Suggestions for instructional improvement are offered for science teachers in this compilation of research summaries on specific areas of science education. This series examines the topic areas of: (1) higher-order cognitive skills (focusing on developing operational definitions and classification schemes for cognitive skills); (2) microcomputers…

Designed to serve as a means of communication among life science educators who anticipate or are currently using microcomputers as an educational tool, these four volumes of newsletters provide background information and practical suggestions on computer use in over 80 articles. Topic areas include: (1) teaching physiology and other life sciences…

One aim of this study was to identify, in a group of unsuccessful college level problem solvers, the status and use of their declarative knowledge as revealed by students' attempts to solve novel problems in a pencil-and-paper setting. It was hypothesized that for some unsuccessful problem solvers, their problem representation could be improved by…

To increase the connection between educational research and educational practice, a process called "curriculum reformulation" was used to incorporate recent advances in research on learning and instruction into science classroom experiences. The cognitive demands of a thermodynamics curriculum were successively refined while maintaining…

The Scientific Theory and Method Project (STAMPS) is concerned with students' understanding of two areas of science in secondary schools. One is understanding what a scientific theory is, and the other is understanding the methods used in conducting scientific research. In the science curriculum these topics are often described as the process of…

The target of difficulty of the Educational Technology Center (ETC) Heat and Temperature Group is basic thermal physics, particularly the differentiation between heat and temperature. High school teachers often find that thermal concepts are very difficult for their students to master and attribute students' difficulties at least in part to the…

This material describes a fossil-building activity using sea shells, chicken bones, and plaster for grade one through three students. Related process skills, vocabulary, computer principles, time requirements, and materials are listed. Two methods of building the fossils are discussed. After building the fossils, classes may be divided into pairs…

The purpose of this guide is to give teachers and supervisors a working knowledge of various approaches to enhancing pupil learning about computer science, particularly through the use of Pascal. It contains instructional units dealing with: (1) computer components; (2) computer languages; (3) compilers; (4) essential features of a Pascal program;…

The purpose of the research was to manipulate two aspects of genetics instruction in order to measure their effects on college, introductory biology students' achievement in genetics. One instructional sequence that was used dealt first with monohybrid autosomal inheritance patterns, then sex-linkage. The alternate sequence was the reverse.…

This investigation focuses upon the question of: (1) how naive subjects organize and represent knowledge when solving problems; (2) how previous experience of a novice is used in solving a problem; (3) what kinds of information and knowledge are sought as well as overlooked by novices when solving problems; (4) what kinds of strategies novices…

Turtle graphics is a popular vehicle for introducing children to computer programming. Children combine simple graphic commands to get a display screen cursor (called a turtle) to draw designs on the screen. The purpose of this study was to examine young children's abilities to function in a simple computer programming environment. Four- and…

Reports on a study that examined and compared the cognitive effectiveness of a traditional hands-on laboratory exercise with a computer-simulated program on the same topic. Sought to determine if coupling these formats would provide optimum student comprehension. Suggests hands-on exercises be followed by computer simulations as postlaboratory…

Provides a series of short articles about various uses of computers and courseware in teaching chemistry. Addresses topics such as a programming utility for animation, an organic synthesis program, a program for the allocation of organic qualitative analysis of unknowns, color images of molecules, and enhancing spreadsheet capabilities. (TW)

Describes a teaching strategy designed to help high school students learn mechanics by involving them in simple experimental work, observing didactic films, running computer simulations, and executing more complex laboratory experiments. Provides an example of the strategy as it is applied to the topic of projectile motion. (TW)

Describes a computer simulation which deals with the Werner-Jorgensen controversy from the standpoint of Kuhn's description of scientific change. Encourages the use of such instructional approaches to introduce general chemistry students to the process of science, including how (1) theories develop, (2) change occurs, and (3) scientists behave.…