IT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THIS RESEARCH TO ASSESS THE CONTRIBUTION OF CERTAIN SCIENCE COURSES AND OTHER FACTORS THAT MAY INFLUENCE STUDENTS' UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENTISTS, THE AIMS AND METHODS OF SCIENCE AND THE SCIENTIFIC ENTERPRISE. THE SAMPLE CONSISTED OF 1,275 PHYSICS STUDENTS AND 1,009 CHEMISTRY STUDENTS FROM HIGH SCHOOLS IN IOWA, KANSAS, NEBRASKA,…

Evaluated was the effectiveness of the materials of one book, "Charting the Universe," of the six books that comprise the University of Illinois Elementary Science Project. Five hypotheses were tested, including one related to students' general understanding of science, and another related to students' views of astronomy, arithmetic,…

THE USE OF CASES DRAWN FROM THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE WAS EVALUATED AS AN INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURE USING 108 SECONDARY SCHOOL CLASSES IN BIOLOGY, CHEMISTRY, AND PHYSICS LOCATED IN WIDELY DISTRIBUTED GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS. THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY WAS TO DETERMINE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE CASES INSTRUCTION METHOD (HOSC) IN CHANGING…

This paper presents the procedures, results and conclusions of a study designed to determine whether three different methodological approaches to the laboratory for a general education physical science course would lead to the same behavioral outcomes. Students enrolled in the physical science course were randomized into one of three laboratory…

Reported is a study having several major purposes. Among these were (1) to investigate the change in "understanding the nature of science" as shown by high school students studying physics-astronomy at a summer science institute and (2) to compare the level of understanding possessed by the summer science group with normative secondary…

This study examines the role of a 6- or 8-week summer university laboratory internship for 56 high ability secondary students in developing the views of these students with respect to the nature of science. Students were assessed using a gender-neutral version of the Test on Understanding Science (TOUS) as part of a pretest-posttest research…

This investigation was an attempt to determine the suitability of a highly structured course in science, Introductory Physical Science (IPS), for all eighth-grade students in a suburban school. The major measure for the evaluation of the course was to study the degree of teacher commitment to the objectives of the course and determine if this…

Compared was the effectiveness of a two-year integrated chemistry-physics course with a two-year sequence of separate courses, in developing understanding of chemistry and physics concepts, understanding science and its methods, and reactions to the study of science. Both groups used the content, materials and instructional approach of the…

Studied was the effect of instructional method on educational outcomes in an interdisciplinary science uni t taught to 143 eighth grade students of earth science. Compared were the didactic and guided discovery methods of teaching. Also analyzed were the interactions of methods with student characteristics including sex, intelligence, creativity,…

The success of an inservice program was evaluated by comparing and analyzing the results of tests administered to 11 participating (experimental group) and 15 non-participating (reference group) science teachers. Data on the improvement of preparation of the participants were obtained from the results of the Test on Understanding Science, a…

Determined were differences in understanding the nature of science and scientists and in subject matter achievement between seventh grade students who studied source papers as part of their instruction in science and those who did not. Experimental students analyzed ten source papers related in subject matter content to the local course of study.…

The effects of the type of earth science course (Earth Science Curriculum Project (ESCP) and non-ESCP), the directness or indirectness of teacher-pupil interaction in various teaching activities (I/D ratio), and the teacher's philosophical orientation (T/NT ratio) on various student outcomes such as understanding of science and scientists;…

Students whose Physical Science Study Committee (PSSC) physics course was supplemented with the PSSC films did not achieve significantly higher scores on the PSSC Achievement Test or the Test on Understanding Science than students who did not see the films, when intelligence and science background were used as covariates. (AL)