The traditional pedagogical approach for teaching chemical bonding is often overly simplistic and not aligned with the most up-to-date scientific models. As a result, high-school students around the world lack fundamental understanding of chemical bonding. In order to improve students' understanding of this concept, it was essential to propose a…

The laboratory has been given a central and distinctive role in science education, and science educators have suggested that rich benefits in learning accrue from using laboratory activities. Twenty years have been elapsed since we published a frequently cited, critical review of the research on the school science laboratory (Hofstein & Lunetta,…

This paper set emerged from an international symposium that aimed to shed light on issues associated with the enactment of inquiry both as means (i.e., inquiry as an instructional approach) and as ends (i.e., inquiry as a learning outcome) in precollege science classrooms. The symposium contributors were charged with providing perspectives from…

This study developed and validated an inventory to measure students' attitudes toward and interest in laboratory work in high school chemistry. Factor analysis provided some evidence that interest in and attitude towards laboratory work in high school chemistry is not unidimensional, as it has been assumed to be. (BT)

Presents a comparison of attitudes toward physics and chemistry by 300 eleventh and twelfth grade students. Attitudes toward chemistry were more positive than towards physics; chemistry was considered less masculine, and physics was considered more important. (SL)

Compared 2,500 13- and 17-year-old students in the United States with 350 13-year-old and 340 17-year-old students in Israel using test items from the 1976 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) efforts. The study was designed to examine the results of school science upon affective outcomes of instruction. (JN)

Defines six modes of simulation that have been used in science teaching and learning. Discusses the implications of using simulations in the science classroom. (CS)

An instrument for the continuous assessment of high school physics students' laboratory performance was developed and evaluated. Physics teachers (N=25) observed students conducting experiments on film to judge student performance against a standard set of criteria. Results suggest increases in observational objectivity and precision as well as…

Compares a particular student attitude, scientific curiosity, exhibited by different groups of secondary school students (N=322), including (1) boys and girls; (2) from the U. S. and Israel; and (3) those who choose to pursue careers in science. (CS)