Determines that the philosophical basis for science education is likely to be an interesting field in the 21st century and that there is a need to provide the practicing teacher with some ideas for daily work such as local, national, and international student cooperation; using student lab reports to develop local scientific journals; and having…

Criticizes radical constructivism of the Glasersfeld type, pointing out some contradictions between the declared radical principles and their theoretical and practical development. Suggests the possibility of an ideological substratum in the construction and hegemonic success of subjective constructivism, and briefly advances an alternative…

This paper discusses the traditional lecture-based instruction method. Strong experimental evidence suggests that social context affects knowledge construction and depends on prior knowledge. Engagement in the inquiry process using constructivist viewpoints can make the characteristics of science, scientific knowledge, and scientific method easy…

This study was designed to examine preservice elementary teachers' beliefs about the nature of science, document changes in these beliefs over the duration of a year-long science methods course and embedded teaching practicum, and assess the impact of these beliefs on their classroom practice (Bright, 2001). The pre-test and post-test case study…

Investigates conceptions of the geosciences held by a university geology instructor and five students before and after a teaching intervention. Argues for the use of repertory grids to elicit personal constructs. Advocates targeting the societal aims of geological education within a constructivist framework. Contains 54 references. (Author/WRM)

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the epistemology of a discipline is interactionally accomplished, acknowledged, and appropriated in a university oceanography course. Drawing from sociological and anthropological studies of scientific communities, this study uses an ethnographic perspective to explore how teachers and students came to…

In the Discover Lab, a science education center at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, students learn to investigate, critique, and test big scientific questions and devise their own answers. Students are guided through cyclical processes of inquiry, logic and reasoning, testing and experimentation, and communication. (MLH)

The objective of this study is to provide in-service teachers an opportunity to become familiar with the controversial nature of progress in science (growth of knowledge) and its implications for research methodology in education. The study is based on 41 participants who had registered for a nine-week course on Methodology of Investigation in…

This proceedings contains a copy of the conference program and more than 75 papers and presentation summaries from the meeting, placed in order by conference session. Paper topics include science assessment issues; science for special needs students; science teachers' self-efficacy; teaching science to at-risk students; online inquiry…