The design and effects of using online pre-laboratory exercises in an introductory first-year university chemistry course that requires no previous knowledge of chemistry for non-major chemistry students is reported. The results have indicated that the majority of students involved in the study considered that their learning opportunities were…

In this article, we discuss several aspects of the national project, the National Science Concept Learning Study, designed to assess elementary, middle, and secondary students' conceptual understanding in science. After a short introduction to provide some history of the project, we describe the processes used in the integrative study, the…

Conceptual change views of teaching and learning processes in science, and also in various other content domains, have played a significant role in research on teaching and learning as well as in instructional design since the late 1970s. An important issue is whether conceptual change can provide a powerful framework for improving instructional…

Eighteen year-11 physics students were taught heat and expansion of liquids using a predict-observe-explain sequence. Argues that the data demonstrate how students' prior knowledge and beliefs can affect their observations and interpretations of new learning. (Author/MKR)

Describes an approach for teaching with analogies in secondary science classes and gives an example using the three states of matter. (14 references) (Author/MKR)

Students are generally known to memorise and regurgitate chemical equations without sufficient understanding of the changes that occur at the particulate level. In addition, they often fail to recognise the significance of the symbols and formulas that are used to represent chemical reactions. This article describes an evaluation of the ability of…

The "Web of Life," adapted from the green version of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS), has gained a virtual monopoly in Australian upper secondary school biology classrooms since its introduction in 1967. A recent increase in the diversity of student interests, academic abilities, attitudes, and vocational aspirations has…

Most Aboriginal people in Australia lack the background qualifications to enter higher education courses in science and mathematics. In 1984, the Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT) (now Curtin University of Technology) developed a project which created and evaluated bridging courses for Aboriginal people seeking to gain access into…

Analogies are believed to help students structure new knowledge and are considered to be especially useful for topics of an abstract or submicroscopic nature. Analogies, however, have also been identified as a factor in the students' misunderstanding of chemical concepts. This paper reports on the literature identifying the advantages and…

Discusses the need for including noise pollution in the science curriculum and describes 10 activities for improving students' awareness and understanding of and concern for noise and its effects. (Author/JN)

Reports an interpretive examination of four teachers' use of analogies to teach chemistry. Suggestions for how science teacher education can be informed by case studies of teaching in context, in this instance of analogy-inclusive teaching by four experienced chemistry teachers, are provided. (ZWH)

This study documented the teaching practices of 2 exemplary biology teachers of grades 11 and 12 by means of an interpretive research methodology. Teaching practices are identified that may be considered exemplary and worthy of attention and analysis by other science teachers and science teacher educators. (PR)

Presents information on using analogies in science instruction. Describes the Teaching-with-Analogies Model. Presents an example for homeostasis. (PR)

Over the past two decades, several two-tier multiple-choice diagnostic tests in science at a variety grade levels have been reported in the extant literature from several countries. This review summarises these studies, provides an overview of the methodology for their construction, presents two examples of typical items, and lists studies…

Examined are tenth-grade Western Australian students' conceptual knowledge of gravity and the motion of the planets. Students were interviewed with seven cards, and a four-item diagnostic test based on the interview data on the first four cards was developed. A total of 113 students' responses to the test are summarized. (YP)