Describes a study designed to determine whether the Biology Critical Thinking (BCT) project (which incorporates activities for developing specific critical thinking skills into the biology curriculum) enhances critical thinking skills and how it affects students' biological knowledge and classroom learning environment. Results indicate that BCT…

Questions Whether first-grade student participation in selected experimental activities from the BSCS-ESSP enhances skills in listening as measured by the Cooperative Primary Series Listening Test (CPSLT). (CS)

Reports that teachers exhibit a stable degree of persistence in utilizing selected elementary and secondary NSF science curricula in the western United States. Differences between teachers trained in the NSF curricula and a control sample indicate that elementary workshop participants tended to utilize NSF-sponsored curricula longer than did…

Science curriculum evaluation studies (1963-1978) were examined to assess impact of innovative curricula compared with traditional curricula on student learning outcomes. Results suggest students in secondary school science courses scored moderately better than students in traditional courses on innovative and neutral tests and negligibly lower on…

Supported by this experimental study was the hypothesis that science process skills of premedical and predental students could be improved by a semester-long course modeled after the AAAS Science - A Process Approach curriculum. Recommendations are made regarding the inclusion of science process skills in college science courses. (CS)

Reports a study of the effects of teaching the Elementary School Sciences Program (ESSP) on attitudes towards science of elementary school teachers. (SA)

Summarizes results of the meta-analysis of 105 research studies dealing with effects of new science curricula on student performance. Twenty-seven different new science curricula involving one or more measures of student performance were included in the analysis. Positive performance patterns were found in all new curricula examined. (JN)

A conceptual model, which provides insight into the individual concerns that teachers adopting a new program may express, was employed in a study of science teachers (N=139) adopting the Intermediate Science Curriculum Study (ISCS). Results from a 35-item instrument (Stages of Concern Questionnaire), demographic data, and recommendations are…

Compares results of surveys sent to New Jersey science supervisors in 1978 and 1982 regarding status of secondary science education in their schools. Discusses trends developed during the four-year period, comparing them to such national trends as decrease in instruction time, use of national curricula, and loss of teachers to business/industry.…

Represented are results from a national survey study of public school teaching in 1970-71. A hypothesized path model is given relating use of Science Course Improvement Projects (SCIP) and offering of environmental education programs to several independent variables deemed to be relevant in using SCIP in secondary schools. (CS)

Argues that naturalistic research is appropriate for studying science education. Stages of naturalistic research are explained and illustrated with material from NSF-sponsored Case Studies in Science Education. Problems in traditional research methods are presented as justification for inductive models or models based on multiple methods,…

Compares the effectiveness of an Extended Discretion (ED) laboratory approach (exercising independent judgment) to a BSCS Green Version laboratory program. Results from 10 classes taught by five teachers, each teaching one experimental and one control group, favor the ED approach on a number of measures. (Author/JN)

Reports on a study conducted in the Richardson Independent School District (Texas) which was designed to assess the attitudes toward science of students and teachers who have been involved with the Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) compared to non-SCIS students and teachers. (TW)

Surveyed teachers' perceptions of the SCIS-II elementary science program. Results indicate that grades K-2 teachers rated the program more positively than grades 3-6 teachers. Teachers who rated the program higher perceived fewer barriers to effectively utilizing the program. Teachers rated the program higher for developing social skills and…

Examined effects of teaching method (self-directed, group-directed, teacher-directed), academic ability, student assessment of treatment, and allowed time on achievement in three Individualized Science Instructional System (ISIS) biology minicourses. Results, among others, indicated that individualized instruction favored high-ability students and…