An experimental study was designed to study the effectiveness of Problem Based Learning (PBL) in the context of higher education in an urban-city university in Lima, Peru. In the fall semester of 2004, eleven sections of Chemistry 1 were offered to first year students in the College of Science at this University. In six of these eleven sections…

There is much information from educational psychology studies on how people learn. The thesis of this paper is that we should use this information to guide the ways in which we teach rather than blindly using our traditional methods. In this context, problem-based learning (PBL), as a method of teaching widely used in medical schools but…

This article reports on research into learning gains made by children aged 10-12 when they studied astronomy using learning activities in a constructivist environment consolidated by access through the Internet to a scientific-grade telescope. Young people often hold naive or alternative ideas about scientific phenomena from early childhood. Since…

This article summarises the main uses and affordances (the perceived qualities of systems that can support or hinder interactions: Greeno & MMAP, 1998) of interactive technologies commonly used in school science. Its main emphasis, however, is on eliciting and documenting the emerging strategies that teachers are developing for exploiting the new…

Technological advances in the new millennium may evoke disquiet among administrators and teachers taxed with understanding how to harness new capabilities and merge them with sound pedagogy. To understand how gaming might bridge the gap between student interest and how lessons are taught, graduate students in science education at North Carolina…

This article offers a review of the major literature about attitudes to science and its implications over the past 20 years. It argues that the continuing decline in numbers choosing to study science at the point of choice requires a research focus on students' attitudes to science if the nature of the problem is to be understood and remediated.…

We have investigated the conceptual understandings of seventy-eight 16-year-old Australian high school students' and their knowledge about several issues related to nuclear energy. As a result of their study of the physics topic Nuclear Technology, the students learned more about applications of nuclear technology, had better though still…

The purpose of this study was to provide recommendations to teachers who are interested in implementing Internet inquiry projects. Four classes of ninth-and tenth-grade honors students (N = 100) participated in an Internet inquiry project in which they were presented with an ecology question that required them to make a decision based on…

This study represents a collaborative school university partnership. Using a mixed-method approach, the authors report on the motivational and psychological consequences of students choosing their groupmates in cooperative learning triads. 139 students in five science classes participated in this study. Classes were randomly assigned to condition:…

This article examines the impact of the "new professionalism" on the culture of professional development of science teachers. In the era of "new professionalism" there is an expectation that teachers will engage in professional development, but rather than encouraging an intrinsic desire to learn as professionals, it promotes…

The problem addressed in the study was whether 10- and 11-year-old children, collaborating within a computer-supported classroom, could engage in progressive inquiry that exhibits an essential principal feature of mature scientific inquiry: namely, engagement in increasingly deep levels of explanation. Technical infrastructure for the study was…

Science instruction is typically highly dependent on visual representations of scientific concepts that are communicated through textbooks, teacher presentations, and computer-based multimedia materials. Little is known about how students with visual impairments access and interpret these types of visually-dependent instructional materials. This…

This paper discusses the findings of an evaluative and interpretive study into the potential of in-service education to improve science education in Swaziland. Short-term and long-term effects of an in-service intervention are evaluated in terms of changes in classroom processes. The teaching approach of participating teachers has been monitored…

Educators who thoroughly investigate data, raise questions, examine student learning, test their hypotheses, and then share their findings are mirroring effective math and science instruction. Using collaborative inquiry, data teams can help improve teacher knowledge and help teachers change their practice in ways that will enhance student…

I have examined how frequency of assessment impacts learning in an undergraduate biology course employing a student-centered, active-learning pedagogy. Frequent assessment was associated with better student performance and greater retention of course concepts. Improvement of higher-order thinking skills may require more classroom practice.…