Describes an experiment designed to help understand the effect of the curvature of the laboratory equipment support (cylindrical rod instead of knife-edge) on the frequency of oscillation of pendula. (ZWH)

Involves students in a study designed to examine the interaction between children's observations of light and shadows and their developing theories in the context of a series of lessons in a third-grade classroom. Results suggest that student's observation of light led to the development of a limited theory about light that was largely useful in…

Describes two spreadsheets for producing acid-base titration curves, one uses relatively simple cell formulae that can be written into the spreadsheet by inexperienced students and the second uses more complex formulae that are best written by the teacher. (JRH)

Discusses doing science experiments on a small scale in order to reduce the quantity of chemicals used in science classes. (MKR)

Presents food science experiments designed for high school science classes that aim at getting students excited about science and providing them with real-life applications. Enables students to see the application of chemistry, microbiology, engineering, and other basic and applied sciences to the production, processing, preservation, evaluation,…

Performed a variance analysis of the relation between the amount of time students spend experiencing hands-on science and science achievement. Reports that students who engaged in hands-on activities frequently scored significantly higher on a standardized test of science achievement than students who did not. (Author/JRH)

Presents experiments that use Microcomputer Based Laboratory (MBL) techniques to enable freshmen physics students to investigate complex systems, such as nonlinear oscillators or coupled harmonic oscillators, at a level appropriate for an independent project. (JRH)

Presents an example involving the metabolism of carbohydrates by microorganisms that provides results that contradict the generally speculated outcome, which is not an unusual situation in many scientific investigations. (JRH)

Describes a science activity that involves dropping weighted strings from a second floor window or the top row of gymnasium bleachers. The activity, which takes only a few seconds, helps students understand the physics concepts of speed, acceleration, and terminal velocity. (TJQ)

Presents the "Before Technology and After Technology" lab where students first complete a simple lab and graph the data by hand and then repeat the lab using graphing calculators. Enables students to see how technology can make data collecting, graphing, and analyzing more fun. (JRH)

Presents a case study of an unsafe situation in a science laboratory and its administrative consequences. Discusses issues related to laboratory safety and faculty evaluation. (JRH)

Describes hardware that enables the use of an IBM PC microcomputer as a frequency meter or a counter by using the parallel printer port. Eliminates the 16-bit time-day counter through the use of an external time base that can be conveniently set depending on the desired frequency range. (JRH)

Presents data collection activities for the home, school, and community that encourage students to summarize, interpret, and draw inferences. Four types of activities are discussed: observations, surveys, experiments, and sampling. (Author/MKR)