Biotechnology is an expanding area of scientific and community interest, one that it is important students understand because of its potential to impact on them and their communities. The issue for teachers and science and technology educators is how to provide learning experiences in this area. This paper draws on classroom-based research to…

We present an alternative to a traditional first-year chemistry laboratory experiment. This experiment has four key features: students utilize stoichiometry, learn and apply principles of green chemistry, engage in authentic scientific inquiry, and discover why each part of a scientific lab report is necessary. The importance and essential…

Teachers' beliefs about science reform have an important effect on how science is taught. This article examines a kindergarten teacher's science curriculum as she seeks to implement five of Washington State's Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) for core concepts and principles of science. The authors examine factors that affect…

Broad support exists within the science education community for the incorporation of socioscientific issues (SSI) and argumentation in the science curriculum. This study investigates how content knowledge and morality contribute to the quality of SSI argumentation among high school students. We employed a mixed-methods approach: 56 participants…

An optional 1-credit recitation course was developed to supplement a traditionally taught 4-credit lecture-plus-laboratory course in soil science at Oregon State University. Popular, competitive games that would be familiar to students were revised to be "soils-based" and were employed in the recitation class. These games were seen as a…

Astrobiology is an interdisciplinary science course that combines essential questions from life, physical, and Earth sciences. An effective astrobiology course also capitalizes on students' natural curiosity about social science implications of studying the origin of life and the impact of finding life elsewhere in the universe. (Contains 2…

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of problem-based active learning in science education on students' academic achievement and concept learning. In the study, both quantitative and qualitative research methods were utilized. Quantitative data were obtained via the pre/post-test, treatment-control groups test model. Qualitative data…

This study sought to evaluate the goals and functions of practical tests for undergraduate students in the natural sciences in university distance education (DUE) programs in the Netherlands, and to compare the findings with results from similar research conducted in regard to science practicals at the Open University of the Netherlands (OuN) and…

Recent reports by the National Science Teacher's Association, the National Science Foundation, and the National Education Goals Panel indicate that the science preparation of American children is deficient. In 1990 the State of California published the "Science Framework" guide to curriculum and materials in an effort to address these…

This curriculum guide accompanies Certified: A Citizen's Step-by-Step Guide to Protecting Vernal Pools which is designed to train volunteers in the process of identifying vernal pool habitat so that as many of these pools as possible can be certified by the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program. Vernal pools are a kind of…

This thesis reports on the research of 25 plants, used as herbal remedies since the 1800s by the author's Native American ancestors (the Day family) and the Cherokee tribe. The plants were identified in four state parks in southwestern Indiana. Information sources included the research literature, articles on Cherokee herbal remedies, and…

Due to its abstract, theoretical nature, the mole concept has been recognized as one of the most difficult topics to teach and learn within the chemistry curriculum. The purpose of this study was to chronicle the development of high school students' conceptions of the mole following a period of instruction in a chemistry class. This investigation…

ChemSource is designed as a strategy to help preservice and inservice high school chemistry teachers promote student learning more effectively. Its major premise is that well-designed laboratory investigations are an important avenue for cultivating student interest, engagement, and meaningful learning in chemistry. The SourceBook component of…

The goals of this curriculum, developed as a summer course for the Young Scholars Program at The Ohio State University-Columbus, are as follows: (1) enable students to develop an understanding of the concept of a system; (2) help students gain an appreciation of the value of systems; (3) develop skills in working with systems; (4) expand skills in…

The Rural and Small Schools Conference has made a special effort to address the needs that pertain to science educators in rural and small schools. This publication presents the proceedings from the 1988 science education section of the conference. The content of the conference deals with a diversity of topics. The proceedings include a preface…