The primary purpose of this study was to understand what happens when some aspects of the constructivist approach, namely prediction, explanation, student-centered, and teacher-centered discussions, are applied to science teaching. The study involved 363 junior high school students in Taiwan. It combined the effectiveness of four alternative…

A picture book is defined as a book in which the illustrations are as important as the text or written story. Picture books published today seem appropriate and exciting for anyone from 1 to 100 years old. Among the many kinds of picture books are Mother Goose books; toy books (board books, pop-up books, concept books, flap books, cloth books, and…

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…

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an instrument to assess students' culturally sensitive environments and to examine the associations between these factors and students' attitudes towards science. A measure of students' environment, namely, the Cultural Learning Environment Questionnaire (CLEQ), was developed. The instrument…

The goal of the conference reported in this document was to initiate major revitalization of freshman science by bringing together individuals who have been working to improve introductory courses with research faculty who may or may not have been actively involved in the teaching of these courses. This report tries to capture the spirit and the…

Because most parents say they do not or cannot help their children with science, this booklet was designed to help them do so, easily and with pleasure for both parent and child. The introduction presents information on why and how parents should help their children and provides a general orientation to the ideas and activities offered in the…

A study described, analyzed, and interpreted the ways an effective high school teacher used literacy activities (reading, writing, and discussion) to teach chemistry to first-year chemistry students. The teacher selected was considered effective by peers and students and professed to intentionally use literacy activities as a means of teaching…

This report, intended for teachers, administrators, school board members, parents, community leaders, and other concerned leaders, provides a rationale for the restructuring of elementary school education and makes specific recommendations for realizing that vision. The introduction discusses the need for educational changes in light of…

A study of fourth- and fifth-grade students who were taught science in Spanish as a second language is reported. The primary issues studied were: (1) the role of first-language skills in learning science in a second language, and (2) whether hands-on instruction, seen as effective by many for science teaching, is appropriate for…

Trends for third- and fourth-grade students were identified from data collected in a longitudinal study of how children learn science concepts. Approximately 325 children from three school districts participated in this study from their first week in kindergarten through the end of sixth grade. A heuristic model of science learning was developed…

As part of a larger project aimed at exploring how students' conceptual growth results from interacting with the teacher and the assigned readings associated with a course, this study focused on how prospective elementary teachers conceptualized two concepts, evaporation and condensation in a Concepts in Earth Science Course. In the conceptual…

This book is an energy, electricity, and science resource guide for teachers of grades K-3. The types of energy covered are: coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear energy, renewable energy sources, electricity and food. Thirty-one interdisciplinary energy lessons are the heart of the book. Each lesson is teacher tested and can be incorporated into the…

The purpose of this study is to analyze the perceived thought processes of several students as they learn, and then attempt to solve problems about chemical equilibrium. Four tenth grade students in Taipei, Taiwan, were audiotaped as they individually attempted to solve problems. The problems were such that they required more than mere recall or…

This booklet was written to help teachers climb out of their textbooks and join their students in discovering science for themselves. It features articles by elementary, middle, and high school teachers who have adapted hands-on science for their classrooms, and now teach science using interactive materials from "The Exploratorium Science…

As part of an investigation of the influence of a 3-week institute upon secondary biology and earth science teachers regarding their self-confidence with respect to the teaching of evolutionary principles, 19 inservice teachers participated in discussions of content presentations and instructional activities. The following research questions were…