The purpose of this study is to describe the assessment environment in constructivist-oriented science, technology, and society (STS) classrooms. Data were gathered from in-depth interviews and subjected to a constant comparative analysis associated with a grounded theory model. Three themes emerged from the analysis: (1) a description of the…

The goals of the Trans European Mobility Program for University Students (TEMPUS) project include developing curriculum and implementing language and culture training programs with a focus on German and Japanese, and training engineers who have a global perspective. This document contains an executive summary in addition to the full length report…

Presented at a 1996 conference on the implications of the Human Genome Project for community and technical colleges, the 30 papers included in this monograph describe methods for incorporating genetics studies into the two-year college curriculum. Among the papers provided are: (1) "Facing the Unknown: The Ethical Challenges of…

This study suggests the use of a systemic process approach to the analysis of students' understanding of biological systems. A unified model was employed to enable the capture of the dynamic nature of biological processes and phenomena. The study is based on the integration of two conceptual frameworks, one related to systems and the other to the…

An action research framework is used to learn what cooperative learning activities mean to students in a physical chemistry course, to discover how the activities can be improved, and to learn how students' perception of cooperative learning changes. Through an analysis of field notes and a student questionnaire, two findings emerged which…

The purpose of this safety manual is to provide a resource to help manage and minimize potential risks in science classrooms where students spend up to 60% of instructional time engaged in hands-on activities. This manual contains information on standards, legal aspects, and responsibilities for science safety; general laboratory safety for…

Seventy-two students enrolled in elementary science education methods courses participated in a study designed to reveal student views about the nature of science prior to, during, and upon completion of the course. The course employed various teaching approaches and activities to help students develop more adequate views about the nature of…

The National Aeronautical Space Administration's (NASA) Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) produces a wide range of products for teachers and students and supports educational activities for all grade levels in cooperation with the NASA Headquarters Education Division. This catalog presents the diverse educational programs, products, and resources…

Environmental Education since its emergence, through the international conferences of the 1970s, has been described as an interdisciplinary field which means that it requires contributions from a number of other disciplines, science being one of them. Many educators have questioned the possibility of traditional school disciplines to promote the…

In their complex nature, early adolescents want to believe in their teachers. Teachers demonstrating what they believe earn respect from students. In science education, it is vital to link scientific phenomena to daily life and social decision making skills to engage students in developing science-process skills. The science-technology- society…

This document addresses physics programs in community college in 2001-2002. The data was gathered from a list of 1,785 community colleges. A survey was mailed to the various campuses as well as sent via email yielding to a 78% response rate. Physics programs in community colleges were often so small that 43% of departments that offered physics had…

This interpretive case study of a teacher aims to provide an account of the difficulties and rewards of putting innovative teaching into practice. Detailed descriptions of classroom life are used to explore one teacher's attempts to make technology-enhanced, open-ended inquiry a successful mode of teaching science in the secondary school…

This book is designed to assist teachers at the 9-12 grade levels in addressing the goals of the National Science Education Standards (NSES) in their own classrooms concerning the teaching and learning of chemistry. The Standards expect students to learn science in an active manner and emphasizes methods of inquiry and deductive reasoning based on…

This paper investigates the perceptions of scientists and their awareness of issues, goals, and beliefs related to gender and ethnicity in science and questions the curriculum, classroom management, and teaching strategies of instructors. The study examined 18 science faculty members' perceptions in a professional development seminar series and…

Research on group learning has focused almost exclusively on interactions among individuals within groups; there has been little research on phenomena occurring between groups of learners in classrooms. This exploratory study identifies, describes, and categorizes events occurring between members of different learning groups in three ninth-grade…