The Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project (ZIM-SCI) developed student study guides, corresponding teaching guides, and science kits for a low-cost science course which could be taught during the first 2 years of secondary school without the aid of qualified teachers and conventional laboratories. This teaching guide, designed to be read in…

Several central ideas emerging from a systematic approach to teaching problem-solving in the quantitative sciences (chemistry, physics, engineering) are discussed. Areas addressed include: differences between teaching and performance, between naturalistic and effective functioning, and between detailed observations and gross statistical data;…

Studies have shown that students, after having studied physics concepts and being familiar with them for an appreciable time, may nevertheless lack the ancillary knowledge needed to use such concepts reliably; correspondingly, they exhibit major misconceptions and errors. Provided in this paper is an analysis of the ancillary knowledge required to…

The hypothesis as to the atomic structure of any given substance is introduced in many physics and chemistry textbooks by conveying the idea of repetitive division of a given amount of substance, for example, by grinding, dissolving, or evaporating. The rationale for this approach is the assumption of students inferring that this process of…

One area explored in the second (in-depth) phase of the Learning in Science Project was "children's science," defined as views of the world and the meanings for words that children have and bring with them to science lessons. The investigation reported focuses on students' thinking regarding their views on friction. Students (N=47) were…

This paper reports on the effects of structuring problem solving activities of novices in the domain of physics in a way consistent with the problem solving approaches used by experts. A total of 42 undergraduate students who completed a first semester physics course and received a grade of B or better participated in this study. The treatment…

This study compared the effects of cooperative learning groups to traditional instruction in remediating students' misconceptions about temperature. Students from grades 3, 4, and 5 in two rural elementary schools participated in the study. Students completed a pretest, a cognitive conflict laboratory activity and a posttest that measured…

Three studies of cooperative problem solving among university students examined how to design effective computer-based support for collaborative learning in distance education. The first was a questionnaire study of 150 Open University students who had participated in three different courses in physics and mathematics. Its aim was to determine…

Some semanticists have argued that technical vocabulary or terminology is extralinguistic and therefore semantically uninteresting. However, no boundary exists in linguistic reality between terminology and ordinary vocabulary. Rather, terminologies and ordinary language exist on a continuum, and terminology is therefore a legitimate field for…

Results of the 1984-1985 Graduate Student Survey of physics and astronomy graduates are presented, with attention to: educational background, current graduate student status, choice of subfield, and employment prospects. Highlights include: a major increase occurred in the proportion of foreign physics doctorate recipients; the number and…

Results of the 1982-1983 Graduate Student Survey of physics and astronomy graduates in the United States are presented. Information is provided on the educational background, current graduate student status, choice of subfield, and employment prospects. Highlights include the following findings: an increase occurred in the proportion of foreign…

Safety hazards that are frequently found in science classrooms are addressed in this digest which updates and supplements the 1980 ERIC/SMEAC information bulletin "Safety in the Science Classroom." Information obtained from journal articles and safety guides is presented in the categories of: (1) risks involved in science activities; (2)…

This report describes the development, use, and evaluation of an interactive video lesson for a community college level algebraic-based general physics class that could be used to demonstrate Newton's laws and the conservation of momentum. The lesson consisted of five mini-lessons including an introduction, a presentation of Newton's laws, a…

This document presents a course in the science of nuclear energy, units of which may be included in high school physics, chemistry, and biology classes. It is intended for the use of teachers whose students have already completed algebra and chemistry or physics. Included in this paper are the objectives of this course, a course outline, a…

Doctoral degrees in science education have been established in several European countries during the past years. This study attempts to survey this development in nine European countries (Austria, Federal Republic of Germany, Finland, France, German Democratic Republic, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom) and in the United States.…