Project ARCHIMEDES was designed in cooperation with local teachers to enhance concept understanding of teachers of physics and physical sciences, to increase use of electronics and computers in the classroom, and to introduce research on students' misconceptions in physics, teaching methods for identifying and remediating misconceptions, and ways…

Organized by the International Commission on Physics Education (ICPE) and the Physics Education Society of Japan, the conference reported here, the first of its kind held in Asia, was designed to inform teachers of results of prior ICPE conferences as well as to explore desirable directions for physics education, and was attended by nearly 450…

Resource-based learning is described in this document as a pupil-centered approach to teaching science in which a wide variety of resources are used. Students are given some freedom of pace and choice of activity while teachers provide resources to the student when they are needed. The learning is then based on the resources and the pupil can make…

The mathematics and experimental science courses in the programs of the upper secondary school in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) are discussed. The paper addresses: (1) the two "secondary levels" within the FRG school system, indicating that the Secondary I-Level (SI) comprises grades 5 through 9 or 10 while the Secondary II-Level…

Fifth and eighth grade students in New York City participated in a citywide science survey for the fourth consecutive year in 1987. These surveys were designed to assess overall achievement in the pre-high school grades and to provide school, district and citywide summary information about student performance in basic areas of the science…

The employment status of 1981-1982 degree recipients in physics and astronomy was surveyed. Information is presented on changes in occupational status of physics and astronomy degree recipients which occurred between the summer of 1982 and the following winter. The characteristics of graduates of both fields who were employed full-time or…

The Summer Institute in Science was developed to address the need for updated information and training in physics, chemistry, and technology among elementary and secondary teachers. Three major objectives addressed were to: (1) improve teachers' understanding of basic concepts in the subject field; (2) provide teachers with training in the use of…

This unit of study is designed to teach the science of flight to students in the intermediate grades. Included are a list of materials for the unit, a discussion of the use of process skills, a list of unit objectives, vocabulary, teacher background information, 12 lessons, 5 quizzes, math problems, and a unit test. Lessons are oriented toward…

This document contains 65 papers presented at the International Conference on Physics Education. Included are papers dealing with: (1) physics education in China; (2) the evaluation of physics courses in engineering colleges; (3) climate and weather; (4) the implications of physics education research for the classroom; (5) university physics…

Two classroom studies, one conducted in the spring of 1985 and the second in the spring of 1986, showed that many high school students do not differentiate between heat and temperature; instead, they have a single concept that contains some of the features of heat and some of the features of temperature. Because the distinction between these two…

The concept of the density of a material has an important role in elementary and secondary school science curricula, but it is a difficult concept to grasp. This project explores why this should be and whether there are some simpler, more accessible notions which can serve as the basis for building a concept of density in students' minds during…

This review covers approximately 300 studies, including journal articles, dissertations, and papers presented at conferences. The studies are organized under these major headings: status surveys; scientific reasoning; elementary school science (student achievement, student conceptions/misconceptions, student curiosity/attitudes, teaching methods,…

Indicating that the rationale for teaching physics, to which curricula are ultimately directed, must focus on the needs of both future scientists and non-scientists alike, trends in physics curricula and instruction are viewed. Such changes are suggested to have taken place in response to growth in information, to changing perceptions of the…

The Science and Engineering Technician (SET) Curriculum is a two-year post-secondary curriculum designed to prepare technicians to use the electronic instruments which became available in the early 1970's as a result of advances in different fields of electronics. It is an interdisciplinary program of study which integrates elements from the…

This series in diagnostic radiological physics has been designed to provide the physics background requisite for the proper conduct of medical diagnostic x-ray examinations. The basic goal of the series is to bridge physics theory and radiological practice, achieved by combining pertinent lecture material with laboratory exercises that illustrate…