Presented is a study in which students' intellectual reasoning development was evaluated following instruction that emphasized formal operations in a traditional lecture format. Results indicated that formal-operational students had significantly more success in the three reasoning areas than transitional students and transitional students had…

Presented is a criticism of Lawson's (1988) article on the development of misconceptions of biological concepts. Lawson's response to this criticism follows. (CW)

Prescriptions for improving student understanding and problem-solving performance related to transmission genetics are discussed. Research on novice/expert problem-solving in transmission genetics is reviewed. (Author/CW)

Learning styles of elementary education majors in biology were compared to learning styles of students in a general nonmajors biology course. A program which taught psychological type theory and matched and mismatched students' learning styles was incorporated into a biology course for elementary education majors. (LZ)

Used multiple-choice instruments and classroom observations of elementary education majors (n=116) to examine the importance of cooperative incentives and heterogeneous grouping in cooperative learning. Results indicate no differences in the achievement of students in the group accountability and individual accountability conditions and do not…

Reports on a year-long study implemented in grade seven life-science classes with the students' regular teacher serving as a teacher researcher. Results suggest that concept mapping may be useful in assessing declarative and procedural knowledge. Contains 43 references. (DDR)

A study of 222 nursing students in England found no significant differences in performance in the sciences among those with different educational qualifications. Age was a better predictor of science performance. (SK)

Reports on a study designed to measure changes in students' science proficiency produced by a multimedia learning environment. Describes the inquiry-based design of Astronomy Village, which supports middle school students in learning fundamental concepts in life, earth, and physical sciences. Results indicate sizable treatment effects for two…

An increased publication rate has given rise to an increased dependence on indexing services for tracking and retrieving relevant literature. Discusses the problems associated with the fact that most computer databases encompass literature from the past 20 to 27 years. (DDR)

An easily implemented practical exercise in applied science for biology students is presented that uses fungi to degrade an azo-dye. This is an example of bioremediation, the employment of living organisms to detoxify or contain pollutants. Its interdisciplinary nature widens students' perspectives of biology by exposing them to a chemical…

In order to avoid the projected shortfall of a half a million science and engineering professionals by the year 2010, many believe that we must find ways to increase the number of minorities and women who choose the sciences as a discipline of study. This study, involving 500 high school students, explores the collective relationships among…

The institutional goals of improving academic achievement and increasing persistence warrant consideration of the college classroom environment, with specific attention to the factors associated with actively involving students in the learning experience. This study sought to determine the effects of a cooperative learning environment on academic…

The mental representations used by experts and novices for organizing their knowledge of a discipline have been studied by observing the categorization schemes these subjects produce when presented with a diverse group of problems. In this study, seven biology faculty, eight certified genetic counselors, and 26 students were asked to organize a…

This study attempted to determine which combinations of student, teacher, curricular, and task factors characterize effective life science instruction, where effectiveness is defined as the acquisition of scientific literacy. The framework of scientific literacy used includes five teacher behavior components: (1) explaining science content; (2)…

Presented is a collection of abstracts of selected technical reports, journal articles, and other documents resulting from research supported by the directorates of the National Science Foundation. Reports are grouped by sponsoring directorate: Biological, Behavioral and Social Sciences; Engineering; and Scientific, Technological and Industrial…