This study focuses on teachers' training in introducing nanoscience and nanotechnology (NST) topics in school. In the context of a Community of Learners (CoL) in-service teachers, in collaboration with science education researchers, nanoscience researchers and experts from science museums, developed a teaching module in NST topics which integrates…

This paper outlines a research study involving a University-School District partnership with the intent to increase the number of middle grades mathematics and science teachers by increasing content knowledge, self-efficacy, and interest in these content areas. The selected program component describes the authentic summer research experience that…

Education researchers and teachers have long been interested in improving students' conceptual understanding and motivational levels to do academic work. Over the past decade and a half, there has been an increase in the number of studies investigating the effects of instructional games on students' academic performance and motivational levels.…

Examining how the researcher's personal experience shapes the research context was the object of this exploration into the parallel paths of the researcher and research subject. The subject, a preservice science teacher, was studied from her last year of an undergraduate teacher education program through her student teaching experience in an…

There is a need to integrate the segregated perspective underlying research on scientific conceptions. Insights from scientists can provide information about the essential components of ideal knowledge. The purpose of this study was to investigate how researchers and teachers deal with scientific explanation. Three research physicists and five…

As part of a study of teacher evaluation of student replies to open-ended questions, a second question--the best method of determining interrater reliability--was examined. The standard method, the Pearson Product-Moment correlation, overestimated the degree of match between researchers' and teachers' scoring of tests. The simpler percent…

A poster-newsletter, "Science Talk," was developed and its effectiveness at a major research university analyzed. The goal of the newsletter was to make information regarding upcoming research seminars sponsored by the science departments available campuswide and to raise the scientists' awareness level regarding the university's science…

This paper explores various issues related to the allocation of resources to science teacher education on the basis of research implications. Areas addressed include: (1) establishment of valid science teacher training content; (2) science teacher education research (providing information on the average effect of some general practices used to…

While most would probably agree that the ultimate success of an educational system should be graduates who are able to evaluate, synthesize, analyze and apply what they have learned, routinely assessing such understanding in students has proven difficult, for a variety of reasons, using most traditional methods. Recent developments in cognitive…

This study reports on the improvement of a teacher researcher's teaching practice by adopting a constructivist teaching approach. Four biology units on the nervous system, human circulatory system, evolution, and vertebrate classification were selected to illustrate a model of biology teaching. Data were drawn from student responses to…

This paper explores perspectives on self-study in teaching and in research through a longitudinal school-based professional development program for science teachers. The exploration focused on two broad perspectives: (1) self-study can be both personal and collaborative; and (2) self-study can be of teaching and of research. The professional…

The Science Teachers as Research Scientists (STARS) program is a scientific work experience program conducted at the University of Missouri-St. Louis that provides secondary science teachers internships with faculty researchers. This report evaluates the STARS program with respect to the teachers' (n=17) first summer experiences only. Both…