Describes research undertaken to assess the validity of the Views of Science (VOS) questionnaire. The instrument purports to measure a subject's view of the tentativeness of science. Findings indicated that although the instrument appeared to have construct validity, the physical science backgrounds of subjects taking the test appeared to affect…

Achievement scores of student teachers in the areas of science, humanities, and social studies on tests of five process skills are compared. Fifty-four subjects were assigned to treatment (auto-tutorial) and control (lecture-discussion) groups. Subjects experiencing auto-tutorial instruction were found to achieve significantly higher than those in…

Activities in 31 Israeli high school biology and 4 college-level laboratories in first and second years of medical school were analyzed using the Classroom Observation Instruments. Percentages of time spent in pre-lab discussion (problem identification, instructions); lab-work (identifying investigation components, responding to students,…

Reports on the development and use of an open-ended assessment instrument to determine elementary school teachers' reasons for not teaching science. These reasons were hypothesized to be related to Katz's functions: (1) utilitarian; (2) knowledge; (3) value-expressive; and (4) ego-defensive. In the sample of 449 teachers, 20 per cent of the sample…

Scores on a 30 item Piagetian test were used to predict: (1) Subject's surname (Spanish vs. non-Spanish); (2) Subject's language (Spanish spoken at home or not spoken at home); (3) Subject's letter grade in science, and (4) Subjects score on a science test. Anglo-American subjects were found to achieve significantly higher than did…

Reports on an investigation in which topics in genetics and probability were taught to students divided along the Piagetian dimension of field-indepent (FI) and field-dependent (FD) ability. Two teaching strategies, inductive (IND) and a deductive (DED) approaches, were used. Retention scores revealed that regardless of strategy experienced, FI…

Utilizes a factorial design with the variables "use or non-use of Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) inquiry slides" and "BSCS biology or non-BSCS biology." Eighteen classes of high school biology students were used in the study. Among other findings, groups using BSCS slides were found to be overall superior on measures of critical…

Compares the instructional objectives of teachers, supervisors and engineers in the field of statics, strength of materials and machine parts. (CP)

Investigates the wait-time after each question, the number of questions asked per minute, and the cognitive levels of questions asked by 10 preservice teachers. After initial data collection to determine subjects question-asking practices, one-half of the sample underwent instruction to change their question-asking practices. Results revealed the…

Debates as to the appropriateness of using the Karplus Islands Puzzle as an instrument to assess formal-operational thought. (CP)

Provides a review of research on scientific reasoning in persons between ages 14 and 18. For the application, the ability to separate variables or use the concept of "all other things being equal" is termed scientific reasoning. Over 50 studies are referenced. (CP)

The philosophical viewpoints of 56 preservice elementary school teachers were measured prior to and following a fourteen-week methods course. Following treatment, subjects viewed science as more tentative and uncertain than did those in a control group. (CP)

Compares student achievement in an upper-division college introductory course taught by the video-autotutorial method with that in two comparable courses taught by the lecture-discussion method. Pre-post tests of 623 students reveal that video-autotutorial students outperform lecture/discussion participants at all ability levels and that in…

Four types of proportionality problems were administered to: (1) secondary school students who were enrolled in Project Physics, and (2) students not enrolled in physics. Both samples were randomly selected. Groups were not found to differ significantly in problem solving ability but both revealed that the ability to solve certain problems was…

Describes the purposes, methods and results of a study involving 500 elementary and secondary science teachers. By factor analysis, responses on a 117 item needs assessment instrument were reduced to 11 final factors. (CP)