Chronicles the leadership role that liberal arts colleges have taken in reforming science and mathematics instruction and curricula. This reform movement has been made possible by new federal funding strategies. Highlights a number of specific institutional curriculum development efforts. (MSE)

Describes how two teachers collaborated with a university-based researcher/teacher educator to design and implement more authentic science in a grade 7 classroom. Discusses the ways in which the teachers changed their views about science and science teaching, the anxieties they experienced, and the institutional constraints that impacted their…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how aware high school biology teachers are of societal issues (values, moral, ethic, and legal issues) while teaching genetics, genetics engineering, molecular genetics, human heredity, and evolution. The study includes a short historical review of World War II atrocities during the Holocaust when…

The development of a science education that includes a focus upon the nature of science suggests the need for "pedagogic tools" that can be used to engage children with the procedural understandings that are central to the scientific approach to enquiry. This paper reports on a collaborative action research project that focused on the…

The implementation of problem-based learning (PBL) and other inquiry-driven educational techniques is often resisted by both faculty and students, who may not be comfortable with this learning/instructional style. We present here a hybrid approach, which combines elements of expository education with inquiry-driven laboratory exercises and…

We report on an evaluation of the effectiveness of Project ARIES, an astronomy-based physical science curriculum for upper elementary and middle school children. ARIES students use innovative, simple, and affordable apparatus to carry out a wide range of indoor and outdoor hands-on, discovery-based activities. Student journals and comprehensive…

In spring 1994, the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) Board of Directors approved a recommendation that the Association take the lead in establishing standards for environmental education. The four working papers contained in this publication are the first step in the NAAEE Standards Project. The papers discuss the…

This science curriculum was written for teachers of children in junior high or middle school. It contains science activities for the following lessons: (1) Anemometers and Wind Speed; (2) Up! Up! and Away; (3) Jet Lag--Time Zones; (4) Inventors; (5) Model Rocketry; (6) Geometry and Kites; and (7) Super Savers. In lesson one, students construct an…

This document contains 45 integrated physics, mathematics, and technology curriculum modules developed by teachers at 5 Illinois schools. An introduction discusses the collaborative project, in which teams of one mathematics, physics, and technology teacher from each school developed innovative instructional delivery models that enabled the three…

This science curriculum is a basic science program suitable for middle or junior high school science classes. The book is designed for use as a "worktext" or text book and emphasizes a wide range of science skills and concepts to provide students with post-school knowledge and the ability to successfully complete a proficiency or a…

This concept paper outlines the rationale for a project on the development of science curriculum for K-8 high ability learners. The rationale was developed through a synthesis of major recommendations from national science reform reports and from a review of the literature on effective science curriculum for high ability learners. The paper begins…

The object teaching revolution challenged the 19th century American education practices of learning by rote memorization and relying on the textbook and teacher for knowledge. The American version of object teaching evolved from Pestalozzi's educational philosophy of "Arschauung," which refers to learning from direct concrete…

This document addresses the challenges and opportunities technological advances are presenting in education. Using the example of Photonics (defined as the generation, manipulation, transport, detection and use of light information and energy whose quantium unit is the photon) the report illustrates the need for up-to-date educational curricula.…

In an era when the U.S. educational enterprise, particularly in mathematics, physical sciences, and engineering, has been found to be seriously flawed and has come under criticism from many different sectors, it is essential for science and mathematics educators from the nation's predominantly undergraduate institutions to take the lead in…

Problem solving has been a concern of science education for at least three quarters of a century. This book presents a comprehensive review of the research that has occurred in problem solving. The studies included in this summary range across the continuum. Some are concerned with gaps between conditions and resolutions; some involve science…