The purpose of this study is to establish the level of opportunities given to prospective physics teachers by practice schools in order to demonstrate their skills they developed through teaching programs. This study has been carried out by employing case study approach. As the first step, the curricula of the teaching professional courses offered…

This paper reports on the development of a self-access center (SAC) within a university context, and focuses on the kind of support mechanisms provided to learners to enhance their self-directed learning (SDL) skills. After providing background information on the center and its counseling service, the paper shows how changes in the university…

The use of effective knowledge management is becoming an essential part of technical development projects in order to enable developers to handle the growing complexity of these projects. In this article we discuss an innovative approach to address this concern from the perspective of an undergraduate engineering curriculum. Instead of adding…

In this paper, we describe a pedagogical approach to elastic body movement based on measurements of the contact times between a metallic rod and small bodies colliding with it and on modelling of the experimental results by using a microcomputer-based laboratory and simulation tools. The experiments and modelling activities have been built in the…

This article presents a study that aimed to determine engineering students' preferred way of learning and to provide additional learning resources to support their methods of learning. The population for this study was drawn from electrical, civil, and mechanical engineering programs at an urban university. Overall, the results of the study…

Traditional soil science courses, especially with a hands-on lab component, have been face-to-face events. Several universities in the United States now offer a distance natural resources related degree, yet few have developed distance soils courses, arguably an essential part of a complete natural resource education. This article discusses the…

In Eleanor Duckworth's class "T-440: Teaching and Learning" at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, students sometimes wonder how Duckworth's model of teaching and learning works in elementary classroom settings. In this article the author, a graduate of "T-440" and a 6th grade teacher at the Smith College Laboratory School, chronicles her…

This study explores effects of participation by second-semester college general chemistry students in an extended, open-inquiry laboratory investigation. Verbal interactions among a student lab team and with their instructor over three open-inquiry laboratory sessions and two non-inquiry sessions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. Coding…

Students' views about science were correlated with their approaches to lab practice. Three distinct cases are discussed in detail: empiricist-oriented, rationalist-oriented, and constructivist-oriented students. A coherent epistemological theory was constructed for each case, by considering the different degrees of certainty and confidence each…

Bioassays are commonly used to test the biological activity of chemicals and other exercises are presented in which students synthesize plant hormones. Lab exercise is conducted using commercially available auxins and auxin regulating compounds.

A national study released in 2005 concluded that most high school students are not exposed to high quality science labs because of these reasons: (a) poor school facilities and organizations; (b) weak teacher preparation; (c) poor design; (d) cluttered state standards; (e) little representation on state tests; and (f) scarce evidence of what…

More and more school districts are interested in school-based coaching as a method to directly influence student learning. However, school-based coaches face complex challenges. The shift to teaching adults from teaching children is dramatic. Coaches are no longer closely connected to a group of students, but instead are focused on adult learning…

In an effort to improve the science education program in the Washington School District (Phoenix, Arizona) the school system focused its efforts in the 1983-84 school year on the development of an activity oriented laboratory science program for grades 4-6. This document describes the plan for implementing that program. The implementation…

Science projects which can be used by high school students who have minimal experience with computers or electronics are presented in this book on laboratory interfacing. These laboratory interfacing projects include either the connecting of measuring instruments directly to a computer or using a computer to control external devices. All of the 14…

This sourcebook for chemical activities is designed to be used as a student laboratory book for both junior and senior high school students. The student's role as a knowledgeable consumer and informed citizen is stressed. Each activity includes a list of needed materials, procedures, reactions, questions, and notes for the teacher which include…