Presents an interview with Angela Collins, director of the National Science Education Standards Projects from 1991 to 1995, on educational reforms in science education standards. (ASK)

Attempts to make explicit the recurrent tensions in debates about the purpose of science education and considers past frameworks for the aims of science education, arguing that no one element of the range of goals of science education should be over-emphasized at the expense of others. (Author/MM)

Charts some of the landmarks in the tortuous path towards science becoming an established part of primary education over the last 100 years. While ideas and practices have come and gone, overall there has been real change in the status and quality of teaching and learning in science. (Contains 32 references.) (Author/ASK)

Provides an overview of the various integrated environmental studies programs operating in Ontario secondary schools. Highlights student perspectives and concludes by discussing the promises and limitations of these programs. (Contains 38 references.) (DDR)

Reports on a meeting in China in 1999 that focused on the origins of animal body plans and their fossil records. Discusses the theoretical implications of fossils that preserve internal as well as external structures. (DDR)

Presents an historical perspective of science education in the United States to explain current teaching and curriculum approaches. (YDS)

Reports on an evaluation of the impact of two science enrichment programs on gifted high school students (n=330). Evaluates the programs using a multimethod, multiperspective approach that proves to be a comprehensive evaluation of program impact on science attitudes. (Contains 57 references.) (DDR)

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of science education courses on a group of Taiwanese inservice and preservice teachers' views toward the nature of science. There were two science education courses in the study; one was for 36 inservice teachers, while the other one was for 32 preservice teachers. Both of the courses included…

It is suggested that molecular theory should be taught earlier in the inorganic chemistry curriculum even in the introductory chemistry course in order to integrate molecular orbital arguments more effectively throughout the curriculum. The method of teaching relies on having access to molecular modeling software as having access to such software…

Science controversy has the potential to reinforce students' understanding of important biological concepts as well as helping students forge connections between concepts they may have previously seen disparate. Science controversy has the potential to help students make cross-disciplinary connections and therefore it should become an integral…

A simple, qualitative experiment is developed for implementation, where the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) plays an important role, into the laboratory curriculum of a chemistry course designed for nonscience majors. This laboratory experiment is well suited for the students as it helps them to determine the validity of their…

Accepting that scientific literacy is the primary purpose of science in the compulsory years of schooling leads to the question 'What does scientific literacy mean in a particular community?' This paper reports a study designed to provide some insight into that question. Data were gathered through interviews with a sample of community leaders, in…

Develops activities based on pedagogical research that indicate that student engagement and comprehension are enhanced by methodologies that promote active participation, critical thinking, and an interdisciplinary, contextualist approach to teach evolutionary theory to students in an upper-division, capstone course. Provides critical thinking…

The new science curriculum in Ireland is promoting a more scientific culture in the primary phase. For many years, science teaching in the Republic of Ireland at primary level was little more than a comprehension exercise. However, with the introduction of the new curriculum in 1998, science education has changed radically, becoming a more…

Increasingly, teaching assistants and parents are engaging with children across the curriculum in group-led activities. However, whereas in literacy and numeracy the outcome of activities is predetermined and the same objectives and teaching points are reinforced over a week or a fortnight, in science things can be very different. Helpers often…