Explores the ideas and reasoning students use to make a collaborative environmental management decision. Compares students' discussions with scientists' guidelines for making environmental management decisions. Finds that whereas across groups students touched on all of the themes that scientists consider to be important for making environmental…

The traditional approach to educating language minority students separates English language development from content instruction because it is assumed that English proficiency is a prerequisite for subject matter learning. Takes an alternative view that the integration of inquiry science and language acquisition enhances learning in both domains.…

Investigates students' mental models of chemical equilibrium using dynamic science assessments. Reports that students at various levels have misconceptions about chemical equilibrium. Involves 10th grade students (n=30) in the study doing a series of hands-on chemical experiments. Focuses on the process of constructing mental models, dynamic…

Describes the design and use of a valid and reliable instrument to measure teacher candidates' attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and science and the teaching of those subjects. Uses the instrument 'Attitudes and Beliefs about the Nature of and Teaching of Mathematics and Science' which was developed for the Maryland Collaborative for Teacher…

Investigates the role of dissent in a community of university scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and social scientists engaged in a two-year professional development project on issues of equity and diversity. Focuses on professional development sessions devoted to a contentious yet integral topic in science education, the gendered and…

Investigates the influence of an explicit and reflective inquiry-oriented instructional approach compared with an implicit inquiry-oriented approach on sixth grade students' understanding of the nature of science (NOS). Emphasizes tentative, empirical, inferential, and imaginative and creative NOS. Involves (n=62) sixth grade students in two…

Explores oral and written works (plays and rap songs) of students in a sixth grade, all African American, urban science class to reveal ways in which affective and social aspects are intertwined with student cognition. Interprets student work in terms of the meeting of various genres brought by students and teachers into the classroom. (Contains…

Focuses on the implementation of a peer-led team learning (PLTL) instructional approach for students in an undergraduate organic chemistry course and the evaluation of student outcomes over eight years. Compares students who experienced the student-centered instruction and worked in small groups facilitated by a peer leader to students who…

Focuses on the conceptual understanding held by (n=78) preservice elementary teachers about moon phases before and after instruction. Compares instructive effect between two groups--inquiry-based physics instruction and no instruction. Reports that without the instruction, most preservice teachers were likely to hold alternative conceptions of the…

Documents the benefits of teaching chemistry through history. The experimental group consisted of seniors enrolled in a teacher preparation program in which they learned how to teach chemistry through the history of science. The results of the analysis of covariance revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group on an…

Examines and characterizes student use of narrative and paradigmatic expression in elementary science discourse. Focuses on the narrative and paradigmatic modes of expression used by combined first-, second-, and third-grade students in a semi-structured, fairly autonomous, whole-class conversational format. Over time students moved toward more…

Describes leading attitude-behavior theories and summarizes results from past tests of these theories. Also reports on a study predicting science teachers' intention to incorporate environmental risk education based on these theories. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), augmented with past behavior, was concluded to provide the best…

Describes characteristics that may assist prospective elementary teachers in developing effective, inclusive science instruction; link them to requirements for teaching; and suggest how science teacher educators might draw on the strengths of their own students to support teaching practices aimed at universal scientific literacy. Findings describe…

Examines whether hypothetically effective measures lead to an improvement of the situation for girls when implemented in the physics classroom. The intervention proved successful and significantly improved most of these indicators for girls (and boys) in the experimental group. (Author/MM)

Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) developed and field-tested a procedure for analyzing curriculum materials, including assessments, in terms of contribution to the attainment of benchmarks and standards. Using this procedure, Project 2061 produced a database of reports on nine science middle school…