Reports on a study to extend the concurrent and predictive validity of the Teacher Performance Assessment Instrument by including a sample of middle school science teachers. The validity criteria for the study involved observing student engagement and integrated process skill achievement. (TW)

Describes a study designed to develop a systematic procedure for constructing a valid Likert attitude scale. Discusses the 15-step procedure that was produced. Reviews the resulting development of an instrument designed to test the attitude of teachers toward the use of microcomputers in the classroom. (TW)

The science education reform movement is difficult for parents to understand because the new constructivist paradigm is far afield from science education as parents experienced it themselves. Educators in a New England middle school developed a new science curriculum without inviting general parental input. The problem addressed by this study was…

This paper describes a 4-month discourse in Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE) databases and the resulting classroom curriculum to identify potential factors for consideration when implementing a knowledge-building environment utilizing overlapping communities of inquiry. The study was part of a larger study of fifth and…

This study examined 38 thematic units prepared by preservice elementary teachers at the end of their science methods class and their second semester in an urban, field-based program, investigating how they addressed principles of diversity and multiculturalism. The units had either a science theme or science integrated with themes from other…

National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) members (N=101) responded to a 1979 survey, listing 398 statements of needed research. Three categories of needed research emerged as the greatest concern of these NARST members: instructional strategy, learning, and student/teacher attitudes. (Author/JN)

Described is a measure of the self-efficacy of preservice elementary science teachers. Field experiences, peer teaching, and the self-evaluation of microteaching are introduced as ways to enhance science teaching self-efficacy. Validity and reliability data are presented. (KR)

Teachers of American Indian elementary school students attended a two-week institute emphasizing integration of science instruction with culturally relevant materials and activities and use of a hands-on inquiry approach. A one-year follow-up found that initial changes in teachers' behavior and practices had largely been lost. Discusses…

Presents the experience of a Canadian Science-Technology-Society (STS) curriculum project as an indication of the problems that likely follow from attempts to introduce a STS curriculum piecemeal. These problems include redundancy within school curriculum and reduced time for science concept and term acceptability of the STS proposals. (PR)

Reports a study (n=27) concerning the knowledge about image formation exhibited by students following instruction in geometrical optics in an activity-based college physics course for prospective elementary teachers. Student diagrams and verbal comments indicate their knowledge can be described as an intermediate state: a hybridization of…

This strategic plan, based on two years of coordinated interagency effort, presents a five-year planning framework and associated milestones that focus the plans and resources of the participating Federal agencies toward achieving the National Education Goals in terms of the competence in mathematics and science expected of all students. The Plan…

This paper begins by exploring some general issues associated with the idea of progression in education in general and in science education in particular. These are then related to the particular domain of interest of the Procedural and Conceptual Knowledge in Science (PACKS) Project, which is concerned with the responses of children, aged 9 to…

This study was conducted to investigate how teacher educators might help preservice teachers enrolled in a science methods course understand the need for mutual respect rather than coercion between pupil and teacher in an elementary classroom. An evaluation instrument was developed that consisted of a pre and post open-ended response to a…

The existence, before any formal physics instruction, of schemata which lead to an idiosyncratic interpretation of real world events, which physicists see as exemplifying principles of physics, is now well established. Because these interpretations are often at variance with physicists' interpretations, they have been labeled, among others,…

The first (exploratory) phase of the Learning in Science Project focused on science teaching/learning in the Form 1 to 4 level (ages 10 to 14) and sought to identify problems and difficulties in several areas. Provided in this paper are comments obtained during structured/unstructured interviews (from students, ex-students, teachers, headmasters,…