Describes how one instructor used science education methodology in a language arts methods course. The purpose was to understand how preservice teachers might improve their science teaching through language arts methods. Discusses one preservice teacher and her use of the methodology in the science methods course in which she was currently…

Provides several recommendations that focus on improving student writing and improving the relationship between the writing science student and the science teacher. (Author/CCM)

Describes a day of celebration to increase the awareness of past and present women scientists and mathematicians from all cultures, and to encourage young women to continue to study science and mathematics in high school and college. (CCM)

Reviews approaches used in teaching seasons to elementary and middle school students over the past 200 years. Finds that the same diagrams have been used from the 1800s to teach about the seasons despite changes in the background knowledge of students and teachers, and changes in theories of teaching and learning. (Contains 24 references.)…

Develops and discusses a general explanatory principle for determining whether or not fluid will or will not flow from a siphon after considering explanations provided by textbooks and the writings of Blaise Pascal. Contends that the wide applicability and stable structure of the explanatory principle makes it a useful pedagogical device for…

Presents an overview of the Australian Science Teachers' Association/Monash Standards Project which aims to support the development of a national voluntary system to provide professional certification to teachers of science whose practice has attained high standards set by the profession. Discusses the place of this work within the wider context…

Discusses a study that revealed that science teachers, like their students, are capable of handling positive experimental results but fail to evaluate negative results appropriately. Describes a teaching strategy designed to help teachers develop an understanding of the concept of negative results and to apply the idea to different contexts.…

Discusses the meaning of a "contextual approach" to teaching physics. Advances a model of contextual physics teaching that can also be applied to other science disciplines. (Contains 54 references.) (Author/WRM)

Describes a simple time-of-flight experiment using readily available equipment. The method of measuring the speed of light uses a modulated laser and introduces students to some concepts of optics, measurement of very small time intervals, modulation of lasers, waveform generation, fast detectors, and data processing. (Contains 20 references.)…

Describes a new hypothesis regarding the origin of bulungamayine kangaroos. Suggests that this group of Oglio-Miocene kangaroos independently evolved adaptations for herbivory and are likely to be ancestral to modern and recently extinct plant-eating kangaroos. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/WRM)

Argues that diagram interpretation is largely text-dependent and is also dependent upon the use of particular diagram-processing skills which may be very difficult to develop. Discusses some interpretation difficulties and advances strategies to help teachers make more effective use of diagrams. (Contains 20 references.) (Author/WRM)

Briefly describes the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) organization, administration, and results as they relate to Australian science and math education. (Author/WRM)

Analyzes two conflicting pieces of evidence--the high-ranking achievement of Australian primary students on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and the knowledge that the quality of primary science education in Australia has been poor for some time. Reveals strengths and weaknesses in Australian elementary science…

Describes a procedure for the datalogging of microbial population densities. (WRM)

Presents an activity in which the amount of solar ultraviolet radiation in tree shade is measured at different times of the day and compared with changes in illumination levels and temperature. (Author/WRM)