This paper reports the design and evaluation of small-scale teaching interventions addressing the epistemology of science as part of the regular high school science courses followed by English students. Although there is a growing consensus that the curriculum should include aspects of the nature of science, there is a limited body of knowledge…

In this paper, in response to Ajay Sharma's paper titled "Portrait of a science teacher as a bricoleur: A case study from India" and associated reviews, I address the value of bridging two narrative styles for describing teacher development, discuss questions of over-essentializing an Indian school context, propose that teacher and…

This paper describes a course in which preservice elementary teachers read and discussed "The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" by Carl Sagan. Students discussed their beliefs about the nature of science, teaching, and learning. The paper concludes that preservice teachers appeared to develop reflective and critical…

Studies have shown that students, after having studied physics concepts and being familiar with them for an appreciable time, may nevertheless lack the ancillary knowledge needed to use such concepts reliably; correspondingly, they exhibit major misconceptions and errors. Provided in this paper is an analysis of the ancillary knowledge required to…

The purpose of this study was to examine how prospective middle school science teachers understood and identified types of scientific knowledge in a presented vignette. Also, their definitions and views of the relationships between types of scientific knowledge (i.e. scientific facts, concepts, generalizations, theories, and scientific laws) were…

Project 2061 is a three-phase plan of action designed to contribute to the reform of science, mathematics, and technology education. Phase I was to establish a conceptual base for reform by spelling out the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that all students should acquire as a result of their experiences from kindergarten through high school.…

This study attempts to determine whether there exists a negative interconnection between the creative and testable nature-of-science (NOS) conceptions in college students' conceptual ecology by investigating, through a pair of IHV-assisted teaching experiments, the effect of raising the status of each NOS conception in students' conceptual ecology…

The Engineering Department's vision for undergraduate education for the next century is to develop a set of laboratory experiences that are thoughtfully sequenced and integrated to promote the full development of students in all courses. Optoelectronics is one of the most important and most demanding courses in Electrical and Computer Engineering.…

In a discussion of the development of higher education in America, its European roots are traced to provide a historical perspective to some current issues. The paper examines the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment in relation to the influence that each of these historical periods had on the first colleges and universities in this…

The Nature of Scientific Knowledge Scale (NSKS) is a 48 item, Likert-type instrument designed to assess high school students' understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge. This attitude scale is based on a six-factor model adapted from the factor-explication format used by Victor Showalter. Scientific knowledge is characterized as: (1)…

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a 4-year project was undertaken to restructure the sophomore elective course in social science for natural science and engineering students. The restructured course emphasized an objective, rigorous, and exact approach to social phenomena. Readings were designed to carry the student step by step from…

The comparative approach in education involves the cross-cultural method. A lack of clear and precise scientific research is one of the most serious problems in the study of cultures. This study investigates the cross-cultural method in education as a part of the behavioral sciences. The first part of the paper describes the early developments in…

Presents a hierarchical list of principles that can be used as a guide in the construction of more successful science programs that have scientific literacy for all as a goal. Lists affective goals for science education. Discusses the role of teachers' attitudes and expectations in teaching this type of curriculum. (CW)

Discusses how the reputation of "Principia" was created and maintained. Indicates the difficulties of identifying a single unambiguous meaning for the text. Shows that knowledge of Sir Isaac Newton makes little difference to understanding the later impact of the work. (CW)

This paper describes a project for upper elementary and middle school minority girl students called the Sisters in Sport Science (SISS). The SISS program addresses the needs of urban girls in gaining access to equal education in science and mathematics by using athletics as a vehicle for learning. The program provides a non-competitive and…