This sourcebook provides direction for the elementary school teacher in working with Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) materials. It focuses on providing insight into the underlying rationale for these materials and on providing suggestions for the implementation of the program in the classroom. Part One provides a brief overview of the…

Determined were the kinds of physics study items used, and the emphasis placed per item, by both the Physical Science Study Committee (PSSC) teachers and the teachers of traditional physics materials in the state of Nebraska. A questionnaire was sent to teachers from the largest 100 schools, ranked by total enrollment, and to fifty other teachers…

Assessed was the science achievement of five-and six-year-olds from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Classes included both a middle-class and lower-class pre-school class and a middle-class and a lower-class first grade class. Four additional classes, which were studying a local science curriculum, were chosen to match these same grade-level…

This bibliography relates the various experimental studies done in elementary school science. Every attempt was made to provide a bibliography that is as comprehensive as possible. Only a selected number of the publications put out by the projects themselves are listed. Bibliographical information is provided for obtaining a continuous source of…

To evaluate a method of content analysis, and as a step toward the specification of a conceptual domain for primary level science, extant instructional programs were analyzed. This paper reports an analysis of the introductory unit and three biological science units of the Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS). The background of the program…

The aspect of the Unified Science and Mathematics for Elementary Schools (USMES) project described in this paper was undertaken in an effort to observe the problem solving behaviors of elementary school children. The Notebook Problem consisted of presenting a student with three notebooks arranged so as to differ from each other in terms of such…

This 60-item questionnaire was designed to gather general background information from students who had used the Harvard Project Physics curriculum. The instrument includes three 20-item subscales: (1) attitude toward physics, (2) career interest, and (3) student characteristics. Items are multiple choice (5 options), and the introductory material…

This inventory, developed for use with the Harvard Project Physics curriculum, consists of 135 two-choice (agree-disagree) items. Items cover perceptions of the role of scientists, the nature and functions of theories, underlying assumptions made by scientists, and other aspects of the scientific process. The test is suitable for high school…

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether success in the Science - A Process Approach (SAPA) process of classification designed for primary grade children is contingent upon the children's developmental level as defined by Piaget's theory. The investigators sought to determine whether children who had reached the concrete operational…

The purpose of this study was to survey the Nuffield Science Teaching Projects' adoption and diffusion into British secondary schools. This report presents a narrative of the three-phase research strategy. The first year was of an exploratory nature aimed at elucidating the various forms that adoption and rejection of innovations could take, the…

This study was designed to assess the attitudinal outcomes of Introductory Physical Science (IPS) curriculum materials used in schools. Random samples of 240 students receiving IPS instruction and 240 non-science students were assigned to separate Solomon four-group designs with non-equivalent control groups. Random samples of 60 traditional…

Presented are two of the science modules (from Appendix A), developed for a study at Central Michigan University, focusing on competency-based materials in science methods education for elementary school teachers. The Materials Module is designed to involve the preservice teachers in examining, analyzing and evaluating three elementary science…

Reported are the results of a workshop designed to instruct college teachers and science consultants in "Science - A Process Approach" and "Science Curriculum""Improvement Study" curricula. One of the objectives of the workshop was to influence participants to promote these curricula and initiate change. This report…

Contained is a review of the research done on the use of verbal rewards in the classroom. Some verbal rewards are tasks rewards, other rewards are more personal; and still other verbal rewards are impersonal. Verbal rewards, therefore, have both intellectual and emotional implications. Research literature indicates that "verbal reward"…

Investigated were the relationships among three characteristics of administrators (school superintendents' innovativeness, dogmatism, and perceptions of situational pressures). Superintendents with three or four of the new programs were ranked as higly innovative, and superintendents with less than three were ranked as low innovative. The…