Investigated were 286 third-year elementary education students to determine instructor characteristics which most enhanced credibility in courses intended to develop a positive attitude toward teaching science. High credibility characteristics included: reference to practical activities, modeling teaching modes, past teaching experience,…

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument for determining secondary science teachers inquiry attitudes. Forty items were selected to form the Inquiry Science Teaching Strategies instrument. Instrument construct validity and reliability were developed by use of known groups. (SL)

Investigated was the hypothesis that conservation tasks are unifactor by administering eight different conservation tasks to 96 seventh-grade science students and performing a principal component analysis on the data. Results indicated that conservation tasks may measure up to three different components of cognitive thought. (SL)

Presented are the results of an approach to teaching physical chemistry designed to increase student motivation. Student achievement in a course utilizing motivation variables such as self-pacing, no dropping of grades, no pop-tests, and taped lectures, indicated significant gains over a course taught by a traditional approach. (SL)

Investigated was the involvement in the Iowa-UPSTEP preservice teacher education program on the development of a more positive self-concept among students. Pretest-post test of 22 students in each program indicated more significant gains among the experimental group. (SL)

Explores hypothesized interrelationships between levels of moral valuing (Kohlberg) and three aspects of environment-related behavior: environmental knowledge, emotionality, and activity. Four standardized instruments were administered to 140 college students. Findings revealed that subjects were more emotionally involved with the environment than…

Investigates the consequences of inquiry and didactic teaching when students either cooperate or compete with each other on (a) students' acceptance of the teaching method, (b) their approval of the teacher, (c) their experience of peer support, and (d) their beliefs that they have learned. Eighty fourth and fifth grade students were randomly…

Describes research undertaken to determine if Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) can be instrumental in helping children either maintain or develop a positive self-concept. A total of 189 students in grades 3-6 were assigned to treatment and control groups for a period of four and one-half months. Findings did not reveal overall…

Describes research undertaken to assess the validity of the Views of Science (VOS) questionnaire. The instrument purports to measure a subject's view of the tentativeness of science. Findings indicated that although the instrument appeared to have construct validity, the physical science backgrounds of subjects taking the test appeared to affect…

Achievement scores of student teachers in the areas of science, humanities, and social studies on tests of five process skills are compared. Fifty-four subjects were assigned to treatment (auto-tutorial) and control (lecture-discussion) groups. Subjects experiencing auto-tutorial instruction were found to achieve significantly higher than those in…

Activities in 31 Israeli high school biology and 4 college-level laboratories in first and second years of medical school were analyzed using the Classroom Observation Instruments. Percentages of time spent in pre-lab discussion (problem identification, instructions); lab-work (identifying investigation components, responding to students,…

Reports on the development and use of an open-ended assessment instrument to determine elementary school teachers' reasons for not teaching science. These reasons were hypothesized to be related to Katz's functions: (1) utilitarian; (2) knowledge; (3) value-expressive; and (4) ego-defensive. In the sample of 449 teachers, 20 per cent of the sample…

Scores on a 30 item Piagetian test were used to predict: (1) Subject's surname (Spanish vs. non-Spanish); (2) Subject's language (Spanish spoken at home or not spoken at home); (3) Subject's letter grade in science, and (4) Subjects score on a science test. Anglo-American subjects were found to achieve significantly higher than did…

Reports on an investigation in which topics in genetics and probability were taught to students divided along the Piagetian dimension of field-indepent (FI) and field-dependent (FD) ability. Two teaching strategies, inductive (IND) and a deductive (DED) approaches, were used. Retention scores revealed that regardless of strategy experienced, FI…

Utilizes a factorial design with the variables "use or non-use of Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) inquiry slides" and "BSCS biology or non-BSCS biology." Eighteen classes of high school biology students were used in the study. Among other findings, groups using BSCS slides were found to be overall superior on measures of critical…