Compares the content of conversations generated by elementary school groups at animatronic animal displays in a temporary zoo exhibit and in a permanent natural-history museum exhibit. Finds that moving animal models in themselves are insufficient to induce many visitors to talk about them in other than a superficial, cursory manner. Contains 17…

Discusses the Youth Activity and Recreational Development (YARD) Center project, one school's efforts to return their school grounds to a more natural state in order to support integrated learning in a natural area, provide an environmental education workstation and writing laboratory, and have an aesthetically pleasing area for students and…

This sourcebook lists over 2,000 programs, people, projects, publications, and organizations that seek to improve the quality of teaching and learning in science, mathematics, and technology education. This sourcebook, previously titled "AAAS Science Education Directory," has expanded its coverage to include the listings for all the state…

Discusses the establishment of school environmental awareness areas: what decisions are to be made and what kinds of activities can be carried out. (Author/SDH)

Presented is a discussion on how an evaluator can function effectively in a Science and Technology Center, using an evaluation model on experience in evaluating exhibits at the Lawrence Hall of Science over a six-year period. The approach in this paper is described for four areas: (1) evaluation of currently available exhibits and programs; (2)…

Presented is the argument that museums currently have a greater need for formative than for summative evaluation. Areas of formative evaluation that are of primary concern are also discussed. (Author/SA)

A number of science museums and science-technology centers throughout the United States are making computers accessible and understandable to the general public. A five-stage model of public access to computers is introduced, and ways of implementing the first level, special public access, are described.

Reviews activities of the Amos De-Shalit Science Teaching Center in Israel, established to promote and improve the teaching of science in Israel. (SL)

This book describes the nature and extent of science learning in America with particular attention to the innumerable sources of science education existing outside the formal education system. Examples are provided from research and practice on how to better understand, facilitate, and communicate about free-choice science learning including…

Skillful handling of a science complex for the State University of New York at Binghamton expresses society's concept of the goals of technology and questions about values generated by those standards. The spatial organization and systems of the buildings meet the pragmatic needs of science; however, the design does not succeed in expressing…

During the past year American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) members have been working with local science museums, giving lectures, helping design exhibits, and meeting with young people to talk about science careers. They are part of a project to improve science education programs of science/technology centers and museums.…

Highlights the creation of centers that promote the professional development of teachers including Teaching and Learning Centers, Centers for Teaching Excellence, and Centers for Faculty Development. Presents examples of such centers where teachers help one another hone skills, stay abreast of pedagogical developments, and mobilize institutional…

A high school sophomore describes his summer job at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum where he worked when a rock found in Antarctica was determined to have come from Mars. He identifies with the enthusiasm of preteen day-campers for scientific learning and is flabbergasted by the nonchalant reactions from scientists to the possibility…

Describes work done to provide staff of the Sandy Point Discovery Center with methods for evaluating exhibits and interpretive programming. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation measures were designed to assess the program's objective of estuary education. Pretest-posttest questionnaires and interviews are used to measure subjects' knowledge and…

The City Technology Colleges in Great Britain were developed to teach science and information technology to students from 11 to 18 years of age. The approach adopted at the Bradford City Technology College, which was to open in September 1990, is one in which emphasis is given to combining established technologies with a new educational context.…