This article reports the results of a study with 70 senior undergraduate biological science majors enrolled in a required course on "Writing and Speaking in the Biological Sciences". Students enrolled in this course were expected to develop oral scientific presentations of their research projects that exemplified the norms of speaking in…

A model incorporating both academic and nonacademic factors as determinants of productivity was tested with samples of physical and biological scientists, social scientists, and humanists taken from the 1972-73 American Council on Education survey of faculty at U.S. institutions of higher learning. Considerable variation was found in the process…

The records of 53 students in an introductory biology class at Fulton-Montgomery Community College were examined to determine the effect of selected variables on success in the course. The independent variables tested were age, sex, vocabulary and comprehensive grade placement levels (GPL) on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test, and whether or not the…

This study is an extension of an on-going longitudinal study, the Girls Engagement With/In Science (GEIS) Project. The GEIS Project was designed to understand how girls who are poor, minority or both, engage in science. The two teachers who form the focus for this study are these girls' 7th and 8th grade teachers. Data for this interpretive…

Surveyed students taking a natural resource conservation course to determine the effects of computer software that provides tools for creating and managing visual presentations to students. Results indicated that 94% of the respondents believed computer-aided lectures helped them and recommended their continued use; note taking was more effective,…

Most Virtual Learning Environments are designed to be simple to use by staff and students alike. We report a case study where this feature has led academic staff to reject formal centralised training and teach themselves how to use the system. What has resulted is widespread use of the system but with poor pedagogic development, leading primarily…

As part of an ongoing study of the content knowledge, instructional beliefs, and instructional practices of middle school, high school, and college science teachers, the hypothesis that there are systematic differences across academic levels in these teachers' conceptual understanding of the same content-specific subjects was studied. Eight middle…

This study is part of a larger study of teachers' use of curriculum materials in planning and teaching fifth-grade science. The study focused on one of nine teachers observed teaching "Communities," an activity-based unit from the SCIIS science program (a revision of the original Science Curriculum Improvement Study).…

During fall 1974, the University of Maryland at College Park evaluated its research programs as part of the decennial accreditation process. Data were collected on a comparison group of 35 state universities in order to place the Maryland activities in a national context. Most of the data presented in this report extend over a 10-year period, 1965…

This report describes the rationale, methodology, findings, and recommendations of "Project Synthesis," a research study which synthesized and interpreted information found in six selected databases. Using a discrepancy model, five focus groups (biological sciences, physical sciences, inquiry, elementary school science, and…

Reported are results of a study designed to determine developmental patterns in proportional reasoning and to determine if these patterns are similar regardless of educational level and regardless of problem context. Data from 2282 subjects in grades 6-13 were collected using the Test of Logical Thinking (TOLT), and then examined for subjects who…

Data on female professionals relative to male professionals in select scientific and related fields are discussed. These data reveal that women have improved their position slightly, but are still used more in a part-time capacity, and that many fields employ relatively few women in a full-time capacity. (MLW)

The Biological Science Curriculum Study with support from others conducted a three-year project (ENLIST Micros II) to develop and test a model for implementing educational computing in science courses. Descriptive data on background characteristics, prior experience with microcomputers, and educational level of the leaders and new participants was…

The number of undergraduate credit hours taken in the sciences, engineering, and engineering technology, and in four major humanities fields (English, history, modern languages, and philosophy) for the fall semester, 1980-1981 was studied, based on a survey of 65 colleges and universities that are members of the American Council on Education's…

College enrollments in computer science, engineering, and business have increased since 1972, and decreased in biological and social sciences, humanities, and education. Above average high school achievement levels are generally found for declared college majors in science and engineering, with low achievement among education and business majors…