The goal of this research was to determine the effectiveness of a middle school science curriculum designed to inspire students to think about science through studying the patterns of humans. The curriculum focuses on human behavior, evolution, ecology, and performance and is based on the notion that pattern recognition is highly correlated with…

The purpose of this study was to investgate the role of self-efficacy expectations in understanding gender differences in the election of college computer science courses. Participants were 368 undergraduate students (males=104, females=264) enrolled in a course fulfilling a general education requirement at a large urban university. A two-page…

This investigation was conducted to determine changes in the levels of teaching efficacy as a function of the clinical experience in six public elementary schools, among pre-student-teaching novices in four subject areas: science, social studies, language arts, and mathematics. The sample included 58 novices who participated in the semester block…

The purposes of the present study were to develop and evaluate a measure of self-efficacy expectations with regard to the performance of mathematics-related behaviors and to investigate the relationship of mathematics self-efficacy expectations to the selection of science-based college majors. Based on results obtained from a pilot sample of 115…

This research examines the critical factors in a science/math methods course and its effect on the dispositions of preservice elementary education majors. In order to break the cyclical axiom that "teachers teach as they were taught," this study used a paired-t test design to indicate any significance. The preservice education majors indicated…

This study was designed to develop an instrument that would measure preservice teachers' belief efficacy in teaching environmental education (EE). This belief efficacy includes a person's perception of ability to perform the behavior (self-efficacy) and a person's expectation that a specific behavior will result in desirable outcomes (outcome…

Although women are entering male-dominated occupations at a greater rate, they still tend to avoid those occupations, as well as college majors that require math. Lack of an adequate math background, and thus lower math achievement, seems to effectively bar women from high level, technological, and male-dominated occupations. This study examined…

This paper reports on a longitudinal case study of an elementary teacher during her transition from preservice to inservice teaching. Bandura's (1995) concept of self-efficacy belief is used as a framework for presenting the findings of the study. The subject's experiences in science teaching provided information about her competency as a teacher,…

The development of technology education in Taiwan has been in a huge change since the new Grade 1-9 Curriculum was fully and nationwide implemented in the 2004 school year; the two curriculum, Living Technology and Science, have been combined into the new learning areas--named "Science and Technology" for the new Grade 1-9 Curriculum.…

A study investigated the relationship between arts education and academic achievement. Of specific interest was whether teaching the arts for their own sake influenced academic achievement in language arts and mathematics. It was hypothesized that it would influence children's self-efficacy. The sample consisted of 328 children from grades 2-5.…

The implementation of effective science programs in primary schools is of continuing interest and concern for teacher educators. Recent Australian national initiatives have been designed to foster the teaching of science in primary schools. At the provincial level in Queensland, decisions concerning the planning and introduction of a new primary…

Economic literacy and economic efficacy are addressed by examining basic goals and assumptions of economic education and by suggesting areas that need systematic attention and investigation. To clarify goals, an operational definition of economic literacy must be developed and used in a criterion-referenced testing instrument. A definition of…

Gender and ethnic differences in, and possible predictors of, academic self-confidence, academic self-efficacy, and career-related outcome expectations were investigated for 289 students entering graduate programs in engineering and physical sciences at a research university in the midwestern United States. Influence of student demographic…

While previous studies have recognized and have researched the resistance of students' scientific conception to change and the difficulty of the change of the conception's status, few have investigated the idea of conceptual ecology as the affective and motivational aspects might play when students are exposed to conceptual change learning. The…

Despite more than a decade of reform efforts, students continue to experience difficulty understanding and applying statistical concepts. The predominant focus of reform has been on content, pedagogy, technology and assessment, with little attention to instructor characteristics. However, there is strong theoretical and empirical evidence that…