Many questions of interest to teachers, educational researchers, curriculum developers, and policymakers in science education can be asked about classroom environment. Does a classroom's environment affect student learning attitudes? What is the impact of a new curriculum or teaching method on the nature of a classroom's environment? Can teachers…

Study results from the Individualised Classroom Environment Questionnaire indicated a positive association between the degree of classroom individualization and student attitudes for 320 junior high school science students who were tested on dimensions of Personalization, Participation, Independence, Investigation and Differentiation. (Author/CM)

Ten Australian seventh-grade classes using Australian Science Education Project (ASEP) materials and ten control classes were administered the Science Class Inventory to determine classroom climate. results showed that the ASEP students underwent more favorable changes in their enjoyment of science classes. (MLH)

A questionnaire survey was used to gauge the opinions of mathematics teachers about some history of mathematics materials recently developed for use in the classroom. Teachers' opinions of the materials were generally favorable, but a sizeable proportion responded that they would not use the material in their own teaching. (Author/MN)

Describes development/validation of short forms of Individualized Classroom Environment Questionnaire (ICEQ), My Class Inventory (MCI), and Classroom Environment Scale (CES). In addition to these forms measuring perceptions of actual classroom environment, ICEQ and CES short forms measuring preferred classroom environment were also developed.…

Tasmanian students' (n=1,040) perceptions of the learning environment were collected in the final stages of primary school and again in the initial term in secondary school. First exposure to specialized science learning environments and teachers changed students' perceptions. Both school size and student gender were found to be influencing…

An English and Mandarin version of the What is Happening in this Class questionnaire was administered to 1081 students in 50 classes in Australia and to 1879 students in 50 classes in Taiwan. Data analysis supported the reliability and factorial validity of the questionnaire, and revealed differences between Taiwanese and Australian science…

Recently, some researchers are considering the effects of classroom environment on student achievement and attitudes. Due to the concerted effort of a number of educators, remarkable progress has been made over the last quarter of a century in conceptualizing, assessing and researching this area of concern. However, today there is growing concern…

Reports on the development and validation of a new junior high school version of the Test On Understanding Science (TOUS).

Reports on the adaptation of a scale previously used to measure attitude toward the social implications of science among college students for use with secondary students. Upon use with seventh graders, scores obtained on the social implications scale correlated significantly with pupil socioeconomic status and with a number of learning environment…

This monograph includes chapters on: (1) The Need for Educational Productivity Research; (2) Syntheses of Research on Factors Influencing Learning; (3) Contextual and Transactional Influences on Science Outcomes; (4) Identifying the Salient Facets of a Model of Student Learning: A Synthesis of Meta-Analysis; and (5) Use of National Survey Data in…

Describes a recently developed test for measuring law-related attitudes among students at the junior high level and suggests ways in which teachers might employ this test in their own classrooms. The test includes all features of a satisfactory test for social studies outlined by Hunkel (1976). (Author/KC)

Describes nine questionnaires for assessing student perceptions of classroom psychosocial environment, and reviews their application in past research. Focuses on outcome; innovation; student/teacher perceptual differences; achievement; teacher use of perceptions; quantitative and qualitative methods; links between environments; cross-national…

In this monograph, an overview of research on learning environments in science classrooms is provided. Various forms of classroom research are compared, including student perceptions, direct observation, case studies, and combinations of ethnographic and student perception methodologies. Included are: (1) "Background," including…

This study used data collected during 1981-82 from a random sample of 1,960 9-year-old students from 124 elementary schools involved in a national assessment of educational progress in science. The database was used in secondary analyses which probed the validity of a model of educational productivity involving a set of nine aptitudinal,…