Writing plays an integral role in any disciplinary course setting. In the sciences, WAC and WID initiatives primarily focus on using writing to deepen student understanding of scientific concepts. Scholars, however, have paid less attention to how writing may facilitate an understanding of the link between concepts and their quantitative…

Uses digraphing as methodology to synthesize students' conceptions of natural phenomena in order to identify the structural characteristics of their conceptions. Contains 41 references. (DDR)

Described is science education's role in the back to the basics movement. Science education is described as providing opportunities for the development of (1) logical structures, (2) the understanding of the scientific processes, and (3) the development of creative problem solving techniques. (Author/DS)

A comparative study was conducted to compare two approaches to engineering design curriculum between different schools (inter-school) and between two curricular approaches, "Project Lead the Way" (PLTW) and "Engineering Projects in Community Service" (EPIC High) (inter-curricular). The researchers collected curriculum…

Discusses the foundations of engineering design and highlights the problems confronting students who are required to make creative input into a design problem. Describes a way to implement creativity in teaching engineering design. Contains 38 references. (DDR)

Compares Reform of Secondary Education (ROSE) students' and nonROSE students' perceptions of five psychosocial dimensions of their science practical tasks: student cohesiveness, open-endedness, integration, rule clarity, and material environment. Contains 17 references. (DDR)

This guide presents current scientific research on the process of human learning and stresses the importance of metacognition. Focus is placed on memory and learning with analogies to photography being employed to aid understanding. This guide also includes background information on human memory; a poster; instructions for the four short term…

This article presents research on students' understanding of basic concepts in Graph Theory. Students' understanding is analyzed through the lens of the theoretical framework of reducing abstraction (Hazzan, 1999). As it turns out, in spite of the relative simplicity of the concepts that are introduced in the introductory part of a traditional…

This teacher's guide presents current scientific research on the process of human learning and stresses the importance of metacognition. Focus is placed on the integrated pair of concepts, emotion and attention, with analogies to traffic conditions being employed to aid understanding. Background information on human emotion and attention, a…

Describes a model that teaches a problem-solving process and provides students with the opportunity to practice, develop, and enhance their thinking skills. States that applying learning to real problems is needed to increase a student's thinking ability. Provides diagrams of the problem-solving cycle and levels of thinking. (RT)

Explores high school student's postinstructional knowledge about mass, volume, weight, and density in terms of what students need to know to successfully solve academic physical science problems. Presents definitions of the concepts, discusses hypothesized knowledge deficiencies, and suggests implications for instructional design. (Contains 31…

Argues that there are only a few cases in which solubility and Ksp are related in a simple way. States that illustrations of the solubility product principle for one-to-one salts are adequate for students. Contains 23 references. (DDR)

Research findings are reported concerning the extent to which writing assignments in contrasting examples of upper elementary science curriculum materials are likely to engage students in higher order thinking and problem solving, and to facilitate meaningful learning of scientific concepts. Organized around a common set of elaborate framing…

Argues that consideration should be given to whether teaching solubility product calculations is at all useful. Claims that experienced teachers seriously misunderstand and misuse solubility product calculations. (DDR)

Examines those theories of learning that have laid the groundwork for classroom approaches that encourage students to become active learners. Summarizes the National Science Education Standards (NCES) Teaching Standards B. (DDR)