Empirical evidence from the National Education Inspectorate suggested that teachers at the primary school in this study in an island country in the Caribbean have inadequate science content knowledge. Students' average performance on the science Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) has been below 40% for the last 5 years. The purpose of this bounded…

Classrooms across the United States increasingly find immigrant science teachers paired with urban minority students, but few of these teachers are prepared for the challenges such cultural assimilation presents. This is particularly true in secondary science education. Identifying potential prospects for culturally adaptive pedagogy in science…

Most accounts of affect and motivation in the science education literature have discussed them as relevant to, but distinct from, disciplinary pursuits. These include Pintrich's seminal work on affective and motivational factors in learning science (P. R. Pintrich, 1999, 2003; P. R. Pintrich & E. De Groot, 1990; P. R. Pintrich, R. W. Marx,…

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,…

This book provides information to help create a themed science fair for childen in grades 4-6. Illustrated instructions and checklists for each of the 100 plus experiments are provided, plus ideas for teachers and students to vary experiments for additional scientific discovery. The experiments are written in age-appropriate language so that…

Introduces a geology unit investigating rocks for fourth grade elementary students. Describes three students' academic improvement as an example of program effectiveness. (YDS)

The Alice/Collaborative Inquiry Testbed ("Alice Testbed") is one of four testbeds designed to demonstrate the educational potential of telecommunications. Their long term goal is to establish the effectiveness of Network Science and to develop key aspects of the technical, human, and conceptual infrastructure necessary to scale up…

The slime mold Physarum polycephalum provides an easily maintained classroom plant which can act like an animal. Directions are given for: acquiring the organism; activating it; observing its life cycle; and viewing protoplasmic streaming. (DH)

Even though we live in an age of advancing technology and changing structure of science, especially in genetics engineering, there appears to be a great lack of understanding of these basic concepts by society in general. Society carries responsibilities to both living and non-living things; this lack of understanding may result in combined…

This article describes a science learning experience in which intermediate grade students launched balloons with attached postcards to study wind currents. More than 200 (of over 900 balloons) were returned, and their analysis supported the students' hypothesis about the direction of wind currents. (DB)

Scientific sense-making is a process in which theory and evidence are brought into coordination. This work examines the conditions for the development of scientific sense-making in fifth and sixth grade classroom science lessons. Classroom activities that were structured as a series of presentations are compared with activities structured more as…

This pilot study tested the hypothesis that the logical thinking skills of middle-grades students are enhanced by teaching them computer programming using the BASIC programming language. A quasi-experimental design was used with 36 students randomly selected and assigned to one of two treatment groups: 18 students received no instruction in…

Examines the line graphing ability of middle/high school students (N=625) to provide baseline data on the mastery of line graphing subskills. Results show that seventh- and eighth-grade students were less successful in graphing than high school students, suggesting that graphing skills should be introduced and emphasized in earlier grades. (JN)

Describes a classroom activity using slime, a colloid: it behaves like both a solid and liquid. Explains how slime can be produced from guar gum. An activity where students work in teams and become a slime factory is presented. (PR)

Discusses the growing awareness of the important role of technology as it relates to both science and mathematics. Describes the Technology/Science/Mathematics Integration Project designed to integrate technology with science and mathematics at the middle school level. (JOW)