Instructional materials are provided for a course that covers basic concepts of physics and chemistry. Designed for use in a workplace literacy project developed by Mercer County Community College (New Jersey) and its partners, the course describes applications of these concepts to real-life situations, with an emphasis on applications of…

Designed to tap the rich collection of instructional techniques in the ERIC database, this compilation of lesson plans focuses on reading and writing activities for use in the high school science and math classroom. The 43 lesson plans in this book cover writing about science, reading about science, the vocabulary of science, short scientific…

Recognizing the potential pitfalls resulting from a lack of human foresight lies at the heart of the science-technology-society (STS) movement. This issue of "Theory Into Practice" is the second part of a two-part series that examines the educational opportunities arising as educators attempt to develop student understanding of STS. In the first…

Interactive radio is a technique to promote active listening to educational radio programs targeted at students and teachers in Third World countries. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has supported interactive radio in Africa, Asia, and Latin American to provide supplementary training to students with poorly prepared teachers.…

This outline is intended for use in a unit of 10-12 lectures on plant growth and development at the introductory undergraduate level as part of a course on organismal biology. The series of lecture outlines is structured around the life cycle of rapid-cycling Brassica rapa (RCBr). The unit begins with three introductory lectures on general plant…

This paper examines the relationship among technology, science, engineering, and mathematics in the context of education. It strives to shape a perspective on how future citizens should best be educated to live in an increasingly more complex technological world? The eight sections of the paper cover the following: (1) the history of technology,…

Current literature suggests ways in which science education can be improved within schools; however, curriculum implementation based on current knowledge has not been achieved. The purpose of this study was to evaluate instruction designed to teach preservice science teacher education students content using techniques recommended by the reform…

The Summer Science Camps (SSC) Program supports residential and commuter enrichment projects for seventh through ninth grade minority students who are underrepresented in science, engineering, and mathematics. Eligible organizations include school districts, museums, colleges, universities, and nonprofit youth-centered and/or community-based…

This document presents a series of eight lesson plans (or "learning cycles") for teaching fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students about the Anasazi Indians of the southwestern United States. Each lesson sets forth intended grade level, background information on the key idea and goal, time needed, prerequisite skills and concepts, a…

Many times science does not provide us with exact descriptions of phenomena or answers to questions but only allows us to make educated guesses. Black box activities encourage this method of scientific thinking because the activity is performed inside a sealed container requiring the students to hypothesize on the contents and operation of the…

Many are concerned that America will not have a sufficient supply of scientists and engineers in the workforce for the 21st century. Five regional workshops were held to provide a forum for all those concerned with issues involved in the underrepresentation in science and engineering of students with disabilities. This document is one of two…

Eighteen high school science students were involved in a study to determine what attributes in the problem statement they need when representing a typical osmosis problem. In order to realize this goal students were asked to solve problems aloud and to explain their answers. Included as a part of the results are the attributes that the students…

Interactive classroom activities can be dominated by a small group of students called target students. This publication explores what has been learned about target students and the reasons why mathematics and science teachers permit a relatively small number of target students to dominate interactions involving the teacher and other resources.…

This study examined two approaches to self-instruction by hearing-impaired students through use of instructor-developed science modules. Subjects were 24 students (ages 18-28) enrolled in allied health programs at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. The first approach involved the reading of science modules and writing answers on study…

Good elementary school science engages children in wonder and the study of the natural world. It makes links to technology and gives children the opportunity to explore how things work firsthand through activities and experiences with a wide variety of materials. This book was written for decision makers. While some of these decision makers hold…