With increased emphasis on state standards and assessments in science, one might question whether there is still a role for national science standards and benchmarks. This article makes a case for the importance of national guidelines and identifies key functions performed by the National Research Council's "National Science Education Standards"…

This article describes an approach to developing student reading materials that support middle school learners in a project-based, inquiry curriculum for grades 6 through 8. Reading materials are designed to encourage sense making beyond the classroom, as students read and write about science as it takes place in a classroom and as it occurs in…

This article features several educators whose classroom, school, and district-wide projects offered this year's most inventive and successful examples of bringing technology-based learning to K-12 students. A middle school teacher used grant money to fund a weekly student news broadcast. A technology director created video booths to reveal to…

Scientific advancement is crucial to our national welfare, yet the science curriculum fails to address current social problems relevant to scientific inquiry. Moreover, scientific technology is regarded by many as a threat to their security. Possible solutions include addressing societal issues in science classes and creating regional science…

This paper addresses the dilemmas encountered by two secondary science education instructors designing a course for preservice elementary teachers. Taking into consideration past experiences of teaching education and science courses in general and with preservice elementary teachers in particular and recommendations from state and national…

This publication is third in a series prepared in cooperation with the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), by the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education. This document focuses on the…

Presents views on the Australian version of American biological science materials developed as a part of the science course improvement project movement. The article serves as an introduction to the collection of papers, contained in this journal issue, from a seminar on biology and its place in school education. (PB)

Urban schools serving low-income minority children face a variety of challenges related to teacher quality, resources and school infrastructure. Programs such as the GK-12 Fellows Program, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), try to mitigate some of these issues by supporting partnerships between local school districts and institutions…

In this paper we describe a model for a science fair, within the context of an elementary science methods course. We first describe the theoretical perspectives from which the idea of science fairs derives and we provide definitions as we sketch the characteristics of commonly used science fairs. We then describe the context and processes of a…

Earthlearningidea will use the opportunity of the International Year of Planet Earth (2008) to publish on the internet a new Earthlearningidea each week for use in classrooms that have few resources. The International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE) was proclaimed by the United Nations for 2008, with the activities extending from 2007-2009. IYPE has a…

Robert Tinker, President of The Concord Consortium, announces that through a series of grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Department of Education, the Concord Consortium has been able to produce amazing and innovative software packages and have incorporated them into hundreds of powerful learning activities. Whatever…

This document is the final report to develop a new elementary science curriculum. It contains information related only to the development phase of the Conceptually Oriented Program in Elementary Science (COPES) and was written for an audience that includes all who are interested in curriculum development as it was experienced in this project. The…

Provides a brief analysis of the nature of science teaching and curriculum development in science in Africa during the past two decades. Also suggests possible future directions. Included is a table listing several African curriculum projects with related general principles fostered and materials used. (JN)

This article outlines a school-business partnership in which a business cooperates with a local school and provides an engineering employee to teach advanced mathematics and computer science. In exchange, the school district provides services and resources to the company. An example of the contract used is included. (MD)

Describes a Japanese process-oriented approach called KAIZEN for improving the quality of existing teaching laboratories. It provides relevant quality measurements and indicates how quality can be improved. Use of process criteria sidesteps the difficulty of defining quality for laboratory experiments and allows separation of student assessment…