The concept of partnerships between schools and practicing scientists came to prominence in the United States in the mid 1980s. The call by government for greater private sector involvement in education to raise standards in science achievement saw a variety of programmes developed, ranging from short-term sponsorships through to longer-term,…

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,…

The scientific and technological literacy of sixth graders in Israel was assessed though a national evaluation of the elementary science curriculum with over 2,700 students. The definition of scientific and technological literacy for this study is discussed. By the definitions in the study, very few sixth graders had achieved the desired literacy…

Describes the results of the American Chemical Society Public Outreach Office's research program to measure the impact of the Kids & Chemistry program on both the children and the volunteer scientists. Highlights include objectives of the program, pretest research, focus group results, field tests, and pre- and posttest survey results.…

In the context of Phase Four of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Science Attribute Study, this report includes a discussion of item attributes, an overview of the item attributes used in the study, some psychometric characteristics of the blocks analyzed, a general description of the rule-space methodology, the results…

The Connecticut Museum Collaborative is a partnership between four different science museums. The collaborative's main goal is to improve middle school teachers' knowledge and skills in science, mathematics, and technology, and to support the development of relevant curriculum. This report is the third year formative report of the Collaborative's…

This report presents a description and evaluation of the Nature-Computer Camp (NCC), a science- and technology-oriented program for sixth-grade students from the District of Columbia Public Schools. The NCC experience is designed to offer students opportunities in such environmentally-related areas as woodland ecology, stream ecology, geology, as…

This study explored the sensitivity of a multilevel approach in detecting outcomes of a hands-on science program, exploring whether the instruction of a hands-on unit had any impact on students' performance and whether the estimated magnitude of the impact was different according to the proximity of the assessments to the unit taught. Also studied…

The mission of the National Center for Improving Science Education, a partnership between the NETWORK, Inc., and the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS), is to promote changes in science curricula, science teaching, and assessment of student learning in science. The center analyzes and makes recommendations for policy and practice at the…

The local assessment moderation process is described in terms of Science Education for Public Understanding Program (SEPUP) teachers' roles in the process of student evaluation and the subsequent use of that data for program evaluation. Teachers engaged in local assessment moderation function as a community of judgment, and this task engagement…

This final report in the MicroSIFT series reviews 10 software packages that deal mainly with the areas of electricity, magnetism, and heat energy. Software titles appearing in this report were selected because they were judged to be exemplary according to various criteria in the MicroSIFT Evaluator's Guide, with some additions to address science…

This study, which deals with the status of science education in the middle schools of South Carolina, is intended to be useful in: (1) developing middle school science teacher preparation programs; (2) revising certification requirements for middle school science teachers; (3) planning staff development activities for middle school science…

This study examined teacher-student interactions in 18 middle school social studies and science classes (which included mainstreamed students with disabilities) whose teachers received a 6-session inservice emphasizing teacher effectiveness variables. Differential effects were found for teacher and student type. (Author/DB)

This paper describes a year-long project in a fifth grade classroom to investigate the recurring flooding of the Pecatonica River (Illinois) and its effects on plant and animal life. The project was funded by a grant from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to involve elementary school classrooms with a consortium of museums in the…

Science interfacing packages (also known as microcomputer-based laboratories or probeware) generally consist of a set of programs on disks, a user's manual, and hardware which includes one or more sensory devices. Together with a microcomputer they combine to make a powerful data acquisition and analysis tool. Packages are available for accurately…