Briefly describes some elementary school science programs which resulted from curriculum reform efforts in the United States: Science-A Process Approach, Science Curriculum Improvement Study, Elementary Science Study, and Experiences in Science. (PEB)

Presents the procedures, findings, and conclusions of a study designed to determine the relationship between (1) achievement of specific teaching competencies, (2) change in attitude and the type of treatment such as type of practice, grade level, and feedback. Subjects were 31 pre-service students enrolled in the science methods course in…

This paper reports on an instructional program based on the assumption that behavioral change on the part of the student will be most effective when it is both intentional and insightful. Changes on the part of the students which are clearly specified before instruction and which are the explicit objectives of the instruction are described as…

Tested was the hypothesis that science instruction based on task analysis will lead to the acquisition of the ability to perform certain Piaget volume tasks which have been characterized as requiring formal operations for their solutions. A Test on Formal Operations and a Learning Hierarchies Test were given to fourth- and sixth-grade students in…

The population for which this instructional program has been found to be effective includes preservice and inservice elementary teachers who teach science. At the end of this instructional module, the participants should be able to: (1) given a set of data and a set of statements about the data, distinguish between those statements of fact and…

Standing on the shoulders of the experience of the recent past, the science which our children experience reflect a montage of curriculum reform, teacher renewal and school commitment. These three factors, not always distinct, and the challenge of clearly discerning them is essential in describing where our experience has led. (Author/RK)

Describes a study which used fourth and sixth grade children who had used Science - A Process Approach" and compared their performance with that of a control group on two conservation-of-volume tasks. Performance of the volume tasks was found to be related to age and score on the Learning Hierarchies Test and not to previous science program…

This is one of several papers issued in cooperation with the National Association for Research in Science Teaching to analyze and synthesize research related to the teaching and learning of science completed over a two-year period. The majority of studies reviewed are unpublished doctoral dissertations. The research reviewed is grouped according…

The main purpose of this self-pacing instructional module is to help preservice or inservice teachers acquire skills in designing instructional activities in elementary school science and mathematics. The format follows, generally, that of "Science - A Process Approach". Thus, there are activities which are designed to help the participant gain…

This instructional module has three main goals: (1) to establish the need and functionality of behaviorally stated objectives, (2) to establish a common functional language by which to describe behavior, and (3) to generate ability to construct specific descriptions of the expected student performance. An underlying purpose of this module is to…

Objectives for this module include the ability to: (1) describe properties of an object or event using all five of their senses; (2) construct statements that are observations and inferences. The population for which this instructional program has been found to be effective includes preservice and inservice elementary school teachers who teach…

Objectives for this module include the ability to: (1) order objects by comparing a property which the objects have in common (such as length, area, volume or mass), (2) describe objects (length, area, volume, mass, etc.) by comparing them quantitatively using either arbitrary units of comparison or standard units of comparison, and (3) describe…

Describes four elementary school earth science activities. Each student experience is designed to help children answer questions about the ocean floor, continental drift, volcanism and mountain chains. Includes a bibliography of related articles, books, and maps. (JM)