This report summarizes trends in the job search experiences and employment outcomes of 1993-1994 physics graduates at all degree levels. Data were gathered via the American Institute of Physics' Employment Survey. Type of position secured in terms of permanence, fields of permanent employment, and level of utilization is reported for doctoral and…

This issue of ENC Focus highlights laserdiscs and CD-ROMs that encourage students to raise searching questions, enter debates, formulate opinions, and engage in problem solving and critical thinking. The laserdiscs and CD-ROMs were chosen based on the criteria of instructional design, content, and interest. Items featured include: The Chemistry…

This document is comprised of the four 1995-1996 issues of "Classroom Compass," a newsletter of the Eisenhower Southwest Consortium for the Improvement of Mathematics and Science Teaching. Each issue contains a "Resources and Opportunities" section, a reading list, excerpts from the National Science Education Standards, and…

This paper states and discusses general guidelines in teaching for conceptual change. Several important factors that seem to be necessary in meeting the guidelines in normal classrooms are considered. The factors relate to the teacher, student, and the classroom climate. The guidelines are illustrated using examples drawn from a fifth-grade…

This report presents the results of a 1995-96 survey of U.S. colleges and universities offering doctorate, masters, and bachelors degrees in physics and astronomy, focusing on degree production and current student enrollment. It found that a decade-long increase in physics doctorate production appeared to be leveling off, with the 1995 degree…

This guide includes complete installation descriptions of 30 exhibits. They include: the adjustable birthday cake, ball-in-tube, Bernoulli Box, chain wave, collapsible truss bridge, double wave device, eddy currents raceway, full-length mirror, geodesic domes, giant magnetic tangrams, harmonic cantilever, hyperboloid of revolution, lifting lever,…

Investigations of changes in conceptions during physics instruction are the logical and necessary steps to follow successful international research on students' preinstructional conceptions. The theoretical perspective integrates currently available frameworks of cognition, cognitive states, and cognitive processes in physics. Particular emphasis…

Any number of successful teaching strategies use a mixture of methods rich in language use to enhance conceptual learning. Not all language-rich teaching leads to equivalent conceptual gain. A year-long study was conducted in three high school physics classes to provide empirical support for the existence of effects of varying level of…

This book is a guide to 669 science and technology reference books for children and young people (third grade through high school). It includes some older well-established titles that may be out of print, newer editions, and newer books that have not been completely tested by time. The entries for the books contained in this guide are arranged by…

The proceedings of the International Conference on Energy Alternatives and Risk Education contains papers which examine science teaching in relation to societal aspects of risk assessment. A challenge for the conference was to show how science education can help students learn the concepts of acceptable and unacceptable risks, leading to rational…

From breathtaking glacial ravines of Yosemite Valley to weeds growing in neglected rain gutters, this book of activities combines art with scientific research questions. The book is designed to help educators encourage children in the upper primary grades to learn more about the natural world and in particular their local environment. Sixty…

This paper reports a study designed to examine the types of behaviors students exhibit while conducting laboratory activities and assess the effectiveness of strategies students employ. The sample was 42 students enrolled in a physics lab section at a single university. Three types of data were collected: (1) observational data during the lab…

Knowledge-in-action is a teacher's form of inherently knowing one's actions in the context of daily teaching activities. This article focuses on one physics teacher in a study and describes and analyzes his knowledge-in-action. Observations and interviews were used as data. Among the findings are the teacher's practice can be delineated into two…

This paper reports action research that focuses on gender as a social influence on learning through literacies such as listening, speaking, reading and writing, and orality. Data were collected in three physics classes taught by two teachers, one male and one female, representing three levels of physics. Teachers and researchers worked together in…

The purpose of this study was to examine Edward Lorenz's psychological processes and other environmental aspects in the discovery of chaos at that time. The general concept of chaos is discussed based on relations with previous scientific theories such as Newtonian physics and quantum mechanics. The constraints of discovery in terms of available…