Engineers and scientists in the United States have always been among the nation's greatest assets. Their work has led to world leadership in scientific and technological innovation. Recent trends are disturbing. These is concern over the quality of science and technical education at the elementary, secondary, and college levels. High school…

To cope with some social problems, Japanese educational planners are drafting some proposals for research into innovations in the educational system. This paper reports on some research recently done which looked into the relationships of the Japanese educational environment and the reasoning/thinking skills and process skills of students in…

According to this report, since the 1960s many of the gains of post-Sputnik reform have been allowed to slip away and, as reports of the early 1980s have emphasized, elementary and secondary education has been neglected. The shock of technological and economic losses to other countries has once again alerted the United States to its educational…

This document is the second of three volumes of the proceedings an international seminar which focused on student misconceptions in science and mathematics as well as teaching strategies intended to deal with those misconceptions. An introduction to the volume explains the format of the conference and the organization of the sessions. It stresses…

Canada is one of nearly 40 countries involved in the Second International Science Study (SISS). The Ontario Ministry of Education used the data generated in the study as a vehicle for assessing science education in the province, and comparing the province to the rest of Canada. Each chapter of this report contains a non-technical summary of…

One area explored in the second (in-depth) phase of the Learning in Science Project was "children's science," defined as views of the world and the meanings for words that children have and bring with them to science lessons. The investigation reported focuses on the concept of "electric current" held by 43 elementary school…

This paper proposes some possible areas of research and tentative theoretical guidelines for the Learning in Science Project (Primary)-- LISP(P). This new project, designed to investigate the teaching and learning of science in the primary school, arises from the work of the original Learning in Science Project (LISP). LISP(P) has two…

In order to interest women and minorities in science and teaching, a proposal by the Science Academy of Austin, Texas specifically recommended recruiting high school minority and female students as future science teachers, providing elementary students with opportunities to experience science, and increasing the number of women and minorities in…

Given the high importance to this Nation's future of strengthening the quality of instruction, and access to that instruction, in the critical subjects supported by Title II of the Education for Economic Security Act, every effort should be made to widely and effectively share program successes. This Special Program of Exemplary Projects is one…

During the past several years topics related to technological literacy and technology education have received increasing attention by policymakers at all levels of government. This report documents the attainment of the initial objectives set forth in an earlier report of the Commission, which was issued in 1985. A major section of this document…

Reviews the goals of laboratory education as identified by the National Science Teachers Association. Describes an Apple II system for the lab. Concentrates on hardware and connections. Stresses the advantages of student-microcomputer interaction in the laboratory setting. (CW)

Reviews research about racial, ethnic, and sexual stereotypes in elementary science textbooks. Describes the demographics of the United States population as of 1980. Compares these demographics to representations in textbooks. Recommends three corrections that need to be made if schools are to attend to the social message in curricular materials.…

Discusses the drive to raise science and engineering education's funding in the NSF budget from 9 percent to 20 percent. Notes that the target is $600 million per year. (MVL)

Women have been markedly underrepresented in science and engineering in the United States. Statistical reports have documented this underrepresentation which persists despite the fact that women and minorities are an increasingly important source of talent for maintaining world leadership in these areas. This document reports on a workshop…

This document contains 15 chapters on various topics related to elementary science assessment. A comprehensive description of efforts to introduce alternatives to multiple-choice, paper and pencil tests to assess science learning is provided. The monograph includes an analysis of assessment issues, descriptions of current practice, and suggestions…