The purpose of this study was to construct and study the impact of a research-based sequence for teaching the concept of modelling to seventh-grade science students. We identified students' notions of models and the aspects of school science to be addressed regarding the model concept, which were then taken into account when we planned the…

The Rutgers Astrophysics Institute is a program in which gifted high school students learn about contemporary science and its methods, and conduct independent authentic research using real-time data. The students use the processes of science to acquire knowledge, and serve as cognitive apprentices to an expert astrophysicist. A variety of…

Combining both the Western perspective of creativity as productivity and the Eastern perspective of creativity as enlightenment, a Program for Enlightened and Productive Creativity (PEPC) for teaching inquiry was devised. The PEPC describes stages through which a student is guided to solve a problem using increasingly complex observation, inquiry,…

The goal of the study was twofold: (1) to examine the relationship between the gender-stereotyped perceptions of prototypic peers excelling in different school subjects and the personal liking for these subjects: (2) to examine whether the popularity of adolescents depends on their gender-role congruent achievement at school. Participants were n =…

This article is the first of a two-part review of research on children's and adults understanding of gravity and on how best to teach gravity concepts to students and teachers. This first article concerns free fall--how and why objects fall when they are dropped. The review begins with a brief historical sketch of how these ideas were developed in…

At some point in their education, pre-engineering students will take physics and/or calculus. For many freshmen who aren't certain about their career paths, taking these courses is a litmus test to determine whether they have the aptitude or desire to pursue an engineering degree. Therein lies the challenge for many students in the U.S. Science,…

This paper reports on the results of an action research to explore the effectiveness of using cooperative learning strategies on students' academic achievement, their understanding of physics concepts and their motivation to learn in the physics classroom. The study involved a secondary four express physics class of 41 students in a neighbourhood…

One hundred thirty-seven students in 12th grade physics classes participated in a quasi-experimental study comparing the jigsaw classroom method of cooperative instruction with traditional direct instruction. While no differences were found between the two conditions for physics achievement gains, the results revealed differences in students'…

This document presents the proceedings of the 17th Annual Research Forum held June 29, 2012, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Included herein are the following 25 action research papers: (1) "Reading and Writing": A Study Comparing the Strengths of Peer Review and Visible Author Writing Strategies (Elizabeth Behar); (2)…

This publication contains materials for three courses in Applied Physics in the Applied Academics program at South Seattle Community College. It begins with the article, "Community College Applied Academics: The State of the Art?" (George B. Neff), which describes the characteristics, model, courses, and coordination activity that make…

The purpose of this team unit is to provide students with knowledge, experience and an appreciation of technology. This unit is designed to give students an opportunity to solve problems in technology through cooperative learning activities in addition to addressing the needs of the individual student. This unit is intended to take 6 weeks for…

This paper reports the results of a deliberate effort to help preservice science teachers improve their ability to learn from experience and take charge of their own professional development as teachers. The study was conducted by a teacher educator who simultaneously taught a physics methods course and a 12th-grade physics class and thereby…

The ways in which knowledge of mechanical motion is affected by contextual factors of assessment such as means of depiction (ranging from abstract to contextualized) and the effect of sequencing of contexts (from abstract to contextualized or contextualized to abstract) on students' display of knowledge were studied for 40 fifth graders in two…

This resource for teachers of elementary age students provides a foundation for building a life-long interest in the U.S. space program. It begins with a basic understanding of man's attempt to conquer the air, then moves on to how we expanded into near-Earth space for our benefit. Students learn, through hands-on experiences, from projects…

This book explains why so few efforts at reforming science education are successful, and why it is that the 300 studies on the subject published over the past decade have done little more than add to a growing body of literature. The book describes programs which are successful in terms of faculty accomplishments, students graduated and entering…