Typically, teachers use tests to evaluate students' knowledge acquisition. In a novel experimental study, we examined whether low-stakes testing ("quizzing") can be used to foster students' learning of course content in 8th grade science classes. Students received multiple-choice quizzes (with feedback); in the quizzes, some target…

A participatory learning approach, combined with both a traditional and a competitive assessment, was used to motivate students and promote a deep approach to learning biochemistry. Students were challenged to research, author, and explain their own multiple-choice questions (MCQs). They were also required to answer, evaluate, and discuss MCQs…

Many English schools have a homework policy which prescribes how much homework should be set for each pupil each week, irrespective of whether it can be made meaningful. Research recommends "Assessment for Learning" (AfL) as supportive of students' learning, but teachers can find it difficult to incorporate AfL techniques into their…

To what extent does the use of computational tools offer teachers the possibility of constructing dynamic models to identify and explore diverse mathematical relations? What ways of reasoning or thinking about the problems emerge during the model construction process that involves the use of the tools? These research questions guided the…

In seven chapters, this report details the Science Fair Self-Help Development Program, which was initiated in a pilot project at three middles schools in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during school year 1991-1992. The purpose of the program was to provide guidance to schools in developing their own parental and community resources into a sustainable…

Designed to serve as a source of ideas for students of all age levels for science fair projects, this publication lists titles of projects by young people who participated in fairs leading to the International Science and Engineering Fair or competed in the Science Talent Search for the Westinghouse Science Scholarship and Award. The titles have…

Every active family and business produces solid waste, some of which are the nonhazardous discards of society. Taken as individual substances, our newspapers, food leftovers, containers and wrappings, grass clippings and tree limbs seem harmless enough. But huge volumes of these materials are generated daily. It has been projected that many…

The Learning in Science Project (Primary)--LISP(P)--was designed to examine problems and difficulties in primary science and to explore ways of overcoming these problems. Early research led to a proposal that children's questions and explanations could form the basis of an alternative teaching approach. However, several issues were raised which…

The Learning in Science Project (Primary)--LISP(P)--developed a handbook for a unit on "floating and sinking". The handbook contains information about ideas children and scientists have about the topic and several investigations and projects designed to help teachers move children gradually from intuitive explanations toward those which…

Science programs provided for primary school have not always been successful. A major reason suggested is that some programs place demands on teachers which many teachers find difficult to meet and which give rise to concerns which restrict their development as teachers of science. Based on the work of the the Learning in Science Project…

This publication provides information and activities for teaching about vegetables and process skills including observing, classifying, collecting and interpreting data, inferring, measuring, and predicting. There are 12 lessons. Lessons 1 through 5 pertain to growing, rinsing, and observing sprouts. Lessons 6 and 8 through 11 deal with tasting…

This publication provides information and activities for teaching about insects and process skills including observing, classifying, collecting and interpreting data, inferring, measuring, and predicting. There are 13 lessons. Lessons 1 through 3 deal with insects, in general, and with moths and butterflies. Lessons 4 through 7 consist of…

This publication provides information and activities for teaching about seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touch and process skills, including observing, classifying, collecting and interpreting data, inferring, measuring, and predicting. There are 12 lessons. Lessons 1 and 2 deal with classification using sight. Lessons 3 and 4 cover a book…

This report highlights and presents examples of the Commission on Physical Science, Mathematics, and Resources' (CPSMR) recent activities and future plans. Selected programs and activities from the 224 boards and committees that operate within CPSMR are reviewed. These range from studies of basic science to examinations of applied science and…

This booklet was prepared for use at workshops conducted by the Junior Academy of the New York Academy of Sciences and the New York Biology Teachers Association, as well as for use in the high school classroom and laboratory as an aid to both teachers and students. Its purpose is to help the beginning science research student in selecting and…