The purpose of this document is to develop a usable science teaching guide based on the process skills methodology for the middle school life science teacher. It is intended to provide an efficient and effective tool for the interested teacher to use to develop the skills of the methodology. It could also be used as companion to the latest set of…

This paper describes a joint research project between science educators and computer science software engineers. A computer software system based on cognitive learning theory was designed that was intended to be relevant to teaching, learning, curriculum development, and research in science education. The generic prototype software system was…

Abstracts of most of the papers presented at the 58th annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) have been collected in this publication. These papers related to such areas as: science curriculum development, design, and implementation; science test development; factors influencing student science…

Differentiates between learning efficiency (enhancing the rate of learning) and learning effectiveness (enhancing the mastery and retention of facts, concepts, and relationships). Discusses some of the contributions of knowledge engineering to metalearning. Provides a concept map for constructing knowledge bases, along with some possible…

This paper aims to demonstrate how listening to and discussing the stories inservice science supervisors tell about a novice science teacher provides an opportunity for student science teachers to construct practical knowledge about teaching. Three levels of practical knowledge of teaching are recognized: (1) rules of practice; (2) practical…

This study evaluated the effects of instructional scaffolding interventions (ISI) on preservice teachers' knowledge structures (e.g., concept maps) and short essay responses over time. Participants were 60 preservice teachers from two universities who were enrolled in one of three introductory psychology courses. One course was used as the…

Concept mapping was used to tap the conceptual disciplinary (science subject) knowledge and pedagogical knowledge of seven biology and six geography teachers with short or long teaching experience. Results indicate that knowledge in both areas is unsatisfactory, experience does not improve the knowledge, and teachers mastered disciplinary…

This reports a study that seeks to explore the experience of students majoring in technology and design in an undergraduate education degree. It examines their experiences in finding and using information for a practical assignment. In mapping the variation of the students' experience, the study uses a qualitative, interpretive approach to analyse…

As the number of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners with disabilities increases in the United States, many educators and policymakers purport that teacher education programs (TEPs) must incorporate multicultural education more substantively. However, we know very little about the impact of multicultural education on the thinking…

Within high school chemistry the topic of acids, bases, and pH is particularly challenging because robust understanding of the topic depends heavily on the student possessing deep concepts of atoms, molecules, ions, and chemical reactions. Since knowledge is acquired and stored in a dynamic structure, it was investigated in this study how…

Maps or graphical browsers of structural knowledge allow the user of a hypertext system to navigate from node to node through the structure as they portray the links between concepts spatially. This study examined the results of using two different graphical browsers that provide different amounts of information about the structure of the…

An ethnographic study was conducted with the goal of comparing the botanical knowledge of nine sixth grade students with the botanical concepts developed in the elementary textbook series, Science, by Silver Burdett, 1985. The extent to which the child's conceptual framework resembles that of the scientist and the extent to which the textbook…

This course of study is intended to provide a comprehensive overview of an elementary school science program. In addition to high individual pupil achievement at each grade level, this program is also designed to provide a broad and comprehensive continuum of experiences that lead toward the obtainment of the identified science goals. A strong…

This book presents 13 papers from a 1998 conference in Hong Kong that examined how to apply psychology to enhance learning and teaching quality and focused on multicultural education: (1) "The Role of Multiple Competencies and Self-Regulated Learning in Multicultural Education" (Chi-yue Chiu, Farideh Salili, and Ying-yi Hong); (2)…

Reports a study examining the concurrent validity of concept maps as vehicles for documenting and exploring conceptual change in biology. Elementary education science methods students who were instructed on marine life zones showed significant differences on their concept maps on this topic. (PR)