This study examines a Nicaraguan educational reform movement, initiated at universities located in Managua and Leon, which sought to promote social and economic change and the practical use of the natural sciences at the undergraduate college level. The study identifies major stakeholders in these science reform efforts and their diverse ideological orientations; and describes in detail the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the reform. Also included are assessments of the project goals, activities, linkages, and outcomes. Four ideological perspectives held by reform participants, or stakeholders, are heuristically represented; and the usefulness of a critical pragmatic approach to educational reform explanation is discussed. The study begins with a description of the research framework. Next, the historical and economic background of the relationship between Nicaragua and the United States is presented, followed by a discussion of the state of education in Nicaragua prior to and after the 1979 revolution. Finally, the creation of the Latin American Scholarship Program of American Universities is explained, its implementation described, its outcomes (problems and achievements) listed, and its implications for development theory and practice considered. Contains 45 references. (GLR)