In this commentary, I discuss how policy initiatives play out in two different contexts for elementary school teachers yet produce very similar outcomes regarding teachers' professional development and school science learning for elementary students. Ironically, the outcomes that we want see in elementary school science learning and professional…

The use of high stakes testing to improve educational outcomes falls short in many settings. Proposals for improvement include providing more opportunities for students to extend their thinking, gaining experience in the social nature of science, and learning how to interpret, explain, and justify results. This phenomenological qualitative project…

Implementation of science curriculum materials has been a fundamental challenge in science education for decades. Policy researchers have argued that alignment of standards, curriculum, and assessment are the key to supporting implementation. This paper focuses on teachers' perceptions of curricular alignment and on curriculum implementation using…

Introduces the project "Rekindling Traditions" which illustrates one modest way of addressing the underrepresentation of Aboriginal people in careers related to science, a situation that arises from a colonial type of science education. Integrates Western science content into a local community's Aboriginal Science. (Contains 85 references.)…

Describes the Bridges program which aims at forming bridges between teachers and students within districts and extending those bridges across district boundaries in the Los Angeles area while enhancing science instruction in the classroom. Discusses the planning, implementation, evaluation, and summary of the program. (JRH)

Surveys of curriculum changes of (n=163) colleges and universities offering 4-year undergraduate programs in geology found that 77% revised their major geology programs in the previous 3 years and 74% reported that the greatest incentive for change was concern about pedagogy. Includes survey. (MKR)

Believing that science could be used as a vehicle for increasing student achievement across the curriculum, seven science resource teachers in the South Carolina Lowcountry designed a professional development program funded through a Local Systemic Change grant from the National Science Foundation called Project Inquiry. Science notebooks, used in…

Presents an overview of current reform efforts in elementary and secondary science education. Discusses teaching strategies that promote scientific literacy, providing science-learning opportunities for all students, new assessment techniques, important aspects of science-teacher education, systemic reform programs sponsored by the National…

America is faced with making systemic changes in education that will insure continuance of her leadership role in the 21st century. In an effort to make changes toward the aforementioned reforms, the federal government has charged 16 participating Federal agencies with achieving goals that will ensure that all students learn to use their minds…

Describes a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project in which hands-on science became the predominant mode of instruction in a school district. Explores the effectiveness of the program and its implications for the future and the science supervisor. (KHR)

Presents a Public Health Service (PHS) program as a model for implementing the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) instructional program. Describes an ethical decision making framework designed to guide a discussion of issues surrounding the responsible conduct of research and facilitates the consideration of ethical choices in the context of…

Describes a wave of reforms set in motion by Nobel laureate Leo Esaki, to encourage industry to play a bigger role in graduate education through a new program that enables doctoral candidates to work in 31 participating corporate and government labs near the University of Tsukuba, Japan. (LZ)

Presents a brief description of the Dutch school system's structure. Describes the most important issues that have contributed to the development of physics education resulting from changes with respect to the physics curriculum, the final physics examination, and stimulation by a Dutch curriculum development project. (RT)

This document reports on a science education reform program sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The program is an attempt to overhaul the reform efforts of the Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, and participation in the project has been underway since 1994. Funds from the institute support teacher training in the use and…

This paper describes a project for upper elementary and middle school minority girl students called the Sisters in Sport Science (SISS). The SISS program addresses the needs of urban girls in gaining access to equal education in science and mathematics by using athletics as a vehicle for learning. The program provides a non-competitive and…