There is a general consensus that design-based research (DBR) is a genre of approaches in education research to design interventions for specific problems with the aim to gain an understanding of how they work in the problem context. While there is a considerable body of literature discussing the epistemic and methodological aspects of DBR, we…

Flourishing in today's global society requires citizens that are both intelligent consumers and producers of scientific understanding. Indeed, the modern world is facing ever-more complex problems that require innovative ways of thinking about, around, and with science. As numerous educational stakeholders have suggested, such skills and abilities…

The Maker Movement has taken the educational field by storm due to its perceived potential as a driver of creativity, excitement, and innovation (Honey & Kanter, [Honey, M., 2013]; Martinez & Stager, [Martin, L., 2013]). Making is promoted as advancing entrepreneurship, developing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)…

Recent calls for teacher preparation to become more grounded in practice prompt the questions: Which practices? and perhaps more fundamentally, what counts as a model of instruction worth learning for a new professional--i.e., the beginner's repertoire? In this report, we argue the following: If a defined set of subject-specific high-leverage…

Describes a five-week course in animal behavior for parents and their middle-school-aged children offered at the Minnesota Zoological Garden. Course activities included discussions, film viewing, demonstrations, zoo observations, and home studies of gerbils or zebra finches. Results of the course are discussed. (CS)

Explains changes in programs, policies, and procedures in the Science Education Directorate. Considers administration, effects of reorganization of institutional support and curriculum development programs (including changes in peer/staff review procedures), and new administration's conception of its mission, relationship to groups making demands…

Discusses in general terms the approaches necessary for effective dissemination and implementation of an educational program in a country and then relates these approaches to the cooperative relationship between the University of California at Berkeley and the Israel Science Teaching Center's MATAL and PELE Projects. (CS)

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act requires states to measure the adequate yearly progress (AYP) of each public school and local educational agency (LEA) and to hold schools and LEAs accountable for failing to make AYP. Although it is required that science be assessed in at least three grades, the achievement results from science examinations are…

Describes cost effective teacher institute programs developed at the University of Houston-Clear Lake, focusing on components of the Shared Local Resources Model (primary source speakers, curriculum implementation, field trips, and curriculum development teams). Evaluation of institutes indicates that they have been successful. (JN)

Outlines a sociocultural perspective on program evaluation consistent with sociocultural views of knowing and learning. Perspective is characterized by rigorous use of multiple-choice tests, performance assessments, and event-based analyses; a dialectical approach to conflicting conclusions from individual assessments and between individual and…

Discusses problems reflecting the crisis in education, presenting general approaches for resolving the problems. Also discusses the California Earthquake Education Project (CALEEP), a program which provides education of current concern (including personal emergency preparedness) to the public. CALEEP activities are successful due to many social,…

Describes the development of the Science Outdoor Learning Environment Inventory which includes seven scales. The instrument was used by high school students (N=643) and the results indicate that the instrument is a sensitive measure that differentiates between different types of field trips. Contains 19 references. (DDR)

Presents a case study of science education in Papua, New Guinea and discusses efforts for implementation of a "Science for All" policy. Includes a description of the physical, cultural, and political setting of the nation and explains its approach to primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary schools. (ML)

Discusses value of computer diagnostic testing (CDT) including time factors in preparing programs, cost analysis, and possibilities for activities other than CDT. Includes a computer program, written in BASIC for a PET, and instructions for using the program. (SK)

Compares elementary school science curricula in Japan, Thailand, the Republic of Korea and the Philippines. Tables summarize data for some of these countries concerning general characteristics of the curricular design, general objectives of elementary and secondary science curricula, teaching units covered, and hierarchy of process skills. (CS)