Presents guidelines for creating student database files that supplement classroom teaching. Highlights include determining educational objectives, planning the database with computer specialists and subject area specialists, data entry, and creating student worksheets. Specific examples concerning elements of the periodic table and…

Stresses the importance of hands-on science in elementary schools. Gives tips on designing your own excellent science program. Lists resources for hands-on activities. (RT)

States that students who simultaneously acquire subject matter concepts and high-level thinking skills are more likely to learn, remember, and be able to apply the concepts. Provides an example for assisting faculty in developing better decision-makers. (RT)

Discusses some of the drawbacks of using a demonstration of the electrolysis of water to illustrate the interconversion between electrical and chemical energy. Illustrates a simple apparatus allowing demonstration of this concept while overcoming these drawbacks. (CW)

Outlines an adaptive framework for the study of plants and their pollinators in which both partners in the ecological relationship are seen as maximizing fitness through efficient use of the other as a resource. Suggests experimental projects to examine the validity of these assumptions giving an evolutionary emphasis. (Author/CW)

Describes the Tardigrada as a group of animals suitable for close study in project work. Gives reasons for their suitability and an illustrated identification key. Discusses possible investigations into the ecology and physiology of tardigrades. (Author/CW)

Summarizes current developments in alternative frameworks research in science education. Covers concept maps, learning as conceptual change, classroom strategies, problem solving in physics and where research should be going. (CW)

Compares the effectiveness of two instructional models in bringing about a valid understanding of science concepts in prospective elementary teachers. Describes the two instructional models; an expository model and a learning cycle model. Concludes that college students understandings of science concepts may be improved using a combination of the…

Discusses electricity's documented effects on the human body, including both the dangers to human health and the medical application of electrical stimulation to heart problems. Discusses the teaching of such physics topics to potential medical students. (TW)

Discusses the need for student experiments involving the complete characterization of "unknown" inorganic compounds. Describes a project employing a complex metal compound. The compound contains six different components in both inert and labile complexions. Outlines the complete procedure and the preparation of the unknown compound. (TW)

Discusses the difficulties that beginning chemistry students have in understanding acid-base chemistry. Describes the use of conjugate acid-base charts in helping students visualize the conjugate relationship. Addresses chart construction, metal ions, buffers and pH titrations, and the organic functional groups and nonaqueous solvents. (TW)

Describes an attempt to ascertain the validity of the assumptions of the developers of a technology-based biological curriculum. Considers the organization of its learning materials and the transfer of key concepts. Illustrates some of the crucial issues faced by scientific curricula emphasizing technology. (CW)

Discusses some of the advantages and disadvantages of both live and videotaped presentations, particularly in regard to courses in mechanical engineering. Describes a graduate-level gas dynamics course that was offered live and on videotape to students both on and off campus by the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign). (TW)

Discusses some of the benefits of being a university professor in a good graduate research department in engineering education. Focuses on the interactions between professors and their graduate advisees. Provides suggestions for advisers that may lead to better advisement and satisfactory faculty-student relationships. (TW)

Discusses the problems created in graduate chemical engineering programs when students enter with a wide diversity of understandings of transport phenomena. Describes a two-semester graduate transport course sequence at the University of Notre Dame which focuses on fluid mechanics and heat and mass transfer. (TW)