and is divided into three sections. Section I develops a rationale for the Learning Cycle as an…

This is the second in a series of books that provide high-interest reading material for rural adults who read below the seventh-grade level. The book provides information on science, technology, and the environment for the people of Appalachia and other rural areas, helping to bring the concepts and meaning of science within their grasp. Many of…

This theme issue contains six articles on improving math and science education for minority group students, particularly language-minority students. "Accelerating Content Area Gains for English Language Learners" (Laura Chris Green) describes the Young Scientists Acquiring English project, which seeks to improve the content-area…

This paper reports on the dilution effect of the ozone layer which jeopardizes a section of land in Chile from 53 degrees South latitude to 33 degrees South and the necessity of preparing the population for the possible ecological consequences of an increase in ultraviolet radiation. Scientists in Chile assume part of this task by studying the…