This is the report of a national survey of approximately 1,000 teachers and administrators from a sample of 425 schools nationwide. The report includes a description of the sample design, instrument development, data collection, file preparation, analysis procedures, and survey forms. Topics covered in the report include science and mathematics…

This is a summary of a final report which was based on a survey of the literature on needs and practices in pre-college social science education for the period 1955 through 1975. The summary contains a brief introduction, a description of procedures followed in the study, and a summary of findings. The findings are presented as summary statements…

This is a status report based upon the review, analysis, and summarization of literature related to pre-college science instruction, science teacher education, and needs assessment efforts. The report identifies trends and patterns in the preparation of science teachers, teaching practices, curriculum materials, and needs assessments in science…

During 1979, nine National Workshops were organized in Afghanistan, India, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Socialist Republic of Vietnam to analyze national experiences relating to the designing and developing of innovative science curriculum and instructional materials for linking science education to real-life…

Reports on a study designed to compare student attitudes concerning their science teachers at the third, seventh, and eleventh grades where students participated in exemplary science programs. Results indicated significantly more positive attitudes of these students in a variety of ways. Included is the questionnaire used with the students. (TW)

This paper reports on an on-going action research study of the elementary school science education courses at the University of Victoria in Canada. The Department of Social and Natural Sciences requires that professors evaluate their teaching effectiveness annually using a variety of methods such as student evaluations, peer observations, course…

Describes study that investigated the effects of instructional control and gender pairing arrangements on learner achievement, attitudes, and interaction during an interactive video elementary school science lesson. Cooperative learning strategies are discussed, results of statistical analyses are reported, and implications for instructional…

This article presents the first results of an investigation in a scholastic context aimed a determining the conditions that favour the acquisition of knowledge in biology within interactions in groups of 4 pupils. There were three work sessions in small groups, and some sessions in class groups. The pupils' conceptions were assessed at the…

A central premise of the discovery-learning and progressive education movements was that the child's own questions are the most appropriate starting point for instruction. Recent advances present new opportunities for discovery-oriented learning. This project has been attempting to create a classroom environment which affords students the…

This study reports on an effort to improve the teaching and learning of physical science for prospective elementary teachers. As part of the effort, a new constructivist science curriculum model was introduced for field testing at a large midwestern university. The purpose of the study was to build a research base to guide future science teaching…

This paper reports the results of a 2-year longitudinal study of the development of primary teachers' understanding of science concepts (specifically, "force" and "energy") following inservice education, and the extent to which movement towards the scientific view was achieved and maintained. The approach to inservice education…

This profusely illustrated activity book helps students understand systems and cycles, how years change the look of the Earth, and how students can protect resources. The sections (and activities) in this book are: (1) The Earth (Introduction--View, Soil & Dirt); (2) Forces (Plate Tectonics, Earthquakes, Mountain Building, Erosion, Volcanoes,…

This study investigated the types of tactics and strategies students used in working with computer simulations and examined if the skills acquired when using the computer simulation could be applied in other settings. Sixth grade students (N=50) from three different schools participated in the study and were observed over a period of six weeks.…

Data on science achievement, student attitudes and educational practices in the United States and 23 other countries were collected. This data was taken from random samples of the fifth, ninth, and twelfth grade levels. This report card conveys a few of the findings of the Second IEA Science Study regarding the performance of students in the U.S.…

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of a middle school inservice course emphasizing science process skills on the development of integrated process skills and on logical thinking. Twenty-two middle-school science teachers from the Detroit Public Schools participated in this project. A "Resourcebook of Science Process…