Describes a field course targeting a combination of university undergraduates and K-12 teachers, emphasizing development of participants' problem-solving skills, and assessing the effectiveness of several non-traditional teaching methods. Teaches participants to develop and test their own ideas. (Contains 19 references.) (Author/YDS)

Tests a multifaceted curriculum for use in introductory earth science classes from the secondary school to the introductory undergraduate level. Simulates the greenhouse effect with two fish tanks, heat lamps, and thermometers. Uses a hands-on science approach to develop a deeper understanding of the climate system among students. (Contains 28…

Presents an exercise designed as a team building experience for managers that can be used to demonstrate to science students the potential benefit of group decision-making. Involves the ranking of options for surviving a large earthquake. Yields quantitative measures of individual student knowledge and how well the groups function. (Author/YDS)

Recommends that prior to peer faculty review, both parties involved should understand that there are two paradigms of education. Focuses on the alignment of peer review evaluation tools with the teaching implications of the paradigm choice. (Contains 45 references.) (DDR)

Points out that assessment of courses and curricula lags behind implementation and focuses on an evaluation project at the University of Arizona. Describes an effort to determine the effectiveness of science courses for non-majors. (DDR)

Describes the use of a scale analog model of an actual fractured rock reservoir to replace paper copies of fracture maps in the structural geology curriculum. Discusses the merits of the model in enabling students to gain experience performing standard structural analyses. (DDR)

Describes the use of several teaching techniques based on constructivist educational theory. The teaching techniques are used with preservice teachers to enable them to experience active learning strategies in the context in which science is practiced. (Contains 19 references.) (DDR)

Reports on the use of GLOBE, a teaching tool that enables students to use hands-on, inquiry-based methods to gather and interpret scientific data. Summarizes the results of teacher workshops. (DDR)

Makes the case that religions perceive their doctrines not as opinions or subjective personal preferences, but as demonstrable facts, supported by historical documentation, experience, observation, and logical inference. Asserts that when scientists deal with issues like creationism, the widespread failure to understand how religions regard their…

Makes the case that geologic fieldwork requires more than knowledge of basic skills learned in the standard undergraduate curriculum. Argues that synthesis of the skills into a schema must be done before one can address the kinds of problems that arise when doing field investigations. Argues for the use of descriptive geometry and trigonometry in…

Suggests an integrated approach to make science teaching and learning more effective, interesting and motivating to students. Argues that team teaching by physics and geology departments enables students to learn concepts and principles of physics and apply them to solve geological problems facing the local community. Reports that a typical…

Reports on the development of a program preparing graduate students to teach in the School of Oceanography, University of Washington, in response to repeated graduate student complaints about the lack of a program. Describes the program which is based on surveys of groups affected by the program and research on teaching assistant preparation,…

Reports on a one semester course, "Earth Systems Science for Educators" designed to use an active learning approach to improve student knowledge of basic Earth science concepts. Reports that, based on pre- and post-course assessments of 108 elementary and middle-level education majors who took the class from 1998 to 2000, there was an average…

Students in a laboratory techniques course for preservice teachers were engaged in an activity that was designed to assess their skills in identifying geologic materials and model a situation that might be encountered by new teachers. Related activities were designed to give the preservice teachers practical experience in obtaining geologic…

Introduces the concepts and terminology of qualitative research methodologies in the context of science education. Discusses interviewing, observing, validity, reliability, and confirmability. (Author/MM)