Examines some features of ice and snow that offer teachers and researchers help in understanding many aspects of igneous processes and configurations. Careful observation of such processes as melting, decay, evolution, and snow accumulation provide important clues to understanding processes by which many kinds of rocks form. (Author/JN)

Discusses causes of cyclicity in cratonic carbonate sequences and evidence for and potential significance of postulated primary calcite sediment components in past Paleozoic seas, outlining problems, focusing on models explaining existing data, and identifying background. Future sedimentary geologists will need to address these and related areas…

Describes areas of inorganic chemistry which have changed dramatically in the past year or two, including photochemistry, electrochemistry, organometallic complexes, inorganic reaction theory, and solid state chemistry. (DS)

Reported are the proceedings of the August 1980 American Chemical Society Conference. The ACS voted to terminate the educational commission and the science commission and replace these commissions with committees. Also discussed was setting up annual subsidies to ACS divisions and the redefinition of ACS membership requirements. (Author/DS)

Investigates a sequence of inelastic collisions resulting among three spheres, whose centers are on a line, when at the outset the leftmost sphere is propelled to the right and the other two spheres are at rest. Expressions are obtained for velocity, time, and distance variables. (MLH)

Discusses the decisions facing the English student who has completed sixth form and identifies opportunities in physics careers and further education. (MLH)

Discusses the role of copper in biological systems and metabolism. (MLH)

Reports on the current state of the Society for College Science Teachers, an organization that supports-through an interdisciplinary context-the pedagogical side of the profession for college-level science teachers as opposed to the research aspect. Describes Society membership benefits and reviews program topics, awards to encourage teaching…

The new president of the Society for College Science Teachers describes the new goals of the organization. (PR)

Bubbles are a fun way to introduce the concepts of surface tension, intermolecular forces, and the use of surfactants. Presents two activities in which students add chemicals to liquid dishwashing detergent with water in order to create longer lasting bubbles. (ASK)

Students' reactions to classroom learning and the mastery of science vary along a wide spectrum of attitudes and emotions. In particular, we argue here that how learners encounter and learn subject matter is a function of their level of cognitive development. We describe the stages of cognitive development based on the work of William Perry and…

MOS, or Minds-On-Science, is the foundation of conducting educationally valuable science demonstrations. It is a teaching strategy equally effective as hands-on-learning. Plus, it proves much more effective at reinforcing abstract science concepts than traditional lectures, readings, and audiovisual presentations. Adding MOS to a demonstration…

Today, everybody lives in a time when the seeds of change in science education have borne fruit all around them. The rhetoric of the calls for change issued by national scientific societies and agencies is supported by the reality of compelling examples of change, accomplished by scientists who have rethought the way they teach, the way they think…

The absorbance decay of hexacyanoferrate(III) as a function of time shows a progressive deviation from zero to first order. This variation follows an experimental rate law that has been analyzed. The change in reaction order is due to a change in the relative rate of substrate oxidation with respect to that of catalyst regeneration. (Contains 2…

One of the unifying themes of modern biology is evolution. In introductory biology courses, evolution is studied in some detail and used as a focal point for many courses. For many teachers of those courses, the greatest frustration is their inability to help students become Darwinian. Students do not reject evolutionary ideas, but they quickly…