The Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) Grade 11 Test is designed to measure proficiency in four subject areas including English, mathematics, social studies, and science. This guide for science is intended to provide a description of the way in which specific skill areas are assessed on the LEAP test and instructional considerations…

This speech, presented at the reception of the Julian Smith Award, provides a short history of the author and of outdoor education. Outdoor education is defined as education in, about, and for the outdoors. Several points of interest regarding outdoor education are stressed by the author. These include: (1) there is a need for the public to be…

Black students, other minorities and white students can show significant increases in achievement in biology by using a cooperative learning model. Concentrating on cooperating with group members toward a common goal is the ingredient that makes this cooperative learning model work. This study was designed to investigate the effects of cooperative…

The Louisiana coastal zone is a unique geographic feature. Soil carried by the Mississippi River has been deposited in Louisiana for the last 6,000 years to form the coastal area. All natural features in coastal Louisiana relate to materials and processes associated with the emptying of the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico. The…

This paper describes the characterization of a student's framework of heat and temperature, and the development of a microcomputer-based laboratories (MBL) intervention program for grade 9 and grade ll students. The report presents the results of classroom study, including interview questions and answers and pretest/posttest, from experimental and…

This 10-chapter handbook (designed for science teachers and school administrators) describes known hazards associated with science teaching and provides information to develop a framework for local safety programs specifically designed to avoid or neutralize the effects of such hazards. Major areas addressed in the chapters include: (1) the nature…

The objective of this project was to develop a valid and reliable multiple choice test of six basic science process skills for students in grades 4 to 8 (ages 8 to 14 years). Seven criteria were outlined for the test: an emphasis on the six most widely used science process skills (observation, inference, prediction, measurement, communication, and…

This paper reviews the efforts to put science education into contexts that are considered more meaningful and useful than the classical approach. It focuses on S/T/S (science/technology/society) projects funded by the National Science Foundation, and especially on a project at the University of Iowa. Some of the features of S/T/S programs are…

Effects of microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) exercises and level of cognitive development on high school biology students' ability to construct and interpret line graphs were investigated. Forty-six students enrolled in general biology classes at a rural high school volunteered to participate in the study. These students were administered…

During the 1984-85 school year, questionnaires were mailed to 358 science teachers in all regions of North Carolina to determine what they thought about the value of laboratory activity as one of their teaching methods and their feelings about the mechanics of using this methodology. Without a follow-up, 52.2 percent (N=187) of the questionnaires…

Information is presented about the grade 12 diploma examinations for Mathematics 30, Biology 30, Chemistry 30, and Physics 30 to be administered in 1988. Included are both the French and English language versions of the document. Topics explained include: (1) general format of the examinations (stating the content, emphasis, and time allotments);…

The increasing availability of the computer in the classroom has created a need for informed and creative instructional software. Two areas of cognitive research in mathematics and science learning have implications to instruction and, consequently, to educational software design. These are research on misconceptions and on differences between…

Estuarine Oceanography is one in a series of single-topic problem modules intended for use in undergraduate and earth science courses. Designed for those interested in coastal oceanography or limnology, the module is structured as a laboratory supplement for undergraduate college classes but should be useful at all levels. The module has two…

Presented are views of a Canadian science teacher (Mr. Swift) on the nature of his science teaching and a discussion of a conception of influence which aids in understanding his ideas about time. Mr. Smith uses a provincial government syllabus, ignoring locally developed units and recent textbooks emphasizing student inquiry in favor of syllabus…

Energy activities and lesson plans for grades 9 and 10 (grouped into seven units representing seven major conceptual schemes) are provided in this teachers' guide, with a unit at each grade level for each conceptual scheme. Conceptual schemes addressed include: (1) energy is the ability to do work; (2) energy comes from the sun; (3) energy can be…