The rapid change that higher education is undergoing is impacting all of the core mission elements: teaching and learning, research, service, and engagement with the external world (e.g., community engagement and health care delivery). Navigating this environment requires understanding of the underlying dynamics, with particular attention to how…

At a time when scientific and technological competence is vital to the nation's future, the weak performance of U.S. students in science reflects the uneven quality of current science education. Although young children come to school with innate curiosity and intuitive ideas about the world around them, science classes rarely tap this potential.…

This brief distills the research on science learning to inform a common vision of science instruction and to describe the extent to which K-12 science education currently reflects this vision. A final section on implications for policy makers and science education practitioners describes actions that could integrate the findings from research into…

The Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession (CSTP) commissioned Inverness Research to undertake a study about what it takes for elementary teachers to strengthen their teaching of science. This report documents the perspectives and experiences of a selected pool of K-5 teachers, representing 67 districts, who are committed to improving…

This report to the United States Senate deals with the systems and procedures used by various federal agencies to award research funds to universities and the resulting distribution of those funds. More specifically, it is intended to review previous studies of the relationship between the award process and distribution of federal research funds,…

The six chapters in this report focus on: (1) a basic orientation for a focused research agenda; (2) research on reasoning (considering the development of competence and the search for generality in reasoning skills); (3) research on instruction (examining research on teachers, curricula and curricular materials, and testing); (4) research on…

The documents enclosed in this report provide a comprehensive and systematic review of the progress made in developing a network organization capable of supporting nanoscience education for the public on a national scale. There is a logic to the studies that were done and to the reports that are included in this notebook. The following are the…

Discusses why Japan has participated in the international cooperative studies sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Asserts that Japanese educators want to compare not only content acquisition but also measures of cognitive learning. (CFR)

Reports on 18 months of action research that examined the effectiveness of using the history of science to promote British students' understanding of the nature of science. Both quantitative and interview data offer substantial evidence of a strategic movement away from serendipitous empiricism and toward an appreciation of the interactive nature…

Discusses the research design for the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Asserts that the TIMSS is a compromise between longitudinal and cross-sectional survey designs and will yield more information about student achievement. (CFR)

Special education is now an established part of public education in the United States--by law and by custom. However, it is still widely misunderstood and continues to be dogged by controversies related to such things as categorization, grouping, assessment, placement, funding, instruction, and a variety of legal issues. The purpose of this…

Uses three methods to analyze the intended curriculum in countries participating in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Explains the use of Topic Trace Mapping as a tool to examine the issue of depth versus breadth in the curriculum. Includes three figures illustrating the results of Topic Trace Mapping. (CFR)

The aim of the Learning in Science Project is to: (1) investigate science teaching/learning at the Form 1 to 4 level (ages 10 to 14); (2) identify some of the key difficulties in this subject area; and (3) find ways of overcoming such difficulties. The project is seen both as an evaluative and a research project in that it is concerned with…

The first working paper of the Learning in Science Project, "An Initial Framework," outlined what was then seen as the major aims of the project and suggested how these aims might be achieved by three phases of research: exploratory (to observe teaching/learning in Form 1 to 4 science classrooms and to identify difficulties perceived by…

A major study of Canadian science education was undertaken in 1980 to establish a documented basis for describing the present purposes and general characteristics of science teaching in Canadian schools, to provide a historical analysis of science education in Canada, and to stimulate active deliberation concerning future options for science…