This study summarizes the results of a quantitative synthesis of the retrievable primary research dealing with the effects of new science curricula on student performance. This study synthesizes the results of 105 experimental studies involving more than 45,000 students and utilizes the quantitative synthesis perspective to research integration…

Argues that teaching for social justice is a viable science-education goal. Claims that the issues and challenges among science educators in Western and non-Western cultures are more similar than different, and that it is incumbent upon all cultures to contribute in meaningful ways to the development and environmental sustainability of our global…

Argues that assessment should be an integral component of the science curriculum and that assessment should assist students and teachers in accomplishing their goals. Points out the failures of the process-product models of school reform. (DDR)

Discusses two reports that focus upon the imperative to improve undergraduate education in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology: (1) the National Research Council's "From Analysis to Action: Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology"; and (2) the National Science Foundation's "Shaping the Future: New…

Argues that it is easier to transform schools and the process of schooling when social, cultural, political, and economic issues frame the discourse about how to ensure that all students have access to an equitable education. (DDR)

Discusses the National Science Foundation's Urban Systemic Initiative. Argues that educational policies and recommendations for educational reform in the absence of restructuring our social commitments to address oppression and poverty will be of little benefit to the many children who live under such circumstances. (JRH)

The study investigated specific student behavior in introductory and advanced college laboratories in botany, chemistry, geology, physics, and zoology. Behaviors were observed, described, and classified with no effort made to induce change, detail underlying conditions, or identify correlates. (Author/RE)

Reports on a study conducted in the Richardson Independent School District (Texas) which was designed to assess the attitudes toward science of students and teachers who have been involved with the Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) compared to non-SCIS students and teachers. (TW)

This position paper supports the exclusion of the special creation doctrine in science classrooms. Reviews the current controversy concerning legislative actions mandating the teaching of scientific creation in classrooms, presents creationists' and evolutionists' viewpoints, and discusses the philosophical disparity between creation and…

Inquiry and scientific inquiry are distinguished in which various connotations associated with the term "inquiry method" are reviewed. Basic competencies to be acquired by students before scientific inquiry can be accomplished are listed; reasons for these prerequisites are given. (CS)

Analyzed are university instructor behaviors in introductory and advanced level laboratories of botany, chemistry, geology, physics and zoology. Science Laboratory Interaction Categories--Teacher (SLIC) was used to assess 15 individual categories of teacher behaviors in the areas of questioning, giving directions, transmitting information,…

Author argues that the field of science education needs the significant contributions of a variety of researchers, engaged in many types of inquiry, all seeking to advance knowledge in the field. Presents examples of the following three approaches to inquiry: technical, practical, and emancipatory. (PR)

Composite profiles of textbook-centered teachers (n=3) and multiple-centered teachers (n=3) and their classroom environments were constructed using data collected during classroom observations. The nature of teachers' textbook use and the relationship between factors indicative of the biology education "desired state" or "actual state" criteria…