This teaching unit is designed to help students in grades 5 to 8 explore the concepts of measurement, ratios, and graphing in the context of designing a dragster. The units in the series have been developed to enhance and enrich mathematics, science, and technology education and to accommodate different teaching and learning styles. Each unit…

This teaching unit is designed to help students in grades 5 to 8 explore the concepts of patterns, functions, and algebra in the context of propelling spacecraft. The units in the series have been developed to enhance and enrich mathematics, science, and technology education and to accommodate different teaching and learning styles. Each unit…

The purpose of this research was to describe how self-efficacy affects the development and science achievement of practicing teachers after their participation in a half day long hands-on science lesson provided by the Science on Wheels project. The 42 practicing K-8 teachers were from eight different counties located in a rural mid-eastern state.…

"The Carrot Highway" is a 40-minute award-winning videotape that takes viewers on a whirlwind tour around the world to tell the story of the carrot. This videotape reveals the carrot in all its glory by cleverly integrating live-action, music, animation, videotape footage, and games. Viewers travel with a troupe of animated carrot characters to…

This curriculum guide supports and gives structure to engaging students in writing-to-learn activities in science classes by delineating writing outcomes and assessment. The guide is structured according to the beliefs that students need models, revision is the key to successful writing, writing is a tool for demonstrating learning, and writing is…

This book describes classroom uses for teachers' and children's own stories, as well as stories from a multitude of outside sources. It offers a theoretical basis for the use of storytelling, gives practical tips on storytelling techniques, and provides practical storytelling activities for use across the curriculum in kindergarten through high…

The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) is a nationwide information system sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI). As part of the National Library of Education, ERIC maintains the largest education database in the world. This document consists of 82 ERIC Digests, which are…

The Sunflower/Girasol program is a Spanish/English bilingual science discovery program for Hispanic children in grades 2-6, designed to improve science instruction and educational opportunity for this group. The report describes the program's proposed activities and products, progress to date, and results of an evaluation of the first two units of…

Science curricula typically do not capitalize on the hands-on, self-initiated learning style of young children. This book provides a comprehensive, developmentally appropriate approach to science education with young children, with special attention to physics and chemistry. The book's introductory chapter is followed by chapters on: (1) science…

This study investigates the fate of claims made by middle school science students working in collaborative groups in a multicultural urban classroom and the concomitant effects on engagement and understanding. Given problems of a complex and open-ended nature in a learning community setting, students were challenged to establish group positions…

This volume is the flagship volume in a series on cognitive strategy instruction. While strategies instruction is particularly appropriate for the learning disabled, it is also very useful for normal learners, especially inner city and minority children. The series focuses on conveying strategies instruction methods for use with these children.…

The Modified-Revised Science Teacher's Behavior Inventory (MR-STBI) was used in earlier studies to analyze the teaching strategies emphasized in instruction in science classrooms. This analysis showed changes in teaching strategies that occurred as a result of science teachers' professional development through longer-term modeled,…

This report is one of a series of reports from a research project that focuses on the evaluation of laboratory work in secondary schools. The study focuses on 12 different laboratory tasks from the biology and chemistry courses of the Finnish comprehensive school. Secondary students (N=212) were observed during laboratory sessions and analysis of…

This software product presents multi-level stories to capture the interest of children in grades two through five, while teaching them crucial reading comprehension skills. With stories touching on everything from the invention of velcro to the journey of food through the digestive system, the open-ended reading comprehension program is versatile…

The purpose of this study is to describe types and structural properties of instructional activities used by physics and chemistry preservice teachers (N=4) during their teaching of pupils 14 to 16 years old. The study involved the observation and tape recording of 64 classes with all tapes transcribed verbatim. Analysis involved the decomposition…