We present a year-long case study that documents the interactions between a teacher-research-mentor (TRM) and two 11th grade students working in their school laboratory on an extended inquiry project that is part of reformed mandatory requirements for advanced-level matriculation in physics. Both the students (females) and the TRM (male) are Arab…

This paper explores the relationship between epistemology, sociology, and learning and teaching in physics based on an examination of literature from research in science studies, history and philosophy of science, and physics pedagogic research. It reveals a mismatch between the positivist epistemological foundation which seems to underpin the…

Student-directed inquiry in science is an important mechanism for helping students develop a repertoire of practices that reflects the work of real scientists. But few studies consider what students "take away" from this type of instruction, i.e., how strategies developed in such curricula transfer into other contexts. Our research…

Teachers' use of inquiry has been studied largely without regard for the disciplines in which teachers practice. As a result, there is no theoretical understanding of the possible role of discipline in shaping teachers' conceptions and enactment of inquiry. In this mixed-methods study, conceptions and enactment of inquiry for 60 National Board…

The editors of this review have focused on four purposes: (1) to portray the state of knowledge in science education, (2) to describe any existing trends, (3) to identify areas which need to be researched, and (4) to provide tentative answers to pertinent problems, if any seem to emerge from the research. Research studies reviewed have been…

Reports the results of various concepts held by children of different ages dealing with weight, heaviness, gravity, and force. (PR)

Students enrolled in an audio-tutorial section of an introductory college physics course responded more favorably than did students in the lecture section on a student questionnaire concerned with attitudes toward the course and laboratory. (MLH)

Reports the results of an investigation in which the attitudes of Israeli high school students to physics were studied in an attempt to identify variables that may account for the low enrollment in this subject. (JR)

The study was conducted to evaluate divergent physics laboratories in accomplishing objectives of Commission on College Physics. A questionnaire was used to collect data from students. Analysis revealed students in divergent laboratories had more opportunity to choose or design their own experiments and develop a model for data interpretation. (PS)

Authors describe some alternative conceptions held by Portuguese physics students about mechanics and compare students' scientific conceptions with the evolution of historical ideas. Authors contend that teacher knowledge about the history of science can facilitate teaching for conceptual change in physics. (over 20 references) (Authors/PR)

Using ordering tasks in which 51 grade-12 students arranged fragmented text passages, it was observed that students produced a high number of texts with top-level structures that employed minimal organizational components and had recourse to local coherence criteria to organize the text. (PR)

Reported is a study having several major purposes. Among these were (1) to investigate the change in "understanding the nature of science" as shown by high school students studying physics-astronomy at a summer science institute and (2) to compare the level of understanding possessed by the summer science group with normative secondary…

Described is an approach to assessment of intuitive and analytic modes of thinking in physics. These modes of thinking are associated with Ausubel's theory of learning. High ability in either intuitive or analytic thinking was associated with success in college physics, with high learning efficiency following a pattern expected on the basis of…

Presents a comparison of attitudes toward physics and chemistry by 300 eleventh and twelfth grade students. Attitudes toward chemistry were more positive than towards physics; chemistry was considered less masculine, and physics was considered more important. (SL)

Forty-six students enrolled in a high school physics course participated in a study designed to portray student views on, and understanding of, collaborative concept mapping. Students demonstrated a good understanding of concept maps and emphasized their usefulness as a learning tool. (56 references) (ZWH)