Within the last ten years, there have been international concerns about school science education, in particular in many rich, highly developed countries where there is a decline in the recruitment of students to science and technology. These concerns relate particularly to the uptake of physical sciences, gender differences and students'…

An increasing number of Australian students elect not to undertake studies in mathematical methods in the final years of their secondary schooling. Some higher education providers now offer pathways for these students to pursue mathematics studies up to a major specialization within the bachelor of science programme. This article analyses the…

The research reported in this paper addressed the nature of transitions between language genres in school physics. In this qualitative study, quasi-ethnographic methods were employed to understand the culture of one secondary school physics classroom in the USA. One teacher and his physics students were the participants. The teacher was…

Describes the Key Stage 3 Strategy and its four main principles-- expectations, progression, engagement, and transformation. Includes an example of a high school science booster program. (DDR)

Summarizes a level in the science education curriculum and identifies some goals to be reached. Examines the scope for future development and speculates on possible obstacles in reaching those goals. (DDR)

Proposes that one way of smoothing the move from primary to secondary science is for year 6 students in primary school to begin work that is continued in secondary school. (DDR)

Describes the Best Practice Research Scholarship (BPRS) project designed for teachers which supports development of formative assessment strategies. Uses mentors to provide guidance to teacher research groups. (YDS)

Describes safety procedures in science instruction when teaching children with special educational needs. (YDS)

This paper shows how inequalities can be utilized in reducing dimensionality of problems associated with the partition of unit fractions into the sums of two, three, and four like fractions. The need for such a reduction in this context stems from using a spreadsheet as a modelling tool. Activities described in this paper are grounded in standards…

Introduces the Education for Sustainable Development project which is about learning the need to maintain and improve the quality of life for generations to come and focuses on environmental education. Discusses ways of using information and communications technology to study the environment. (ASK)

This paper describes students' solutions to a commonly taught and not commonly taught inequality. The findings showed students' difficulties. Participants implicitly and explicitly exhibited two intuitive beliefs: inequalities must result in inequalities and solving inequalities and equations are the same process. Following the analysis of…

Teachers of first-year college mathematics and engineering courses must often spend considerable time reviewing material originally taught in high school. Instead of this being a mere exercise in repetition, this article suggests that such a review can enrich and revitalize by unifying some of the subjects that need to be re-taught. In the example…

Describes "The Science Consortium", a British program offering specialist training for secondary science teachers on the use of information and communication technology in the classroom. The training scheme includes a portfolio of lesson plans in six thematic modules: (1) communicating science; (2) collecting data for science; (3) finding out…

Describes the problem with using stereotypes of science teachers in the media, which will be explored at the Science Teacher Festival in January 2001. Poses five questions related to science, and responses to the questions are requested through the Science Festival Website. (SAH)

Discusses seminars aimed at teachers for improving classroom practice through research. Through research, teachers understand more clearly their own power to influence children's learning achievements. (SAH)