Describes a laboratory activity on invasion biology to improve students' cognitive skills as well as manual skills. Requires students to develop hypotheses in which a common invasive species will succeed. Focuses on the red imported fire ant in the Southeastern United States, which is a non-native invasive species. (Contains 17 references.) (YDS)

This study sought to connect the science activity educational approach to the higher cognitive development of students using a relatively new learning model, the Cultural Historical theory, based upon the work of Vygotsky. The theory advances the concept that children's intellectual development occurs in interactions with an adult or more capable…

Discusses briefly Piaget's views on intellectual development as related to science teaching. Describes intellectual activities observed in science classrooms and shows how specific science lessons can be designed to encourage cognitive development. (GA)

Recommends a constructivist approach to physics laboratory activities to make laboratories a place for personal maturation and cognitive growth. Describes class design in which ideas and techniques are exchanged which allow students the opportunity to initiate investigations based on early conceptual assumptions, and extend the investigation…

Reported is a study to investigate the effects of a free-choice program on children's ability to interpret experiments, design simple investigations, and recognize variables that could affect the outcome of observed events. (Author/SA)

Reviews the objectives of laboratory work in chemistry education, current laboratory practice, and factors likely to impact on the nature of laboratory work in the future. Proposes that more investigation-style laboratory work be provided in order to foster the development of students' investigation skills. (Author/MKR)

Describes Socratic Dialogue Inducing (SDI) laboratory methods and procedures developed to increase conceptual understanding in introductory physics laboratories. Gives an example of a typical beginning SDI lab manual section and a representative Socratic dialogue. Describes several examples of laboratory experiments developed for the SDI method.…

Conceptual change teaching is an instructional method that helps students modify, extend, or exchange their alternative conceptions for the appropriate scientific conceptions. Provides activities and a diagnostic test to apply the method to the concepts of heat and temperature. (MDH)

Discusses the advantages of using discrepant events in elementary school science classrooms in terms of motivation and problem solving skills. Describes the materials, procedures, and reasons behind five discrepant activities. (YP)

Discusses the importance of science education in early childhood education and describes different approaches in incorporating physics into the preschool curriculum. Provides examples of experiments and encourages parent participation in children's science activities. Concludes by looking at science as an equity issue and emphasizes that science…

Teaching creative thinking can be accomplished by activities in which the teacher asks questions of the students which require divergent thinking. The activities in this article do not require equipment, supplies or manipulatives. They consist of questions, possible student answers, and suggestions for follow-up. (CW)

Developmental changes in the understanding and use of the logic of experimental control were addressed with three tasks in a longitudinal study. In all three tasks, understanding of experimental control was assessed by production measures (children were asked to test potential causal relations in a multivariable situation) and by choice/evaluation…

Provided is an annotated bibliography of items of particular interest to science education. Items are arranged alphabetically by author (or in some cases by title) within each of the following sections: (1) techniques in the lab and field; (2) nature and evolution of science; (3) teaching strategies; (4) curriculum and examinations; (5) young…

Higher order cognitive development and success in the study of high school mathematics and science require an understanding of rational number concepts and facility with proportional reasoning and computation. Proportional reasoning is an essential schema for developing formal operational thought. This study involving 16 ninth-grade students was…

Early adolescents may lack the cognitive and metacognitive skills necessary for effective inquiry learning. In particular, they are likely to have a nonnormative mental model of multivariable causality in which effects of individual variables are neither additive nor consistent. Described here is a software-based intervention designed to…