Investigates parents' and students' view of science education and its success. Uses focus groups for data collection, which provides an environment for the challenge of different participant views. Includes recommendations for the improvement of schools science. (Contains 12 references.) (Author/YDS)

Examines data collected from large enrollment, entry level Geoscience courses over a span of seven semesters and investigates the use of computers as a presentation tool and the incorporation of the Internet as a means to give students increased exposure to course content, increased exam scores, and knowledge of Earth Sciences. Includes 13…

Introduces the analysis of a river as an excellent way to teach geochemical techniques because of the relative ease of sample collection and speed of sample analysis. Focuses on the potential sources of sample contamination during sampling, filtering, and bottle cleaning processes, and reviews methods to reduce and detect contamination. Includes…

Argues that in future revisions of the National Curriculum for Science the 'big ideas' of science should be presented as a series of 'explanatory stories' that encapsulate the ideas so that they are understandable by both teachers and pupils and can be used as a framework for teaching. Offers an 'explanatory Earth story' based on this model.…

This paper charts the changing female representation in the higher education of geography, connecting it with the faltering development of feminist geography in Hungary. The transition from socialism to capitalism has compounded gender inequalities while many of the relevant statistical data display gender blindness. Gender issues fail to form a…

Activity structures such as classroom lessons and initiation-reply-evaluation sequences are important cultural tools that help students and teachers accomplish everyday activity, but they are not well adapted to open-ended inquiry conducted by students in small groups with teacher guidance. In this research, I identified alternative activity…

In the contemporary higher education system there is growing interest in, and debate about, the need to strengthen and sustain the relationships between teaching and research. While there are multiple and varied explanations about these relationships, most acknowledge the importance of designing learning activities that explicitly develop the…

Investigation of children's understanding of the earth can reveal much about the origins and development of scientific knowledge. Vosniadou and Brewer (1992) claim that children construct coherent, theory-like mental models of the earth. However, more recent research has indicated that children's knowledge of the earth is fragmented and…

Investigation of children's knowledge of the Earth can reveal much about the origins, content and structure of scientific knowledge, and the processes of conceptual change and development. Vosniadou and Brewer (1992, claim that children construct coherent mental models of a flat, flattened, or hollow Earth based on a framework theory and intuitive…

Ongoing media coverage of the dangers of fieldwork and guidance from some teacher unions is placing fieldwork under threat in many English primary schools. Most teachers believe that fieldwork experiences are a valuable part of geographical learning, but how do children actually articulate the understanding arising from this? The research took…

This paper describes how gestures are used to enhance scaffolding that occurs in small group settings. Sixth and eighth grade students participated in an elective science course focused on earth science concepts with a substantial spatial visualization component. Gestures that students used in small group discussions were analyzed and four…

In a human nutrition class, students are paired with university faculty or staff volunteer participants. Students teach their service learning partners how to record their food consumption and physical activity during a typical 7-day period. Using these data, students complete nutritional assessments of their partners. (Contains 2 figures.)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) commissioned TERC to complete a review of science education standards for all 50 states. The study analyzed K-12 Earth science standards to determine how well each state addresses key Earth-science content, concepts and skills. This report reveals that few states have thoroughly integrated…

This study aims to examine the design of approaches for inquiry learning with multimedia resources in primary classrooms. The study describes the development of a multimedia learning unit that helps learners understand the natural phenomenon of the movement of the Earth. An analysis of the use of the multimedia learning unit by a teacher in two…

A retrospective analysis examines the relationships between formative assessments and exam grades in two undergraduate geoscience courses. Pair and group-work grades correlate weakly with individual exam grades. Exam performance correlates to individual, weekly online assessments. Student attendance and use of assessment feedback are also…