Briefly reviews the worldwide developments in petroleum geology in 1971, including exploration, new fields, and oil production. This report is condensed from the October Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. (PR)

An account of Van't Hoff's change from theoretical chemistry to petrology provides data on the European intellectual climate of the early 1900's and shows how his work laid the foundation for experimental petrology of hard rocks." (AL)

Using the simple approach described in this article, college science instructors can help students become independent thinkers and writers in science. The unique character of this approach is that it shows students how to formulate the questions they need to answer in their writing, as well as how to answer them. Rather than using a cookbook…

Technology Engineering is an innovative component of a much larger arena of teaching that effectively uses interactive technology as a method of enhancing learning and the learning environment. Using this method to teach science and math content empowers the teacher and enhances the curriculum as the classroom becomes more efficient and effective.…

This report presents results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) U.S. science assessment in 2011. A representative sample of 122,000 eighth-graders participated in the 2011 NAEP science assessment, which is designed to measure students' knowledge and abilities in the areas of physical science, life science, and Earth and…

This case study analyzes five science courses of a United States virtual charter school. Online quizzes and exams are provided by the corporate partner, while local teachers have selected report topics, virtual labs and at-home labs for students to complete. These assessments were coded for their correlation to the cognitive levels of the revised…

Belbin team role self and observer perceptions were applied to a large cohort (145) of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences undergraduates in a module assessed through two separate group projects. Students self-selected groups for the first project; for the second, groups were more "balanced." Results show slight improvement in…

Seventy-nine studies in geoscience conceptions appeared in peer-reviewed publications in English from 1982 through July 2009. Summaries of the 79 studies suggest certain recurring themes across subject areas: issues with terms, scale (temporal and spatial), role of prior experience, and incorrect application of everyday knowledge to geoscience…

This publication presents the Nebraska Science Standards for Grades K-12. The standards are presented according to the following grades: (1) Grades K-2; (2) Grades 3-5; (3) Grades 6-8; and (4) Grades 9-12.

Field instruction is a critical piece of undergraduate geoscience majors' education, and fieldwork remains a major part of the work of professional geologists. Despite the central importance of field education, there exists relatively little educational research exploring how students learn to solve problems in geological fieldwork. This study…

Physical World is a one-semester course designed for elementary education majors, that integrates earth science, astronomy, and physics. The course is part of a four-course set that explores science concepts, processes, and skills, along with the nature of scientific practice, that are included in state and national standards for elementary school…

Very few Native American students pursue careers in the geosciences. To address this national problem, several units at the University of Oklahoma are implementing a geoscience "pipeline" program that is designed to increase the number of Native American students entering geoscience disciplines. One of the program's strategies includes…

Whereas science teachers in the last century were trained to place empirical activities at the heart of school science (Yore, Bisanz & Hand, 2003) and give relatively less attention to language issues, fundamental literacy (as defined by Norris & Phillips, 2003) is now recognised as having a crucial role in learning science. However, there have…

This study investigated the views about constructivist instruction and personal epistemology of the secondary earth science teachers in Taiwan. Participants were assessed through a paper-and-pencil survey and a "Learning environment preference questionnaire" (LEP) designed to explore personal epistemology. On a five-point Likert scale,…

The Urban Schoolyards project is a two year partnership with a university Earth Science Department and the surrounding urban elementary schools. The goal of the project was to develop the capacity of elementary teachers to teach earth science lessons using their schoolyards and local parks as field sites. The university personnel developed lessons…