Structural formulas give professional chemists information about physical and chemical properties of corresponding compounds. In chemistry education at secondary schools, structural formulas are introduced in the context of chemical bonding. Structural formulas are not introduced as representations of the properties of chemical compounds. This…

With great emphasis on global learning and the greater influx of diverse international students into the community colleges, science instructors need more than ever before to make their classrooms culturally aware. This microbiology course includes a brief introduction to the role of bacteria and micro-organisms in industry, agriculture, and…

Students' own preconceptions are often resistant to change. According to researchers, conceptual conflict is an important factor in conceptual change; however, there is not enough evidence showing any relationship between cognitive conflict and conceptual change in the literature. This study aims to develop and validate the Cognitive Conflict…

This paper defines the processes of evolution and natural selection for the non-scientist, and summarizes its history in the context of scientific racism. Types of creationism are defined, and both evolution and creationism are contextualized in the theoretical frameworks of modernism and postmodernism. The philosophical differences between…

This round table discussion, with Ilya Prigogine and others of the Brussels school, consists of a series of questions and answers relating to thermodynamics and biological order. (JR)

Many standard physical chemistry textbooks contain ambiguities which lead to confusion about standard electrode potentials, calculating cell voltages, and writing reactions for galvanic cells. This article shows how standard electrode potentials can be used to calculate cell voltages and deduce cell reactions. (Author/RH)

Discusses the use of patterns in science teaching, such as the theme of energy fields, to enable students to develop a greater understanding of the unity of science and a greater awareness of the interaction of science with other areas of knowledge. (JR)

Discusses the optimality of natural selection, ways of testing for optimum solutions to problems of time - or energy-allocation in nature, optimum patterns in spatial distribution and diet breadth, and how best to travel over a feeding area so that food intake is maximized. (JR)

Discusses how difficult the various problems of pressure, partial pressure, gas laws, and vapor pressure are for students. Outlines the evolution of the concept of pressure, the gas equation for a perfect gas, partial pressures, saturated vapor pressure, Avogadro's hypothesis, Raoult's law, and the vapor pressure of ideal solutions. (JR)

Discusses a four-step instructional presentation in which the twin on the earth is demonstrated older than the twin aboard a spaceship on the basis of the relativistic Doppler effect. Concludes that both twins can meet again at the same place in space at the expense of time. (CC)

This article is an attempt to advance the effort to reconceptualize communication. (Author)

Consideration of the force of gravity in some simple accelerated systems. Ambiguity about the use of up'' and down'' arises in coordinate systems not at rest with respect to the surface of the earth. (DF)

It is suggested that integrated programs can be used with students from primary through college levels. Models are presented covering the process, thematic, applied science, environmental, project, concept, and pattern approaches. The importance of teacher education for such programs is also discussed. (DF)

Recognizes that physics, like other sciences, deals with information in the form of sense impressions. Concepts of mass length and time are not sensory experiences and should substitute instead the terms of force, displacement and time for better understanding. (PS)