Discusses the following questions: (1) What is hands-on science? (2) What does it mean to be engaged in hands-on science activities (HOSA)? (3) How can teachers tell good HOSA? (4) When is a good time to use HOSA? (5) What can students learn from HOSA? (6) What assessment techniques will help teachers understand what students are learning? (PR)

Describes the use of role playing and skits for instruction in protein synthesis. (PR)

Presents reviews of literature for the following areas: perceptions and attitudes; curriculum and instruction; women and minorities; and the physical environment, educational technologies and support services. (PR)

Describes a Russian approach of using literature to make physics instruction more interesting and attractive to students. (PR)

Presents a problem-solving activity in which students determine the effects on the water level in a pool when rocks are removed from a boat floating in the pool and placed into the water. Students discuss the problem, design an experiment to test solutions, conduct the experiment, and draw conclusions. (MDH)

Points out that college freshmen expect major changes in the academic environment as they move from secondary school. Recommends that faculty use this opportunity to show students how to think for themselves. (DDR)

Presents the results of two newspaper polls conducted in Kansas concerning the teaching of evolution. Finds that the majority of the state's citizens do think that evolution should be taught in the public schools. (WRM)

Observes a 9-year-old third-grade student at home and at school. Reveals the disparity between Laura's highly contextualized knowledge of science and the school science curriculum. States that teachers do not value Laura's strong observational and analytical proclivities and that both she and her teachers think of Laura as an academic failure. (SR)

Argues that the life sciences offer potential for practical work to be undertaken outside the classroom. Explores a rationale for such work and draws on reported studies from a number of countries. Contains 44 references. (DDR)

An inner-city Omaha high school created an untracked, wholly desegregated 2-year thematic science curriculum for all 9th and 10th graders. Under the outdoor community study theme, students participate in a simulated archaeological dig of an Omaha Indian earth lodge, study the school grounds' ecological status, and design areas along a proposed…

Focuses on an activity in which students sample air at school and generate ideas about how to classify the microorganisms they observe. The results are used to compare air quality among schools via the Internet. Supports the development of scientific inquiry and technology skills. (DDR)

Discusses the development of a data analysis activity used with 8th grade students at the beginning of the school year. Groups of students collected a variety of data about a specific population. (DDR)

Details the three phase renovation plan for a children's zoo. Focuses on the first phase, the Hamill Family Play Zoo, and how the project differs from previous projects at the Brookfield Zoo. (DDR)

Describes a partnership between a middle school and an elementary school that pairs Grade Eight and Grade Two students. The middle school students have autonomy over the strategies and materials they use to teach a particular science lesson. Presents the details of implementing such a program. (DDR)

Describes the development, implementation, and assessment of a mixed formal-informal Science, Technology and Society (STS) curriculum that incorporates collaborative projects with case studies, field trips, and formal class sessions. (Contains 44 references.) (Author/WRM)