To improve science, mathematics, and technology education, Israeli high school teachers received training involving inservice courses and school supervision. Surveys, reports, observations, meetings, and student achievement tests indicated that the program was useful for teachers who had acquired basic knowledge in their disciplines. It took 3-6…

Presents an account of a week of learning and instruction from a high school physics course to provide a context for discussion of the role and demands of teacher inquiry. Argues coordination of student inquiry and traditional content is a matter of discerning and responding to students' particular strengths and needs. (Author/KB)

Describes an inquiry-based project on kinematics piloted at a rural middle school in 1996 by a Maine collaboration of university faculty, graduate students, and K-12 teachers. The group examines the new science standards, develops new curricula based on physics education research, helps middle-school teachers implement that curricula, and assesses…

Describes the Mathematical and Scientific Foundations of Engineering curriculum which emphasizes the mathematical and scientific concepts common to all engineering fields. Scientists and engineers together devised topics and experiments that emphasize the relevance of theory to real-world applications. Presents material efficiently while building…

Two college educators offer their personal stories of adopting technology for college teaching in different disciplinary contexts (a physics course for nonmajors and a design course for interior designers and architects), and the process of redesigning curricula, rethinking instructional techniques, and revising student assessment accordingly.…

Information on the content of the intended science curriculum, what science was actually taught by the teachers, and how that science was taught is presented. Student achievement and attitudes were assessed using tests and questionnaires. Data were obtained from teachers regarding whether the content had been taught to the students (n=657) who…

Examines the influence of two factors of the process of graphing on rural students' (n=93) ability to comprehend kinematics graphs on constant velocity events. Students exhibited difficulty in constructing and comprehending graphs of derived variables and were unaware of their own graphing skills deficiencies. (34 references) (MDH)

Describes study that investigated teachers' criteria for the use of courseware packages in Dutch junior high school physics classes. The development of a courseware evaluation instrument is described; drill and practice, simulation, and tutorial courseware packages are evaluated; motivating elements are considered; and implications for the design…

Presents the experience of an English instructor who worked with members of the Physics Department to revise a technical physics class. Discusses the impact of learning communities at Henry Ford Community College (Michigan) on faculty development, student performance, and institutional culture. (VWC)

This interpretive case study describes a collaborative project involving a physics professor and a science educator. We report what was learned about factors that influenced the professor's development of teaching strategies, alternative to lecture, that were intended to promote prospective teachers' meaningful learning and their use of canonical…

Teaching strategies are becoming increasingly oriented toward guiding students' knowledge construction through cooperative learning. Enhancing students' cognitive development is a priority; students must "learn how to think." Inquiry instruction provides students with tools to make decisions based upon available evidence and an opportunity to…

The research reported here focuses on links between teachers' comprehension of the underlying physics and their development of educational strategies for classroom work during in-service training. It deals with the teaching of hydrostatics, a topic considered particularly interesting by teachers. Starting from the analysis of simple experiments…

This study focused on the roles facilitators and students play in high school distance education classes, how these roles affect student performance, and other factors (such as school organization) which affect facilitator and student performance. Three classrooms from three different high schools, each taking the same nationally-offered distance…

This annotated bibliography contains selected children's science trade books published in 1990. The books are aimed primarily at preschool to eighth grade and evaluated by a special book review subcommittee appointed by the National Science Teachers Association and the Children's Book Council. Selections are based on three criteria: accuracy,…

This paper reviews the educational research related to student understanding of water and water resources. The literature is drawn primarily from science and environmental education literature and is divided into student knowledge of: physical and chemical properties, biology, earth systems and water resources. The majority of work has been in the…