This document outlines the content standards for science in the state of Colorado. The document is organized into six standards, each of which is subdivided into a set of guiding questions exemplifying the standard and a series of lists defining what is expected of students at each grade level within the standard. The standards are that students…

Describes a noncalculus, medical physics'' course with a basic element of direct hospital field experience. The course is intended primarily for premedical students but may be taken by nonscience majors. (Author/PR)

Results from a survey of physics and engineering departments in 132 engineering colleges in the United States and Canada are discussed. Information considered includes course requirements and content, effectiveness of physics courses and laboratories, unnecessary duplication in engineering curriculum, communication problems between physics and…

Investigated the nature of biology teachers' global content understandings, and sources and formation of subject matter structures (SMSs). Reports that the initial formation of SMSs was credited to college content courses and modified by the act of teaching. Variables that differentially affected SMS translation included teacher intentions,…

Stresses that an important industrial area is product reliability, especially for semiconductors. Suggests that physics students would benefit from training in semiconductors: the many modes of failure, radiation effects, and electrical contact problems. (MVL)

Offers suggestions to secondary teachers faced with teaching the concepts of evolution to a group of skeptical students. Presents a variety of comments from groups that support the integration of evolution into the science curriculum and opposing the adoption of creationism as a part of the science curriculum. (ZWH)

Examines the problems of course content in a biology class at a large metropolitan high school in the Southwest that teaches students the major ideas of biology rather than specific topics, but uses specific topics to develop the major themes and unifying principles. (Author/CCM)

The attempt to develop the laboratory component of a one-semester quantum chemistry course at Saint Mary's University has led to allowing the students to solve a big problem in quantum chemistry. It is done by subdivision into smaller problems that can be independently tackled by a student with a two-year calculus background.

Eighty years after the famous 1925 Scopes "monkey trial," which tested a teacher's right to discuss the theory of evolution in the classroom, evolution--and its most recent counterview, called "intelligent design"--are in the headlines again, and just about everyone seems to have an opinion. This past July, President Bush weighed in, telling…

The strategy of getting students to understand science content using critical thinking has been widely used by instructors for decades. The methodology presented here was used to teach and improve critical-thinking skills in an atmosphere that focused on content material and was devoid of educational terminology. (Contains 2 figures.)

Service learning projects were incorporated into the curriculum of an undergraduate course entitled "Biology of Women". The goals of the service learning projects were: 1) to provide students with the opportunity to consider issues pertaining to human biology in real-world settings; 2) to foster student engagement with the community; and…

This study examines how student practice of scientific argumentation using socioscientific bioethics issues affects both teacher expectations of students' general performance and student confidence in their own work. When teachers use bioethical issues in the classroom students can gain not only biology content knowledge but also important…

Teacher education programs have met with limited success in improving teachers' understanding of the nature of science (NOS). Research suggests that such efforts could be enhanced by addressing NOS in preservice teachers' science courses. We planned NOS instruction in a physical science content course for preservice elementary teachers. Our first…

An introductory human anatomy course designed to provide the basic understanding of human structure necessary for further study in allied health and related fields is described. First, a general course description provides an overview; discusses the courses' place within the science curriculum, noting that it does not meet the general education…