Discusses shifting ideologies in the social, political, and economic landscape and its influence on education. Argues the need for science educators to become more aware of the external forces impinging upon schooling and education, to become more actively engaged in the entire process of schooling, and to contextualize the discipline of science…

Addresses the rhetoric of performance assessment with research on important claims about science performance assessments. Discusses findings related to concepts and terminology, sensitivity to task and method, higher-order thinking skills, cost, impact on teaching and understanding, and professional development. Presents a conceptual framework to…

Examines results of Piagetian spatial research studies while focusing on the existence of gender differences in Piagetian spatial assessments. Results indicate that a majority of performance assessments did not demonstrate a significant difference between males and females. Concludes that the clinical interview results provide evidence of the…

Analyzes videotape data of a summer science camp for elementary school children and characterizes students' orientations when exploring natural phenomena as modes of engagement. Reports that the six frequently observed orientations toward phenomena include exploration mode, engineering mode, pet care mode, procedural mode, performance mode, and…

Investigates how Greek secondary school students interacted in pairs and fours while discussing and attempting to explain physical phenomena. Results indicate that students progressed significantly more in their physics reasoning after participation in fours than in pairs. Discourse analysis in different groupings suggests that differences were…

Presents a case study of a high school student working as an apprentice in a university research laboratory. Examines communication between mentors and students and how it constrained or supported learning. Reports that the student learned to participate in activities and discourse that were part of the everyday practices of members of a research…

Presents a case study that focused on students' perceptions of gender differences in instructional activity and discussion about that activity in physics classes. Data analysis indicates that although teachers may be unaware of gender inequities, students of both sexes are aware of such inequities. Reports that differential language patterns were…

Compares expert-/novice-based problem-solving behaviors with a Geographic Information Systems program. Uses naturalistic methods to analyze problem-solving strategies for occurrence of thematic elements. Reports that experts relied on logical formulations to query the database while novices used trial-and-error methods and midlevel cognitive…

Administered questionnaires to 35 science teachers to test the hypotheses that teachers holding constructivist beliefs are more likely to detect alternative conceptions, have a richer repertoire of teaching strategies, use more effective teaching strategies for inducing conceptual change, and report frequent use of effective teaching strategies.…

Analyzes students' attempts to answer examination questions involving stoichiometry and chemical equilibrium and reports that the majority of the students do not fully understand either concept. Concludes that the main difficulty with these topics is that they are highly abstract and first taught to students before they have reached the stage of…

Uses the Science Process Skills Inventory (SPSI) to analyze student efforts at writing experimental designs. Results indicate that explicit, incremental development of the science process skills of formulating hypotheses and identifying variables, together with model examples, may be a means to facilitate student success in designing science…

Performed a variance analysis of the relation between the amount of time students spend experiencing hands-on science and science achievement. Reports that students who engaged in hands-on activities frequently scored significantly higher on a standardized test of science achievement than students who did not. (Author/JRH)

Reports research concerning the definition of variables by pupils ages 12 to 14 during investigative work. Findings suggest that an increase in the complexity of an investigation lowers the ability to identify relevant variables and substantive concepts intrude on the ability to define the appropriate dependent variable and to control variables.…

Analyzes nine high school biology manuals to determine how well they promote the basic and integrated science process skills that are involved in scientific inquiry. Results indicate that the manuals seldom enable students to use their knowledge and experience to pose questions, solve problems, investigate natural phenomena, or construct answers…

Duplicates an analysis conducted 20 years ago on physics enrollment in New York State in an attempt to verify the exploratory percentage enrollment in physics path analysis model using data gathered for the 1990-91 school year. Findings indicate that there has been no change in the set of variables related to physics enrollment. (Author/JRH)