High school physics offers opportunities to use problem solving and lab practices as well as cement skills in research, technical writing, and software applications. Describes and evaluates computer software enhancing the high school physics curriculum including spreadsheets for laboratory data, all-in-one simulators, projectile motion simulators,…

Explores First Nations (Native American) science education from a cultural perspective. Recognizes science as a subculture and contrasts scientific and Aboriginal ideas about science. Provides a description of the rationale and a series of steps toward a cross-cultural education. Contains 125 references. (DDR)

Describes the environments existing in Southwestern schools having a majority of Native American students. Concludes that the schools have a potential to promote Native American participation in science and mathematics, but they have high teacher turnover and limited amounts of professional contact and communication. (YP)

Investigates superintendents' needs in mathematics and science instruction. Used was a Likert-type questionnaire covering teacher quality, teacher supply, minority access, materials and equipment, and curriculum for non-academic students. A follow-up telephone survey examined the types of materials and equipment most needed. (YP)

An eighth-grade science teacher shares her successes and strategies for designing and implementing an individualized scientific investigation approach for students with three major problems: (1) low reading ability, (2) high absenteeism, and (3) limited background in science. (ZWH)

In 1987, National Science Teachers Association commissioned the Search for Excellence in Biology Teaching Task Force. This article is a distillation of the task force report, highlighting the criteria for excellence in biology teaching, grades 7-12. The criteria for excellence are in five subsections: Goals, Criteria for Curriculum, Criteria for…

This special journal issue presents a review of science education research in 1989. This summary of research is organized around 14 themes: achievement in science, affect, classroom interactions, cognitive processes, computers, curriculum, instruction, legislation and policy, misconceptions, scientific literacy, teachers, tests and assessments,…

Describes using the movie "Jurassic Park" as a foundation for a middle school interdisciplinary unit involving science, math, language arts, history, and geography. Suggested books and activities are presented. (PR)

Presents an activity in which students develop science process skills by making inferences as to the contents of a "mystery" box from observations based on their sensory perceptions. Provides instructions for implementing and extending the activity. (MDH)

Describes a course for graduate science education students in the history, philosophy, and nature of science. Topics addressed include the course motivation and evolution; aims, topics, and goals; organization and instructional methodology; a reading list; projects; and grading and evaluation. (PR)

A large percentage of U.S. students attending high-poverty urban middle schools achieve low levels of science proficiency, posing significant challenges to their success in high school science and to national and local efforts to reform science education. Through its work in Philadelphia schools, the Center for Social Organization of Schools at…

In many countries there remain substantial sex differences in enrolments in elective science courses, despite concerted efforts in recent years to alleviate them. This paper explores the reasons for these differences by comparing models of male and female enrolment intentions in elective courses in biology, chemistry and physics. The models are…

A study investigated factors affecting the development of positive attitudes toward environmental issues among college students, focusing on the direct and indirect effects of student background characteristics, institutional characteristics, and college experience and outcomes variables. Data were drawn from the Cooperative Institutional Research…

Parental involvement is critical to a child's success in school. This handbook provides parents with information about the Grade 1 curriculum in Alberta, Canada. Based on the Alberta Education "Program of Studies: Elementary Schools," the handbook describes the knowledge, skills, and attitudes students in Alberta are expected to…

Parental involvement is critical to a child's success in school. This handbook provides parents with information about the Grade 2 curriculum in Alberta, Canada. Based on the Alberta Education "Program of Studies: Elementary Schools," the handbook describes the knowledge, skills, and attitudes students in Alberta are expected to…