Explanation as a genre may support children's reasoning and understanding particularly effectively. In this study, 20 fourth graders were given the task of explaining the effects of a pollutant on an ecosystem to third graders. Before writing, they completed a commercially developed science unit, instruction in reading and writing an explanation,…

Classroom demonstrations are a great vehicle for getting students to apply information they have heard in a lecture. Educational research is replete with data showing that concept application in an inquiry setting reinforces long-term science content retention. This means that students learn best when they experience applications of concepts and…

This article develops the notion that virtues can be utilized as a means of understanding the professional expertise that science teachers demonstrate when they deal with socioscientific issues. Socioscientific issues are those contentious issues that connect science to the society in which it operates--environmental issues being a prime example.…

The substantial interest exhibited in the last decade in the identification of students' misconceptions of a wide range of scientific concepts has not extended to identification of students' misconceptions of the nature of science itself. This study examined the attitudes of 32 secondary school students, each from Canada, the United States, and…

This research examines Turkish pre-service elementary science teachers' understandings of teaching science in an inquiry-based learning environment. Thirty-five prospective teachers who attended to one of the big teacher training institutions in Istanbul participated in this study. Data were collected via course assignments and inclass activities…

Many believe that throughout history, science and technology have been major factors in shaping American society and the way of life. By changing the ways in which one interacts with another, science and technoiogy may affect the way one defines the general welfare, the way in which one views the realm of government, and the nature of the rights…

This 2006 "Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Framework" provides a guide for teachers and curriculum coordinators regarding specific content to be taught from PreK through high school. Following this "Organization" chapter, the "Framework" contains the following sections: (1) Philosophy and…

This document presents the revised Arkansas Science Curriculum Framework (1999), which replaces the Science Curriculum Framework of 1994. Three strands--physical science systems, life science systems, and Earth science/space science systems--were identified using an integrated approach to provide guidance in the science curriculum. A glossary and…

This document explains the Arkansas science benchmarks for grades 5-8 which were developed to provide guidance to science teachers. The content standards for three strands--physical science systems, life science systems, and Earth science/space science systems--were identified based on grade levels. (YDS)

In preparing this volume, every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, the most recent authorities have been consulted, and it is believed that a faithful view is presented of the various sciences embraced, as far as they are at present developed. It is the intention of the author to keep his book up to the times by constant revision, and to…

Traces the development of the current understanding of what "literacy" in science should be. Offers viewpoints that "basic" components of biology should include the nature of science, the way it functions, and other nonconceptual dimensions of biology. (CS)

Presented is the extent to which pupils of different ages tend to confuse scientific and everyday meanings of "Law" and "Conservation." The concepts of resource economy, environmental concern, and the law of conservation of energy are discussed in terms of potential teaching difficulties. (KR)

Described in this article is a problem-solving activity which integrates the application of microcomputers with the learning of physical chemistry. Students use the program with spectroscopic data to calculate the thermodynamic properties and compare them with the values from the thermochemical tables. (Author/KR)

To be effective in promoting scientific literacy, science teachers must be well prepared in their subject areas, have a firm understanding of the nature of science, and stay abreast of current technological advances affecting society. Science teachers must engage students in the science revolution by relating it to their lives. (AF)

Reports on a study, Science for All Americans, by the AAAS. Notes this study is the first of three phases in Project 2061. Recommends science teaching should focus on connections rather than boundaries between traditional academic disciplines and should emphasize ideas and thinking rather than specialized vocabulary and memorized procedures. (MVL)