Provides the results of a Delphi technique process used by the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) to establish priorities in science education research. Approximately one-third of 780 NARST members responded to the first phase of the survey. (CP)

Examines the attainment of Piagetian topological concepts in 100 kindergarten to second graders. Findings reveal a hierarchial pattern of attainment, but one that differs from Piaget's research. Significant differences are found for task performance and grade level but not for task performance and gender. (CP)

Examines achievement levels of elementary school children in field trip settings. One group of students was familiar with the field setting, the other not. Results show that while both groups learned more about the setting, the familiar group achieved significantly greater mastery of concepts being taught. (CP)

Investigates the attainment of abstract and concrete concepts and the use of pseudoexamples to move concrete thinkers to abstract levels in secondary school chemistry classes. Findings reveal abstract students achieve significantly higher means on both concrete and abstract concept attainment and that pseudo examples have no effect on the ability…

A pretest-posttest research design was used with 104 first-grade children to determine if discrimination and classifactory activities would affect transition from preoperational to concrete stages. Findings showed the experimental group exhibited significantly greater transition than did the control group. (CP)

Fifty-nine secondary school physics students were assigned to treatment groups: (1) Project Physics units, (2) Project Physics and verbal learning unit, and (3) a training program in scientific inquiry. Posttest results revealed that, on most aspects of a science inquiry test, treatments 2 and 3 had significantly greater effect on achievement than…

Investigates students' achievement on a Science A Process Approach (SAPA) unit as related to the preparation and grade point average of their preservice teachers. Students of teachers who had participated in lesson strategy sessions achieved at a significantly greater level than did those students whose teachers were in the control (no treatment)…

Using the results of a survey of members of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) (See related article SE 521 919), factor analysis was used to identify six major areas of research priorities. (CP)

Three variations of computer assisted instruction feedback were used with college astronomy students. On only one measure, a posttest, did subjects' achievement by treatments differ significantly. Significant differences in attitudes according to treatment group were not observed. (CP)

Treatment and control groups were used to test the effectiveness of a written instructional program in basic and integrated process skills. Findings revealed that the treatment group achieved higher than the control group on six of eight process measures following the experiment. In addition, subjects from the treatment group asked fewer closed…

Classifies 12-year-old schoolchildren as either convergers (those who excel on conventional tests but do poorly on open-ended tests), divergers (those who excel on open-ended tests but do poorly on intelligence tests), or all-rounders (those who are equally good or bad on all tests) and searches for correlates with academic achievement, and…

The development and administration of a scientific literacy test designed to measure achievement of the objectives of the Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) project is described. Students who had completed the six year SCIS curricula were compared with those who had used other science materials. SCIS subjects scored significantly higher…

Investigates the effects of combined learning cues (pretest and behavioral objectives) on the achievement levels of teachers in an inservice course. Subjects receiving the combined learning cues did not achieve at a significantly higher level than did those who did not receive the combined learning cues. (CP)

Seventh-grade students enrolled in two average classes were pretested, randomly assigned to two training groups--an active group in which physical materials were employed and a verbal group in which standard textbook procedures were employed--immediately posttested and posttested one month later. The active group showed greater achievement and…

Describes a procedure using the Delphi method by which members of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) generated a list of 15 cognitive competencies for secondary school science teachers. (CP)