Presents information and concerns regarding computer courseware, books, and audiovisual materials reviewed by teachers. Covers a variety of topics including dissection of common classroom specimens, medicine, acid rain projects, molecules, the water cycle, erosion, plankton, and evolution. Notes on availability, price, and needed equipment, where…

Explained is a representation of the three categories of spectra. Discusses what a lesson on spectra should include, background information, and equipment needed. Provided is a diagram of an absorption box. (RT)

Presents entropy analysis of four processes: a chemical reaction, a heat engine, the dissolution of a solid, and osmosis. Discusses entropy, the second law of thermodynamics, and the Gibbs free energy function. (MVL)

Develops a LOGO approach for explaining physics concepts using the microcomputer. Explains the usefulness of LOGO for programing physics problems. Lists several LOGO programs with programing explanations to explain physics concepts. (MVL)

A generalized Rasch model is presented for measuring attitudes; it is based on the concepts of Thurstone's method of successive intervals. Benefits of the model are illustrated with a study of students' (N=4,035 fifth through ninth graders) interest in physics. (SLD)

Describes theory and principles behind biosensors that incorporate biological components as part of a sensor or probe. Projects major applications in medicine and veterinary medicine, biotechnology, food and agriculture, environmental studies, and the military. Surveys current use of biosensors. (ML)

This paper is the third report on the changes in attitudes and interests of Danish upper secondary school students. It describes changes in student interests and attitudes and the main problems encountered in causing change. Recommendations to science educators are included. (YP)

Examines the traditional language of physics textbooks and the way of looking at science and science education that underlies that language. Covers five high school textbooks ranging from 1900 to 1984. Reports little change in the style of presentation. Includes text examples, conclusions, and recommendations. (YP)

Contains articles on digestive enzymes in grasshoppers; bird and badger observation; reactions between hydrochloric acid and sodium carbonate solutions; observing the migration of ions; pupil's heating skills (Bunsen burners); photolysis experimentation; capillary kinetics; experience with trireme; connection circuits; special relativity; a…

Presents examples where mathematical and physical reasoning complement each other in interpreting and analyzing some basic science concepts using proof by contradiction and contrapositive. Examples involve the rotation of the moon, the stability of electrons and protons, the electron's orbit about the nucleus, and the earth's liquid core. (MDH)

Presents a case study of how one 11th-grader learned the meaning of the velocity sign. Her learning was not just an acknowledgment of a rule but also a broad questioning and revision of her thinking about graphs and motion. (16 references) (Author/MKR)

Discusses the evaluation of SToMP (Software Teaching of Modular Physics), a project that uses hypermedia to provide the resources an undergraduate student needs to study physics courses via a computer. Findings show that SToMP allows students to have individualized self-paced learning environments and offers better tutor-student contact. (JMV)

Describes the implementation and evaluation of a nondirected student research project that aimed at acquainting students with some of the procedures used by physicists in the real world. Outlines specific project designs used by the students. (JRH)

Presents instructions and schematic diagrams for an activity that allows students to discover the relationship between electricity and magnetism. Students draw conclusions and form hypotheses regarding their observations. Suggestions for further study are provided for "real world" experiences by students. (ZWH)

Examines analogical reasoning in contexts where understanding is generated from loosely organized, incomplete prior knowledge rather than transferred from a well-structured domain of understanding. Participants, consisting of 11 secondary school science teacher candidates, were presented with a piston/cylinder device and asked to explain the…