A pilot study of the pictorial communication in the prose materials was made among students coming from two school settings. The first group was composed of sixth and seventh grade students from average to below average socioeconomic neighborhoods in a large urban industrial community and the second, fifth and sixth grade students from a small,…

The purpose of this study was to determine what changes, if any, occurred in the achievement and attitudes of elementary teachers following an inservice program in environmental science. The personal and academic characteristics of grade level assignment, age, experience, and formal science training were obtained for each of the 25 experimental…

This handbook has been prepared as an aid to teachers, supervisors, and administrators as they select and organize science programs in the elementary grades. It has been organized around six large subject areas: living things; our growing bodies; air, water, and weather; the earth and its composition; the solar system and beyond; and matter and…

This booklet is a compilation of field-tested outdoor activities introducing basic projects for small group or individualized study in monitoring certain aspects of the environment. Its purpose is to provide teachers with new ways to involve children directly in meaningful and developmental learning activities and to help students become more…

This pilot teaching unit is one of a series developed for use in elementary school science programs and is designed to give children direct experience with sensing activities: seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting. Objectives for each activity include both those involving student values and scientific processes. Most activities require…

Students in grades 1-4 who had used the "Science--A Process Approach" were tested by individually administering the tasks of the "Science Process Instrument." Tasks to assess the level of the same skills in social studies, fine arts, and language arts were then administered. Data analysis showed that there was a similar…

This study was conducted to secure information about various academic and organizational aspects of pre-service science methods courses for elementary school teachers. About 65 percent of all respondents to the questionnaire indicated a semester plan in existence as against 27 percent for a quarter system for preparing elementary teachers. Most…

Reported is a study of teacher-pupil and pupil-pupil interactional differences between a traditional instruction method and an inquiry-centered learning method for 18 science classes at the fourth and fifth grade levels. Nine classes were assigned to the experimental group, and the remaining nine classes received a traditional program. Classroom…

The study was designed to assess the effects of three different instructional strategies of teaching science methods on selected attitudes and perceptions held by 30 prospective elementary school teachers, as well as the effects of these instructional strategies on children's perceptions of teacher behavior variables of warmth, demand and…

This handbook provides the elements of a teacher training program for Elementary Science Study, an elementary school science curriculum developed by the Education Development Center. It contains a detailed description of the lessons that make up the teacher training program. Each lesson contains a description of the rationale for that lesson, a…

The Science Curriculum Improvement Study has developed this teacher's guide to "Populations," the third part of a six-unit life science curriculum sequence. The six basic units, emphasizing organism-environment interactions, are organisms, life cycles, populations, environments, communities, and ecosystems; and they make use of…

Ninety-six children, divided by age (five, six, seven, and eight years) and sex into equal groups, were administered tests of discrimination between leaves, association of leaves with pictures of leaves, sorting leaves into generic groups, and communication of concepts of leaf structure. No sex differences or interactions were found, but there was…

An investigation of the relationship between teaching experience, teacher concern level, and achievement of learning a new teaching skill for teachers in elementary school science is described in this report. For the purpose of studying these relationships, a computer-assisted instructional program was developed to teach the identification and use…

Intended to supplement a regular program, this pamphlet provides background information, related activities, and suggestions for other activities on the subject of nitrate as a water pollutant. Two activities related to plant nutrient pollution, nitrate filtration and measuring mitrate used by plants, are explained in detail, outlining objectives,…

This publication includes curriculum materials on animals for grades K-4. The major purposes of this publication are to foster individualized and interdisciplinary science and art activities within elementary classrooms and to provide pupils and teachers with suggestions to encourage the use of zoos, animal parks, and natural history museums.…