Explains the failing efforts in science education to develop scientifically literate students and argues that reforming science education requires changes throughout the system with clearly defined goals by schools and districts. Recommends professional development of teachers and administrators as the major key to education reform. (Contains 31…

Provides a rationale for teaching about controversial issues in science and outlines the pedagogical approaches and types of learning activities that are likely to be successful. (MM)

Explores the issue of curriculum integration, with a particular focus on science as a discipline and its relationship with other subjects. Presents the exploration in the form of a research journey. (Author/MM)

Explains the workings of a cooperative chemistry program at Kettering University. Presents the structure of the five-year program, including information on program development. Points out the advantages of involving students in cooperative programs early in their studies. (DDR)

Addresses some of the problems inherent both in traditional didactic science teaching and in approaches based on theories of conceptual change. Argues for helping students to acquire a better understanding of science (through an anthropological approach) and a better understanding of themselves as learners and science initiates. (Author/MM)

Raises questions about the purpose and scope of research in science education and comments on the questions that have occupied the attention of most researchers in science education in recent years. (Author/MM)

Draws on contemporary scholarship in the field of rhetoric and on recent research in science education conducted from a rhetorical perspective. Contends that such a perspective provides a useful insight into the aims and purposes of the science teacher. (Author/MM)

Describes the modular approach created by ChemConnections that involves change in content and pedagogy. Reports on two comparative evaluation studies that assess the impact of the modular approach on students' understanding, reasoning skills, and attitudes toward chemistry. Indicates that modular classroom section students outperformed the…

Describes a new curriculum called The Language of Chemistry designed to illustrate how problems of biological and/or medical importance can be understood on a molecular basis and to show that the logic, knowledge, and language needed are easily accessible. Among the case studies in the curriculum are the giant peacock moth, bacterial chemotaxis,…

Describes science teachers' positive and negative reactions to a literacy hour implemented into the science curriculum in England and Wales. (YDS)

This article is concerned with the founding purposes and justification of natural science in the statutory school curriculum. It offers a critique of the strand of argument and the proposals for reform which have developed after the report "Beyond 2000" focused on a particular usage of the term "scientific literacy". Two lines of argument are…

While there is frequent talk of integrating science with mathematics, and more recently, science with literacy, the author has always felt that at the elementary level there is more overlap between social studies and science. Mathematics and literacy share essential skills with science (e. g., measurement and data collection, observation and…

Chemistry should be fun and exciting, but much preparation and skill are needed by the teacher and students in working with chemicals. Unfortunately, accidents do happen and things can blow up, but these incidents can help be prevented by knowing and following proper safety procedures. Knowing which chemicals are appropriate for the middle level…

This study focused on informal reasoning regarding socioscientific issues. It sought to explore how content knowledge influenced the negotiation and resolution of contentious and complex scenarios based on genetic engineering. Two hundred and sixty-nine students drawn from undergraduate natural science and nonnatural science courses completed a…

This article examines the merits of the proposition that design and inquiry are conceptual parallels. It does so by first looking closely at the inquiry-related discourse within science education, then at aspects of the design discourse within engineering, and finally within technology education. Convergences and divergences of these two streams…