Reported is a study to determine the feasibility of teaching selected concepts related to the particle nature of matter to students in grades 2-6. The lessons developed for this study did not require a high student reading ability, did not require more than one-half hour of time, included the use of analogous mechanical models whenever possible,…

Presented is a scheme for systematically analyzing curriculum prescriptions to produce probing arguments in defense of the instructional objectives of each curriculum. With the probing arguments thus defined, a defensible, analytical choice between the alternative prescriptions would be facilitated. Included are four detailed examples of the…

Reported is a study that designed a set of materials representing a spectrum of possible opinions on an environmental issue and tested the materials with ninth-grade students. Materials were obtained regarding strip mining. Judges ranked the materials on a five point scale from strongly supporting to strongly opposing strip mining. Materials on…

This study describes a program designed to increase participation and involvement of female students in physical science classrooms and laboratories. The setting for the study is a high school in a suburban middle class community adjacent to a metropolitan area in the Midwest. Evidence for the existence of the problem includes student involvement…

The purpose of this study was to determine if relationships existed among teaching experience, teacher concern level, and achievement of a skill used in teaching science. The teaching skill selected was the identification and use of behavioral objectives. Thirty-four experienced elementary school teachers and 26 undergraduate elementary education…

The problem of this study was to compare teaching methodology and teaching strategies used in general chemistry courses to the attitudes and values of the students taking those courses. Objectives of the study included: (1) an investigation of the teaching methodology in use in chemistry courses, (2) a study of the attitudes of students toward…

Two teaching methods (learner-centered vs. conventional) were investigated as related to achievement and content covered in a basic electricity course in which 65 students were enrolled. All students participating in the study were given the Bell Laboratories Electricity Examination as a pretest and as a final test. The Otis Test of Mental Ability…

One component of Pennsylvania's Science for the Seventies Project, an experimental science curriculum for elementary schools which makes extensive use of instructional television, was an evaluation which compared the effectiveness of the project to that of existing instructional programs. As part of the evaluation, a model was developed and…

This study investigated the extent to which certain aspects of the structure of a learner's memory following instruction corresponded with the structure of the instructional material. Content structure was represented using digraph theory. The digraph analysis revealed a formal structure built substantially on six specific concepts. Cognitive…

This study involved an investigation related to student ability to carry out inquiry tasks, and to investigate the effectiveness of a technique of set induction through rule learning. Biology students from 13 high school classes were randomly selected and assigned to an experimental group, A, or to one of three control groups, B, C, or D. The…

The author sought to establish reasons for secondary school students' selecting chemistry as part of their course of studies. Another aspect of the study related to predictor variables and the study of chemistry, and a third aspect related to the type of curriculum used--Chemical Education Materials Study (CHEMS) or traditional. Eleventh-grade…

This study was concerned with the effect of subsuming concepts on student achievement and the interaction effect of subsumers with high and low organizing ability. One hundred forty-three subjects (Ss), enrolled in six sections of a class in undergraduate chemistry, were administered an organizing ability test and rank ordered according to the…

This research investigated the need to apply appropriate results of research in pedagogical techniques of questioning to accomplish maximum achievement through the use of high-level questions and to encourage thought and participation in the learning process. A unit on radioactivity and radiation was prepared, validated and taught by 14 carefully…

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between attitudes of general biology students and their instructors toward biology as a discipline and toward certain patterns of biology laboratory instruction. The sample consisted of 29 instructors of general biology in 9 Texas two-year colleges and their students. Four attitude…

Reported is a study of the feasibility and effectiveness of specialist and classroom teachers utilizing large-group instructional techniques in teaching selected science concepts to elementary school children. The experimental population consisted of 498 pupils (grades 1-6), in an elementary school which was designed and organized for team…