A group of scientists and science educators of Washington State University has developed and pilot tested an integrated physical science program designed for preservice elementary school teachers. This document includes the syllabus and class materials for the Chemistry block of the physical science courses developed by the group. Included are…

A group of scientists and science educators at Washington State University has developed and pilot tested an integrated physical science program designed for preservice elementary school teachers. This document includes the syllabus and class materials for the Geology block of the physical science courses developed by the group. Included are…

Presented are abstracts and abstractors' analyses of eight studies related to teacher education and two studies related to the nature of science. Analyses in the area of teacher education are on studies of: attitudes of elementary teachers in Trinidad and Tobago (P. Fraser-Abder and R. Shrigley); educators' categorizations of different models of…

Designed to assist science educators in improving preservice/inservice teacher education, this yearbook contains resources and ideas addressing the application of recent research into a format suitable for practitioners. The eight chapters comprising the document deal with: the history and philosophy of science; the psychosocial environment of the…

The discrepancy between educators' expectations for inquiry behavior and the actual status of such behavior (teachers feeling more comfortable teaching facts and feeling ill-prepared to guide students in inquiry learning) prompted a quantitative assessment of the existing research (reported between 1965 and 1980 in doctoral dissertations and…

Results are presented of a 1977 survey of 257 Papua New Guinea science teachers on: (1) teacher qualifications; (2) teaching experience; (3) science periods taught per week; (4) other subjects taught by these teachers; (5) distribution of teaching time; (6) difficulties with the new science syllabus; (7) inservice needs; and (8) improvements in…

The dialogical relationship between Confucianism and Taoism serves as a framework for examining the interplay between learning as socioculturally mediated activity and critical reflection in preservice teacher education. Article highlights a summer elementary school science program that involves preservice teachers, university faculty, and a local…

Reports a study of 12 preservice elementary and 12 preservice secondary science teachers to determine the effects of methods instruction on their beliefs about the teaching/learning process. Results indicate that secondary teachers may have more complex belief structures than elementary teachers and that slight structural changes occurred for both…

Study investigated whether the use of videotaped models demonstrating effective teaching strategies in an elementary science lesson would promote increased use of effective questioning strategies among preservice teachers (n=38). Results show that the use of the videotaped teaching models increased the use of high-level, divergent,…

Inverness Research studied the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) Seminars on Science program for eight years, from its inception in 1998 to 2006. This paper presents teacher survey ratings for "Earth: Inside and Out", along with profiles of three teachers who took the course. Course takers report on the annual follow-up surveys…

Inverness Research studied the American Museum of Natural History's (AMNH) Seminars on Science program for eight years, from its inception in 1998 to 2006. This paper presents teacher survey ratings for "The Link between Dinosaurs and Birds", along with profiles of three teachers who took the course. Course takers report on the annual…

In 2001, the Australian Government released a report, commissioned by the then Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs, entitled "The Status and Quality of Teaching and Learning of Science in Australian Schools" (Goodrum, Hackling, & Rennie, 2001). Its recommendations included actions to address raising community…

This paper reports on a study to document influences on five beginning mathematics and science teachers' instructional beliefs after a preservice methods course in secondary literacy. The participants were former military officers who had selected teaching as a second career. The study looked at: the teachers' beliefs about uses of literacy in…

This research project examined characteristics of nontraditional or midcareer teacher education programs that offered a fast track to certification, served students entering teaching from another career/occupation, and were based in a university or cooperatively managed by industry and education. The report begins with a description of the…

The purpose of the study described here was to examine gender as it affects elementary-school teacher attitudes towards teaching science. The Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI) was employed to measure the self-efficacy and outcome expectancy beliefs of elementary preservice and inservice teachers. Due to the experience of females…