There is a misconception among undergraduate students that global warming is caused by holes in the ozone layer. In this study, we evaluated the presence of this and other misconceptions surrounding atmospheric chemistry that are responsible for the entanglement of the greenhouse effect and the ozone hole in students' conceptual frameworks. We…

Science teachers must adapt curriculum materials, so preservice teachers must develop beginning proficiency with this authentic task of teaching. What criteria do they use when they critique these materials in preparation for adapting them, when they develop the criteria themselves and when they are given a set of criteria from which to choose?…

Preservice elementary teachers in a conceptual physics course were given multiple resources to use during several inquiry activities in order to investigate how materials were chosen, used, and valued. These students performed significantly better on assessment items related to the inquiry physics activities than on items related to traditional…

The American public continues to be perplexed by the substandard reading, math, and science skills of students. Science information alone is growing at a rate that will make it very difficult for many, especially students with feeble science knowledge and skills, to become scientifically literate. This research describes the development,…

Describes a preschool science-based curriculum which encompasses four broad topics: water, small creatures, gadgetry, and environmental terraria. Includes a description and list of activities for each topic. Presents research suggesting that children participating in this curriculum increased their self-directed discovery and verbalized curiosity.…

Students in a self-contained gifted and talented fifth grade evaluated three major learning activities of the Full Option Science System (FOSS). Students rated the activities very positively and felt the activities had given them greater confidence to work in groups, to be creative, and to strive to accomplish hard tasks as well as developing…

This paper introduces and reports upon lessons learned during the development phase of the Lord Kelvin Middle School Science Program. For the past two years, a set of tools to help middle school students learn science in a way that uses the full power of today's technology has been under development. Lord Kelvin is a robust collection of science…

This project developed 46 units of science activities suitable for individual use outside of school by elementary school children (K-6) with supervision by an adult advisor. Focusing on the physical, biological, earth, and health sciences, experimental work, and science processes, the materials (obtained at home or in supermarkets) are designed to…