The program described in this paper was designed to address two sets of questions, one concerning the nature of classroom teaching and learning of science in secondary schools and the other concerning their mechanisms. The program consisted of four phases: (1) "Establishment" (emphasizing trust between teachers and consultants); (2)…

This paper reports a study directed toward educational improvement through individual and group change. It is a 3-year naturalistic case study centering on 9 experienced science teachers, 13 novice science teachers, 64 secondary science students, and 4 researchers. The three aims of this study are to know more about: (1) what it is to be a teacher…

Classificatory behavior of 41 fourth graders enrolled in a science program at the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. was assessed on an instrument adapted from Piaget's interviews with children on class inclusion. Developmental levels were related to student performance in the program. Data analysis shows that students with a high…

A quantitative synthesis of research findings on the effects of three major activity-based elementary science programs developed with National Science Foundation support was conducted. Controlled evaluation studies of the Elementary Science Study (ESS), Science-A Process Approach (SAPA), or The Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) were used…