Outlines current practices and future trends for science education in Thailand. Advocates a change in the teacher's role to that of facilitator and the increased incorporation of technology and multimedia approaches to science education. (WRM)

Describes the implementation of a concept practical in a physics class. Uses the example of students predicting and testing what will happen to the speed and acceleration of a ball rolling down variously-sloped railings. Some evidence of conceptual development was indicated by pre- and post-test scores. Suggests that a well-conducted class…

Describes an attempt to determine if there were gender or age differences in the images that 11- to 14-year-old students have of scientists. Results indicate that as female students get older they adopt and project a more stereotypic image of scientists, whereas male students seem to harbor a less stereotypic image of scientists as they age.…

Delivers an account of how curriculum and cultural change was mediated by "educational actors" over the last century, employing pragmatic arguments for reform which drew on the metaphoric power of scientific achievements. Contains 70 references. (Author/DDR)

Investigates the reasoning strategies of urban year-six students involved in creating their own questions and plans for scientific investigations. Focuses on how students generate ideas for their own investigations. Contains 24 references. (DDR)

Presents a reflective account of a science teacher's endeavors to use the referent of critical constructivism to transform her pedagogical practices. The context of the action research is a Year 10 bioethics unit taught at an independent girls' school. Contains 44 references. (DDR)

Uses concept-map content analysis and interviews to gain insights into the knowledge organization and knowledge processing of preservice teachers (N=48). Concludes that active cognitive processing of knowledge is related to complex cognitive structures. Contains 29 references. (DDR)

Draws data from student responses to the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (SLEI) and a curriculum analysis of the implemented laboratory tasks. Involves biology, chemistry, and physics students (N=387) in 20 classes in Tasmania, Australia. Contains 23 references. (DDR)

Investigates students' responses to presentations of experimental results that conflicted with their preconceptions regarding electric circuits, and how those responses varied according to the type of inquiry skills required to obtain the results. Contains 24 references. (DDR)

Compares Reform of Secondary Education (ROSE) students' and nonROSE students' perceptions of five psychosocial dimensions of their science practical tasks: student cohesiveness, open-endedness, integration, rule clarity, and material environment. Contains 17 references. (DDR)

Tasmanian students' (n=1,040) perceptions of the learning environment were collected in the final stages of primary school and again in the initial term in secondary school. First exposure to specialized science learning environments and teachers changed students' perceptions. Both school size and student gender were found to be influencing…

Beliefs about science and religion held by students (n=44), teachers (n=10), and clergy (n=4) in a Lutheran secondary school in Australia were assessed via survey and interview. Participants' views of the relationship between science and religious beliefs were complex. Concludes that traditional science programs do not adequately address the range…

Differences in the status of ontological categories on the concept maps of secondary-, undergraduate- and graduate-level chemistry students were analyzed with the "Pathfinder" scaling algorithm and multidimensional scaling. Results indicate differences among groups in the structural significance of abstract process-related nodes and matter-related…

Six 12-year-old students were followed during an eight-month course using "Energy and Change" curricular materials, which introduce ideas related to the Second Law of Thermodynamics through an abstract picture language. Concludes that students had higher levels of generalization in their explanations of physical, chemical, and biological change.…

Constructivist-based discussions in the science classroom were elicited through the application of an intervention model for effective whole-class discussion based on the "Philosophy for Children" program. Pre- and post-test measures indicate that the experimental class experienced significantly greater gains in scientific reasoning than did the…