A pinhole camera is a camera without a lens. A tiny hole replaces the lens, and light is allowed to come in for short amount of time by means of a hand-operated shutter. The pinhole allows only a very narrow beam of light to enter, which reduces confusion due to scattered light on the film. This results in an image that is focused, reversed, and…

American science teachers in elementary and middle school face a dilemma as they prepare students for high school physics and advanced placement classes. The dilemma lies in ensuring that these students are equipped with the high-level science content they need to thrive in such classes. Aside from life sciences and chemistry sciences, how are our…

The study reported in this article aimed at exploring what teachers know and do about fostering higher-order thinking skills in teaching science, and how they see themselves involved in achieving this end. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 11 teachers experienced in teaching high school physics, which is considered a…

The National Research Council ([NRC], 2001) has stated that formative assessment is essential to fulfilling the mission of the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996). This paper explores the relative utility of four different types of formative assessment prompts in eliciting middle school students' ideas about sinking and floating.…

In this project, introductory college physics students (noneducation majors) were asked to teach simple machines to a class of second graders. This nontraditional activity proved to be a successful way to encourage college students to think critically about physics and how it applied to their everyday lives. The noneducation majors benefited by…

A series of science experiments and activities designed for secondary school students taking biology, chemistry, physics, physical science or marine science courses are outlined. Each of the three major sections--chemistry, biology, and physics--addresses concepts that are generally covered in those courses but incorporates aspects of marine…

One of the clear findings of recent research on the learning of science has been that students who have completed science courses commonly use conceptions held before instruction to interpret natural phenomena. This paper reports on a study of conceptual change in mechanics with particular concern with the nature of student awareness of any…

Reviews "Vernier Software: Precision Timer II" for high school through college mechanics. Introduces 14 different modes including pulse time, pendulum timer, bouncer timer, gate timer, collision timers, and stroke calibration. Provides two typical displays and ratings of the software. (YP)

The superposition principle is used to explain many phenomena in physics. Incomplete knowledge about this topic at a basic level leads to physics students having problems in the future. As long as prospective physics teachers have difficulties in the subject, it is inevitable that high school students will have the same difficulties. The aim of…

Although the educational evaluation process is useful and valuable and is supported by the Higher Education Act, a strong research base for program evaluation of college entry-level science courses is still lacking. Studies in science disciplines such as, biology, chemistry, and physics have addressed various affective and demographic factors and…

Because of the educational importance of mathematics and science, IEA's (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, widely known as TIMSS, is dedicated to providing countries with information to improve teaching and learning in these curriculum areas. Conducted…

This collection of activities related to women chemists and physicists is designed for use in cooperative groups of three students each. Each of eight activities consists of a written account of the career and life of an historical woman scientist and four writing activity suggestions. The writings from each group can then be organized into one…

While the physiological explanations from neuroscience help explain the mechanisms of learning, they fall short of explaining the sociocultural and phenomenological factors that determine a stressful versus a challenging interpretation of experience. For this reason, neuroscience seems less than useful to classroom teachers. A major obstacle in…

Investigations of changes of conceptions during physics instruction are the logical and necessary next step to follow the successful international research on students' pre-instructional conceptions. This paper reviews theoretical issues, selected content-specific results, and general hypotheses. It is oriented towards explicit cognitive…

Presents one approach to solving problems concerned with minimum stopping distances. In this approach differing negative accelerations are considered in addition to the speed and reaction time. (GS)