The reform of elementary and secondary school science education in the United States has received renewed attention with the publication of several science reform documents and the 1989 Education Summit sponsored by the nation's governors and President Bush. This digest reviews documents which focus on the reform of science education and projects…

This review presents a broad perspective of the state of knowledge in science education, a description of existing trends, the areas where research is needed, and tentative answers to persistent problems that have been identified from the research. The review is organized into eight sections. An introductory section describes methods of using…

Designed to provide teachers of earth science with activities and information that will assist them in keeping their curricula up to date, this publication contains activities grouped into six chapters. Chapter titles are: (1) Weather and Climate, (2) Oceans, (3) The Earth and Its Surface, (4) Plate Tectonics, (5) Uses of Space Photography, and…

Presented are 25 short articles which represent a variety of topics. Included are laboratory exercises, games, demonstrations, models, activities, teaching methods, notes regarding procedures and updates of scientific information. (CW)

National concerns about the quality and effectiveness of science teaching have resulted in several efforts directed at restructuring the United States' science curriculum. This digest discusses recent initiatives of the Earth Systems Education. Topics discussed include: (1) efforts to understand the planet Earth; (2) the Program for Leadership in…

Presented in this document are the results of the five focus groups involved in Project Synthesis, a research study designed to synthesize and interpret the information found in the three National Science Foundation-funded status studies (the literature review, the national survey, and the case studies "The Status of Pre-College Science,…

This publication reviews the literature pertaining to teacher education in, about, and for environmental education. The first section includes the definition, goals, and objective of environmental education. The second section summarizes the recent and current status of environmental education in elementary and secondary schools in the United…

Presented are abstracts and abstractors' analyses of nine studies related to curriculum and instruction. These studies focused on: (1) the status of environmental education in Kansas; (2) attitudes of Israeli students toward two versions of a curriculum titled Agriculture as Environmental Science; (3) interrelationships among teacher intentions,…

This digest identifies selected sources of materials for science education. Included are: the Educational Resources Information Center; the American Association for the Advancement of Science; the National Science Resources Center; the National Science Teachers Association; and publications produced by the California State Department of Education.…

The theme of the eighth yearbook of the Association for the Education of Teachers in Science (AETS) involves the improvement of instructional practices in science at the middle school level. An initial chapter provides an operational definition of the middle school. Five chapters follow which provide information on various sources of educational…

This review covers 422 studies of the following types: reports prepared for scientific organizations, dissertations, journal articles, research papers, and papers presented at conferences. The studies have been organized into one of seven clusters for analysis and discussion. They are: (1) learning and instruction (summarizing studies related to…

Abstractor's analyses of science education research studies are presented in this issue of Investigations in Science Education. The first group of studies relates to research on teacher education (priority of perceived needs common to science teachers and how these might be used to develop inservice programs, determining the level of awareness and…

This book presents answers to frequently asked questions about hands-on approaches to science teaching and learning. The questions were formulated by speaking with teachers and teacher educators. Variations of the questions are frequently asked by both experienced and novice teachers. A wide range of answers are presented in a triangulated…

One of the major goals of environmental education is developing students with positive environmental ethics and motivated to take desirable environmental actions. Research indicates that attitudes and behaviors of individuals are frequently modeled after the attitude and behavior of others. Since most youth spend 6 to 7 hours per day in school…

Safety hazards that are frequently found in science classrooms are addressed in this digest which updates and supplements the 1980 ERIC/SMEAC information bulletin "Safety in the Science Classroom." Information obtained from journal articles and safety guides is presented in the categories of: (1) risks involved in science activities; (2)…