Due to unavailable effective methods for teaching science to language-minority students, science teachers attempting to teach bilingual students experience frustration and become disheartened and discouraged. Often, science teachers only learn successful minority-language teaching strategies through trial and error or through networking and…

In a rural Eastern North Carolina county, a team of students and teachers has come together to explore the scientific dynamics of a historic millpond. This article talks about the Bennett's Millpond Environmental Learning Project. The project immerses students and teachers in sustained contact with science technology tools as they study the water…

The Elizabeth Towns Incident (ETI), a set of inquiry lessons on human anatomy, was developed as part of a partnership between the Houston Independent School District (HISD) and Baylor College of Medicine. This collaboration was funded by the National Science Foundation's program, Graduate Teaching Fellowship in K-12 Education. The Houston-based…

Over the past 7 years the authors have been involved in the development of a new model for the education of science teachers that has the potential to address teacher education in challenging urban settings characterized by problems such as teacher turnover and retention, low job satisfaction, and contradictions arising from cultural and ethnic…

This paper reports upon an active learning approach that promotes conceptual change when studying direct current electricity circuits, using free open source software, "Qucs". The study involved a total of 102 prospective mathematics teacher students. Prior to instruction, students' understanding of direct current electricity was…

Various major publications such as the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996) and the collection of research results regarding the use of inquiry methodology in the teaching and learning of science edited by Minstrell & van Zee (2000) recommend that science should be taught in the same way that it is…

This article presents the first results of an investigation in a scholastic context aimed a determining the conditions that favour the acquisition of knowledge in biology within interactions in groups of 4 pupils. There were three work sessions in small groups, and some sessions in class groups. The pupils' conceptions were assessed at the…

This study investigated the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards' (NBPTS) assessment process in order to identify, quantify, and substantiate learning outcomes from the participants. One hundred and twenty candidates for the Adolescent and Young Adult Science (AYA Science) Certificate were studied over a two-year period using the…

The results of a multistep process to begin identifying best practices in deaf education are presented. To identify current practices, a survey was conducted of the literature, the Web sites of professional organizations, and states' education Web sites, which yielded a number of commonly discussed practices. Ten of the more highly cited practices…

This article describes how workshop sessions have attempted to help teachers from one curriculum area develop their diagnostic skills to use in assessment for learning. The approach uses the metaphor of the teacher-as-learning-doctor to encourage teachers to think about the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of learning "bugs". The…

Field Trip to the Moon uses an inquiry-based learning approach that fosters team building and introduces participants to careers in science and engineering. The program components include the Field Trip to the Moon DVD [not included here], Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)/Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Activities, and…

The Field Trip to the Moon program uses an inquiry-based learning approach that fosters team building and introduces young people to careers in science and engineering. The program components include the Field Trip to the Moon show (either on DVD or presented in a planetarium dome) and workshop investigations. The compelling show provides…

The Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program (GEAR UP) is designed to provide assistance to low income students. The program provides discretionary grants for the purpose of increasing the readiness of low income students to attend and succeed in postsecondary education. The grants are up to six years in length and provide…

The purposes of this study were to: (1) investigate the process of development of young children's ideas when (and if) they appropriate science from the conceptual area (i.e., light) during whole-class and small-group interactions; and (2) advance understanding of relationships between a collaboratively designed learning and teaching model and…

This study reports on an effort to improve the teaching and learning of physical science for prospective elementary teachers. As part of the effort, a new constructivist science curriculum model was introduced for field testing at a large midwestern university. The purpose of the study was to build a research base to guide future science teaching…