National studies of science education have unanimously concluded that preparing our students for the demands of the 21st century workplace is one of the major goals. This paper describes a study of student activities in introductory college physics labs, which were designed to help students acquire abilities that are valuable in the workplace. In…

This study compared the performance of students using the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach and students using a standard or traditional laboratory curriculum on lecture exams and a laboratory practical exam on a specific topic, chemical equilibrium. The SWH helps students do inquiry science laboratory work by structuring the laboratory…

A multi-tool approach incorporating traditional lectures, multimedia learning objects, and a laboratory activity were introduced as the concepts surrounding hydrogen fuel-cell technology in college chemistry courses. The new tools are adaptable, facilitating use in different educational environments and address variety of learning styles to…

I was interested in whether the inclusion of a service-learning experience would affect students' attitudes and values about the environment. To investigate this question, I incorporated a service-learning project into the laboratory portion of one of the two sections of my non-majors biology course, and kept the lecture portions of the course…

The purpose of this study was to reconstruct writers' reasoning process as reflected in their written texts. The codes resulting from the text analysis were related to cognitive operations, ranging from simple to more sophisticated ones. The sequence of the cognitive operations as the text unfolded represents the writer's cognitive pathway at the…

The laboratory has long been an important part of the undergraduate science experience. This paper reports on a qualitative, grounded theory study on students' perceptions of the purpose of the laboratory. Thirteen undergraduate chemistry students were interviewed about their experiences in the science laboratory to provide data on students'…

This study assessed the effectiveness of an innovative science course for improving prospective elementary teachers' perceptions of laboratory learning environments and attitudes towards science. The sample consisted of 27 classes with 525 female students in a large urban university. Changing students' ideas about science laboratory teaching and…

This paper describes the effects of learning support on simulation-based learning in three learning models: experiment prompting, a hypothesis menu, and step guidance. A simulation learning system was implemented based on these three models, and the differences between simulation-based learning and traditional laboratory learning were explored in…

Active-learning strategies are increasingly being integrated into college-level science courses to make material more accessible to all students and to improve learning outcomes. One active-learning pedagogy, case-based learning (CBL), was developed as a way to both enhance engagement in the material and to accommodate diverse learning styles.…

The article describes a program sponsored by International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in which approximatey 60 children (14 to 17 years old) gifted in science spent much of 1941 after school hours in a science laboratory in IBM's showroom building. A number of these former students have achieved such positions as head of Goddard Space…

This paper deals with science laboratory assignments and physical education activity hours as aspects of the teaching load. The equation of laboratory and lecture hours was on a percentage figure, e.g., a one-to-one value was shown as 100% and two laboratory hours to one lecture hour was 50%. Seventy usable replies (from 79 inquiries) showed an…

Inexpensive, low-density polyethylene tubing has physical characteristics about midway between glass and rubber. For many laboratory uses it may be superior to both. (BB)

Rebuttal to a previous article maintains that laboratory experiences help students further develop their reasoning abilities. (Author/MLF)

This article discusses the involvement of the accreditation organization, the regulatory agencies, the consensus standards-writing organizations, and the laboratory community in the establishment of accreditation programs. (BB)

Describes procedures for the disposal of chemicals commonly used in secondary school chemistry laboratories. Special reference is given to inorganic salts. It is suggested that cyanides and other highly toxic salts should be disposed of by experts. (MA)