This book contains innovative hands-on science laboratory activities designed to teach 4th- through 9th-graders about the environment. The background materials and instructions included in each activity are written for students to work together in teams. Activities cover subjects such as smog, symbiosis, soil, trees, ecosystems, recycling,…

This paper reports on an investigation into individual differences and group differences in learning styles, test anxiety levels, task performance, and students' attitudes regarding cooperative learning in beginning and advanced biology classes. The Transactional Analysis Inventory (TAI) and Test Anxiety Scale (TAS) were administered to two groups…

The Cognitive Science Laboratory of the University of Southern California has conducted a series of studies on the experimental effects of motivation on a low-stakes (to the student) standardized test. This report summarizes these studies and their results. The test in question is the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). A series of…

This curriculum unit on the ozone is intended for high school students and contains sections on environmental science and chemistry. It has been structured according to a learning cycle model and contains numerous activities, some of which are in a cooperative learning format. Skills emphasized include laboratory procedures, experimental design,…

ChemSource is designed as a strategy to help preservice and inservice high school chemistry teachers promote student learning more effectively. Its major premise is that well-designed laboratory investigations are an important avenue for cultivating student interest, engagement, and meaningful learning in chemistry. The SourceBook component of…

This teacher's guide presents 12 hands-on laboratory activities for high school science classes that cover the environmental issue of water resources in California. The activities are separated into three sections. Five activities in the section on water quality address the topics of groundwater, water hardness, bottled water, water purity, and…

The purpose of this guide is to help students better understand the science, citizen action, and research issues that are part of the acid rain problem. The guide is designed for students in grades 4-8 and their teachers. Following an introduction, the first seven sections are informative in nature. They include: (1) "Observations about Acidity";…

For many educators, gathering, organizing, and maintaining materials involved in inquiry-based science and math activities can seem daunting. This handbook is designed to help teachers in the task of gathering and maintaining materials to make kits for 42 activities derived from the Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) Program at the…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of two laboratory environments for introductory chemistry on undergraduate students' inquiry skills. The two laboratory environments are embedded in the same lecture course. The standard laboratory curriculum and instruction are distinct from the curriculum explored in this study, the MORE…

An integrating framework to explain the research process was presented in the first edition of this book. This edition, which brings the material up to date, is designed to serve the Master s level student better while still meeting the needs of doctoral students of educational research. The nature of research, methods for qualitative and…

This packet contains three science learning activities that can be used in agricultural education courses. The activities cover these topics: (1) determining the effects of soil particle size on capillary action; (2) measuring levels of eroded soil particles in streams; and (3) determining the effects of soil cover and texture on surface erosion.…

There is a natural tension between experimentally designed studies and case studies, which differ in that they are not concerned with the interaction of variables in the quantitative and statistical sense. This paper describes a study that was not experimentally designed, but its major findings were generalizable to the overall population of…

This book is designed to be a guide for a hands-on science experience for students in grades 3 through 6. Over 200 students can participate at the same time, moving from one station to another. The activities have been selected to encourage experimentation, creativity, higher-order thinking and fun with science. All activities use multi-modality…

Microcomputer-based laboratories (MBLs) are believed to have significant potential for improving laboratory experiences in science classrooms. A study funded through a grant project called STEPS to Better Science sought to broaden the knowledge base by examining MBL use by teachers and students in a variety of science classrooms in six high…

Problems with conducting randomized field experiments in education are explored. Focus is on problems encountered while evaluating a group of dropout prevention projects. Project planners were asked to manipulate the subject eligibility criteria until they identified as eligible three to four times as many students as they could serve. They were…