Examines ways that teachers' knowledge about teaching and their educational situations grow when they are engaged collaboratively with other teachers in inquiry on their own practice. Results indicate that mechanisms for enhancement of normal practice include anecdote telling, trying out ideas, and systematic inquiry. Contains 66 references.…

Reports on a study conducted to identify cognitive factors associated with differences in predicting problem-solving success among high school biology students. Results indicate that successful prediction depends on several factors, including a subject's procedural and declarative knowledge, stage of cognitive development, and experience in…

Investigates 49 preservice elementary teachers' conceptions of what causes the seasons using both a written procedure and a procedure that used models with verbal explanations. Results suggest that preservice elementary teachers are likely to show a high frequency of alternative conceptions of what causes the seasons and these conceptions are not…

Examines the validity of claims that concept maps measure an important aspect of students' knowledge structures. Provides a working definition of concept mapping and a brief theoretical background, characterizes concept maps as a potential assessment in science, reviews empirical evidence on the reliability and validity of various concept mapping…

Analyzes the extent to which students (n=92) understand teachers' evaluation criteria and the relation of that understanding with social class, social context of the school, teachers' conceptual demand, teachers' explicitness of criteria, and science achievement. Results indicate that there is a clear relation between students' acquisition of…

Explores relationships among school students' (n=189) meaningful learning orientation, reasoning ability and acquisition of meaningful understandings of genetics topics, and ability to solve genetics problems. Results indicate that meaningful learning orientation best predicted students' understanding of genetics interrelationships while reasoning…

Discusses ideas about the particulate nature of matter and assesses the extent to which these represent a compromise between scientific and educational considerations. Analyzes relations between the particulate nature of matter in science and science education in an attempt to understand children's inclination to attribute all kinds of macroscopic…

Investigates how science education students (n=265) rank some identified science education program standards and discusses their perceptions of the desirability and achievement of the standards in Nigeria. Results indicate that encouraging students to become self-directed learners and emphasizing the utilization of scientific values were…

Discusses a study in which a group of high school vocational science students using behavioral objectives scored significantly better than did a control group on measures of terminal achievement, critical operations, residual achievement, and attitude toward instruction. (MLH)

A study of how science training of the teacher, type of school, and student age affects the science performance of children aged 5-11 showed that only student age significantly influenced student achievement. (MLH)

Compares the cognitive levels of groups of high school biology students, freshman physics students, and senior science students by testing them with two Piagetian tasks. Examines correlations between cognitive levels and other measures such as SAT scores. (MLH)

Examines regression analysis of 12 aptitude measures and an achievement criterion measure in a study of 285 ninth-grade science students who were randomly assigned to one of four individualized programs: teacher-directed treatment, media treatment, reading treatment, and programmed instruction treatment. (MLH)

College physics students' understanding of the process of science, as measured by the Science Process Inventory, was better for students in a traditional, structured laboratory than in an inquiry laboratory that covered the same experiments. (MLH)

Studies of a group of seventh-grade students who were tested for inquiry skills using the TAB Science Test showed no significant differences between those students who had studied the Intermediate Science Curriculum Study (ISCS) and those who studied another curriculum. (MLH)

Examines statistical correlations between six student traits and five measures of course success for 103 college students enrolled in an audio-tutorial introductory chemistry course. Among the conclusions was that the best predictors of success are the measures of prior achievement, notably grade-point average. (MLH)