Proposes an examination of the motives in having biochemistry students perform practical laboratory exercises. Suggests that a typical course should be viewed as a progression of skills development culminating in a final year, open-ended research project that demands that the skills be used competently and efficiently. (DDR)

Discusses experimental work with computer-simulated microworlds as a means for overcoming the tension between laboratory research and field research in psychology. Topics addressed include characteristics of microworlds; examples of microworlds; and three approaches to research with microworlds, including the individual differences approach, case…

Discusses recent science studies that focus on experimentation and the implications of these studies for the philosophy of science. Argues that the results of scientific experiments are practical productions that embody practical solutions to some of the key problems that have worried science philosophers. (Author/WRM)

Includes "Preparing Teachers to Teach Agriscience" (Osborne); "Physical Sciences and Agriculture" (Buriak); "Using Experiments to Teach Agriculture" (Miller); "Oooh-Ahhh: So That's How It Works!" (Loschen); "Keeping Agriculture in Agriscience" (Moss); "Sharpening Twist Drills" (McHargue, Hood); and "Safety in the Agriscience Laboratory"…

How well does competitive theory explain the outcome in experimental markets? The authors examined the results of a large number of classroom trading experiments that used a pit-trading design found in Experiments with Economic Principles, an introductory economics textbook by Bergstrom and Miller. They compared experimental outcomes with…

This article proposes to read events of the educational past not as history but as midrash. It juxtaposes an historical account of a watershed experiment in adult education (Franz Rosenzweig's Freie Judisches Lehrhaus) with an ethnographic account of a presently practicing elementary school teacher. These accounts are generically different and…

In the US debate over science-based educational research, experimentation is again coming to the fore as ideal for establishing an evidence base of what works in educational interventions thus contributing to the climate of accountability in educational research and practice. Mixed methods research is being positioned in this discussion as a…

The core idea that we argued for in the target article was that grammatical processing in a second language (L2) is fundamentally different from grammatical processing in one's native (first) language (L1). Our major source of evidence for this claim comes from experimental psycholinguistic studies investigating morphological and syntactic…

While a science teacher needs to be thoroughly grounded in science content and methodology, the science teacher also needs to be a reading teacher. Science experiments and demonstrations need to be integrated with reading in the science curriculum. Reading in science helps students with comprehension, the development of concepts and…

Reviews the Piagetian description of the stages of development of children's drawings, points out the influence of task demands on drawing performance, and asserts need for a new theory. An alternative framework is discussed and recent research illustrating the alternate theory and methodology is reviewed. (Author/RH)

Presented is an expression of opinion on the use of the discovery method in secondary school chemistry classes. The author believes that general rules (lemmas) should be given to students and then they should attempt to disprove the lemmas by observation of experiments. (Author/SA)

Argues for a dual approach to the study of second language acquisition, incorporating a nomothetic and a hermeneutic mode of inquiry. (Author/AM)

Reviews research related to laboratory work and makes recommendations for the classroom on how to make labs more meaningful. Argues that pre- and post-laboratory discussions containing theory behind the lab and purposes of the lab are essential for new understanding. (DDR)

Institutions of higher education that use animals in laboratory research have become targets of intense scrutiny regarding the treatment of those animals, the value of research, and the amount of federal funds they receive. The largest and most active animal-rights organization is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. (MLW)

This article uses a parable to compare qualitative (interpretive) and quantitative (experimental) methods in child language research. Two hypothetical young researchers both investigate question-asking behavior of children with autism. Five different possible endings to the parable illustrate various relationships among research approaches and…