Weather is a topic in science that is applicable to our lives on an everyday basis. The weather often determines what we wear, where we go, and what we do. This month's column focuses on clouds and the part they play in determining our weather. In the K-3 lesson, students learn about different cloud types and sculpt each type out of shaving cream.…

The 12-month pre-Ph.D. ICTP Diploma Courses in the fields of Condensed Matter Physics, High Energy Physics, Mathematics, Earth System Physics and Basics Physics have been recorded using the automated, low cost recording system called EyA developed in-house. We discuss the technical details on how these recordings were implemented, together with…

The main goal for the current study was to investigate whether individual differences in domain-general thinking dispositions might affect learning from multiple-document inquiry tasks in science. Middle school students were given a set of documents and were tasked with understanding how and why recent patterns in global temperature might be…

We present a MATLAB script INSOLATE.m that calculates insolation at the top of the atmosphere and the total amount of daylight during the year (and other quantities) with respect to geographic latitude and Earth's obliquity (axial tilt). The script output displays insolation values for an entire year on a three-dimensional graph. This tool…

Educational technologies such as Google Earth have the potential to increase student learning and participation in geoscience classrooms. However, little has been written about tying the use of such software with effective assessment. To maximize Google Earth's learning potential for students, educators need to craft appropriate, research-based…

Creating effective computer-based learning exercises requires an understanding of optimal user interface designs for improving higher order cognitive skills. Using an online volcanic crisis simulation previously shown to improve decision making skill, we find that a user interface using a graphical presentation of the volcano monitoring data…

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Science Digital Library/Distributed Learning (NSDL) program turned 10 years old in 2010. This report presents results of a preliminary program evaluation carried out by RAND and is organized around three principal goals: (1) Provide an initial evaluation of NSDL based on existing information…

The hypothetical learning progressions presented here are the products of the deliberations of two working groups of science education researchers, each group also including a state science curriculum supervisor, organized by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE), with support from the National Science Foundation. Their charge was…

Geotechnical data are one of the most prevalent data types in civil engineering projects. The majority of the civil engineering projects that are in use today are designed using site-specific geotechnical data. The usage of geotechnical data is not limited to construction projects. This data is used in a wide range of applications, including…

Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used to acquaint geoscience novices with some of the observation, data gathering, and problem solving done in actual field situations by geoscientists. VR environments in a variety of forms are used to prepare students for doing geologic fieldwork, as well as to provide proxies for such experience when…

This study focuses on elementary teachers' comprehension of flooding before and after inquiry-based professional development (PD). There was an improvement in teachers' understanding toward a normative view from pre- to post-test (n = 17, mean gain = 4.3, SD = 3.27). Several misunderstandings and a general lack of knowledge about flooding emerged…

This study investigated students' learning environment preferences and compared the relative effectiveness of instructional approaches on students' learning outcomes in achievement and attitude among 10th grade earth science classes in Taiwan. Data collection instruments include the Earth Science Classroom Learning Environment Inventory and Earth…

The Environmental (2-MEV) Scale questionnaire was developed in Europe to measure adolescents' attitudes and gauge the effectiveness of educational programs. It also formed the basis for the Theory of Ecological Attitudes. In the present four-year study, the 2-MEV Scale was modified for use with 9-12-year-old children in the United States. Initial…

Results from the Volcanic Concept Survey (VCS) indicated that many undergraduates do not fully understand volcanic systems and plate tectonics. During the 2006 academic year, a ten-item conceptual survey was distributed to undergraduate students enrolled in Earth science courses at five U.S. colleges and universities. A trained team of graders…

Laboratories serve as an integral part of geoscience education at most colleges and universities. While anecdotal evidence supports the beneficial impact of laboratories on science class learning, little quantitative research backs this statement. This study compared classroom data from students who completed a geoscience laboratory in conjunction…