"Potemkin schools" is used as the phrase to capture what a US science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) public speciality high school becomes as a result of its institutional branding. By way of an examination of the efforts of one teacher drawn into school branding through his "inquiry-based reform" of an Advanced Chemistry course,…

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,…

Findings from a five-year study of the use of Level I of the Intermediate Science Curriculum Study in a suburban Philadelphia school district are reported and discussed. (PB)

The Science and Engineering Technician (SET) Curriculum is a two-year post-secondary curriculum designed to prepare technicians to use the electronic instruments which became available in the early 1970's as a result of advances in different fields of electronics. It is an interdisciplinary program of study which integrates elements from the…