Explores how children's ideas in science affect elementary science instruction by investigating whether and how three primary teachers recognize and react to student ideas. Finds that the experienced teacher with the highest level of content knowledge had the largest repertoire for eliciting and addressing student ideas, and the intern teacher's…

Demonstrates how socioscientific material is marginalized through the structures and language of syllabus texts and through classroom practices using the example of Salters' Advanced Chemistry from the United Kingdom. Concludes that socioscientific content is gendered through association with social concerns and epistemological uncertainty, and…

Describes four middle school African American girls' engagement with science. The girls were selected in the seventh grade because they expressed a fondness for science in school or because they had science-related hobbies outside of school. Finds that the girls' stories demonstrate the ways girls choose to engage in science and how this…

Presents case study data on one sixth-grade classroom of Kids as Global Scientists (KGS) project participants during the eight-week program. Finds that students made significant gains in weather content knowledge, and interviews revealed a high level of student motivation and satisfaction with the project. (Contains 38 references.) (Author/WRM)

Develops a history and philosophy of science framework based on a rational reconstruction of experimental observations that led to the Millikan-Ehrenhaft controversy, and evaluates 31 chemistry books for coverage of the controversy. Finds that most books lacked a history and philosophy of science perspective and did not adequately address several…

Describes and assesses the effectiveness of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, designed to increase the number of underrepresented minorities who pursue graduate and professional degrees in science and engineering. Indicates that the Meyerhoff students achieved higher grade point averages and graduated…

Describes a unit of laboratory work which was unusual in that the teacher's purpose was to develop students' understanding of the way scientific facts are established with little expectation that they would understand the science content involved in the experiments. The unit was very successful from both a cognitive and affective perspective.…

Examines the thinking processes of 16 eighth grade science writers during laboratory report writing and explores the possibility that writing can contribute directly to science learning. Five students exhibited no mental reflection during writing whereas nine students demonstrated scientific problem solving including hypothesis and evidence…

Examines how instruction in scientific writing in a university oceanography course communicated epistemological positions of the discipline. Uses an ethnographic perspective to explore how teachers and students came to define particular views of disciplinary knowledge. Identifies epistemological issues such as uses of evidence, role of expertise,…

Describes an introductory astronomy course for undergraduate students in which students use three-dimensional (3-D) modeling tools to model the solar system and develop rich understandings of astronomical phenomena. Indicates that 3-D modeling can be used effectively in regular undergraduate university courses as a tool to develop understandings…

Examines the views of approximately 60 secondary science teachers and university scientists from three different research projects for insight into issues of gender and ethnicity in science education. Explores the participants' professional and personal identities from the perspectives of nature of science and beliefs related to students'…

Examines the experiences of a university researcher and a classroom teacher who shared the work of teaching 6th grade science. Interprets the shared collaboration stories of teachers by using models of social identity that employ performance metaphors in the construction/deconstruction of multiple identities. (Contains 34 references.) (Author/YDS)

Delineates the factors mediating the translation of preservice teachers' conceptions of the nature of science into instructional planning and classroom practice. Assesses the influence of temporally separating teaching preservice teachers about the nature of science and teaching them how to address it instructionally. (Contains 42 references.)…

Argues that instead of defining scientific literacy in terms of specifically prescribed learning outcomes, scientific literacy should be conceptualized broadly enough for local school districts and individual classroom teachers to pursue the goals that are most suitable for their particular situations along with the content and methodologies that…

Presents the results of a study on questions invoked to correct declarative knowledge deficits while readers processed science texts explaining natural phenomena. Focuses on finding out what kind of questions are asked by students who read these texts and how task demand influences the quantity and quality of formulated questions. (Contains 42…