Describes the units of a science program for educable mentally handicapped students developed by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study Project and the role of the teacher during implementation of the program. (EB)

Examines whether elementary school children's cognitive achievement in science process skills increases significantly because of teacher training in the Individualized Science (IS) materials. Investigates the effects of teacher training in the IS materials on teachers' attitudes and skill achievement. (GA)

Attempts to analyze the effects of advance organizers on an environmental education unit, assess retention of the instructional material one year later, and determine if changes in perceptions of a woodland occurred. (GA)

Reports results of a study attempting to ascertain the effectiveness of 30 hours of environmental education instruction on teachers' attitude towards teaching environmental education at the elementary and middle school levels. (SL)

Discusses the parameters of values clarification and of science and reviews the differences between them. Contends that values clarification is nonscience and that students should be helped to appreciate the ways nonscience is similar and dissimilar to science and the place of both in the conclusion-reaching process. (ML)

The study sought to determine if increased lesson structure could aid elementary school students with low perceptual structures. Findings indicated that increased lesson structure did not significantly improve science achievement for the participating grade four and five students. (ML)

Investigated the grade/grade levels at which alienation from science occurs. Alienation is defined in terms of declining science subject preference and attitude scores of students (including Blacks and females) in cross sectional samples of adjacent grade levels. Data show that the greatest decline occurred between 6th and 7th grades. (JN)

Preservice teachers' (N=22) knowledge level of pendulums was experimentally manipulated to examine effects the manipulation had on the extent of inquiry behaviors exhibited when teaching the topic to grade five children (N-54). Videotape recordings were used to examine how teachers used specific science knowledge to make decisions while teaching.…

Supports the position that goals developed and used to guide science education practice during the 1950s and mid-1960s are no longer adequate and that a new consensus of goals is needed for the 1980s. This consensus would reflect the real world and problems students will face in the future. (JN)

Reports on a classroom technique (social interaction) for improving fifth-grade students' performance in the task domain of controlling variables. The technique involved asking students why something happened, asking for justification/evidence, suggesting alternative explanations and asking for evaluation of the same, and accepting explanation…

Explores the cognitive development of Nepalese students by administering Piagetian-type tasks and comparing geographically and culturally different children. Boys and girls (N=256) of ages 8, 10, and 12 were administered tasks of conservation, classification and seriation, and causality. Implications for curriculum development in Nepal are made.…

Results of a national survey to determine state certification requirements for elementary school teaching were analyzed to determine the amount of science content required. Very few states appear to be mandating sufficient science training to ensure that elementary school teachers are prepared to teach science. (PB)

Focuses on the relationships of the teacher's affective attributes, concerning both interest and attitude, and measures of teaching behaviors of elementary grade preservice teachers (N=148) consistent with instructional methodology of the SCIS curriculum. Results include a confirmation that a field-oriented treatment yields significant changes in…

Presents the Nuffield Junior Science Project (NJSP), an elementary science program developed in the United Kingdom. Some learning activities that are contained in Nuffield Junior Science Teacher's Guide I are described. (HM)

Israeli children's (kindergarten to grade nine) explanations about the water cycle are described. Reports the children's views about the source of clouds and the mechanism of rainfall. It was concluded that understanding evaporation is a necessary condition for explaining a mechanism of rain containing the ideas of condensation and heaviness. (YP)