For the fourth year in a row, the author and a computer teacher have joined forces to guide students through an annual technology and research project that benefits area institutions and community members. The author presents the three key areas of the geospatial technologies curriculum at Douglas High School in Box Elder, South Dakota: (1)…

Events in a community can lead to valuable learning experiences in science. By the end of the summer of 2001, the Green Knoll Fire had burned almost 4000 acres of forest south of Wilson, Wyoming. This article describes how students at the Journeys School of Teton Science Schools participated in a collaborative project with the United States Forest…

Earth science teachers know how frustrating it can be to spend hundreds of dollars on three-dimensional (3-D) models of Earth's geologic features, to use the models for only a few class periods. To avoid emptying an already limited science budget, the author states that teachers can use a simple alternative to the expensive 3-D models--sand. She…

Students must understand the fundamental process of convection before they can grasp a wide variety of Earth processes, many of which may seem abstract because of the scales on which they operate. Presentation of a very visual, concrete model prior to instruction on these topics may facilitate students' understanding of processes that are largely…

As mentioned in Part I, certain classroom activities can help students learn about the ocean and empower them to make informed decisions about their impacts on the environment. One such activity focuses on harmful algal blooms (HABs). In this article, the authors include background information on HABs and then present two activities. Activity 1 is…

An investigation is described that would be suitable for A-level or first year degree Biology or Environmental Science students. Crop plants were grown in different concentrations of lead chloride and lead nitrate. French beans, carrots and Brussels sprouts were all inhibited at concentrations over 0.01 mol dm[superscript -3] showing stunted root…

Over the past two decades, science has become established as a core school subject in schools in England and Wales, taken by all students aged 5 to 16. But increasingly questions have been raised about the suitability for many students of the curriculum they are required to follow (Murray and Reiss, 2005). From September 2006, schools in England…

One hundred and sixty eight students from five 11th grade chemistry classes participated for 2 months in an experiment that examined the effects of the Group Investigation (GI) method of cooperative learning on students' achievement, motivation and perceptions of their experience. An achievement test and Harter's Motivation Questionnaire were…

With each passing year, the public expects more of schools and teachers. Curricula become more complex, student populations become more diverse, responsibilities are added, and, except for resources, very little is taken away. Fundamentally, teachers are held responsible for everyone and everything that goes on in their classrooms, an awesome…

In this article, we explore the potential of the computer to support curriculum materials development within the context of secondary level science and mathematics education in southern Africa. During the four-year course of the study, a computer program was developed named CASCADE-SEA, which stands for Computer Assisted Curriculum Analysis,…

The purpose of this article is to examine the teacher research movement from the perspective of three generations of teacher researchers within the context of a unique collaborative science teacher action research group. The question that guided the study was the following: In what ways do three generations of science teachers perceive their…

This article reports the relative effect of smart and mainstream schooling on students' acquisition of science process skills which was measured using TIPS-II(M)--the Malay version of Burns, Okey, and Wise's (1985) Test of Integrated Process Skills II. Using students' primary-school science achievement results in the Standardized National…

The candle burning experiment is usually conducted in lower secondary classes to prove the (about) 20% oxygen in air. The aim of this paper is to show that teachers misinterpret the results of the experiment to satisfy the objectives of teaching this experiment. However, when the results of this experiment are interpreted correctly, the objectives…

This study investigated the contributions of students' reasoning ability and meaningful learning orientation to their understanding of the photosynthesis and respiration in plants concepts. Data were gathered through the use of the Test of Logical Thinking (Tobin & Capie, 1981), the Learning Approach Questionnaire (Cavallo, 1996), and the Two-Tier…

Issues facing schools abound from No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation. In science and mathematics teacher pre-service and in-service preparation, these issues are paramount for institutions of higher education, especially in terms of the definition of a "highly qualified" teacher. Within this paper, the authors discuss the science…