Describes a study that analyzes variables affecting students' decisions to withdraw from liberal arts and science courses. Findings indicated that students with higher GPAs were more likely to withdraw from class than students with low GPAs, perhaps to preserve their averages and repeat the course with higher grades. Contains five data tables and…

Reviews the current goals of a laboratory course and describes experiences in using laboratory time to cover several important topics related to industry and academia. Discusses several subjects and presents related experiments. Contains 184 references. (DDR)

Introduces the Instructional Technology Project (ITP) which provides universal, 24 hours/7 days a week Internet access to both students and faculty and incorporates technology into the curriculum. Uses five different modules involving technology that include e-mail, electronic discussion board, CD-ROM and multimedia, internet browsers, and…

By comparing pretests and posttests of elementary school teachers trained in the Full Option Science System, it is concluded that teachers showed gains in teacher confidence, science content knowledge, and attitude toward teaching science. (PR)

Describes a course in which societal themes of risk/reward analysis and public policy are supplemented with concepts of scientific journalism, public opinion, and law. Topic areas include environmental chemicals and their impact, basic introduction to organic chemistry, and consumer chemicals. Contains 20 references. (DDR)

Presents a brief legal history of the evolution/creationism controversy as a means of highlighting the issues involved in the controversy. Argues that understanding this legal history has many benefits to student understanding. Contains 46 references. (DDR)

Presents the results of a study on preservice teachers' conceptions of an environmental scientist at work. The teachers (N=65) were participants in a two-week project that focused on integrating environmental science research into the science curriculum. (DDR)

Reports on initiatives taken to promote project-based learning by information and communication technology in both pilot and large scale projects. Reviews the history of paradigm shifts with regard to technological advances. (DDR)

Points out that a shift toward inquiry-based learning is one of the main tenants of a new approach to science education that also includes technology and the history and nature of science. Includes a sample lesson of how science educators can incorporate the Internet into the classroom. (DDR)

Describes a five-year plan for educational research and evaluation at the Disney Animal Kingdom. Focuses on conservation-related issues and presents some of the preliminary results from the study of visitor attitudes. (DDR)

Presents a brief argument for Science Technology Society (STS) studies as grounded in fundamental historical transformations of the human condition, outlines seven distinct approaches to STS, and concludes with a brief for STS as the new form of liberal education. (Contains 11 references.) (Author)

This study analyzes the impact of an integrated sensory model within a thermal equilibrium visualization. We hypothesized that this intervention would not only help students revise their disruptive experientially supported ideas about why objects feel hot or cold, but also increase their understanding of thermal equilibrium. The analysis…

A consensus of key nature of science ideas appropriate for inclusion in the K-12 science curriculum has begun to emerge from a review by science educators of the extensive literature in the history and philosophy of science. The authors in this issue of "The Science Teacher" suggest surprisingly parallel sets of NOS content goals for K-12 science…

This investigation explores how underrepresented urban students made sense of their first experience with high school science. The study sought to identify how students' assimilation into the science classroom reflected their interpretation of science itself in relation to their academic identities. The primary objectives were to examine students'…

We implemented a series of three guided controversies to provide experience in environmental problem solving to students in a science course designed for nonmajors. Students wrote essays in response to their experiences in each controversy; we analyzed these essays for five problem-solving criteria. A questionnaire administered at the end of the…