Presents a guide to the critical components of partnerships in Students/Scientist Partnerships (SSPs), a project-based instruction. Uses examples from the Forest Watch (FW) program to support the ideas. Focuses on access to experts, workshops, training sessions, student congresses, support materials and research protocols, science education…

Presents seven classroom practices for beginning and senior science teachers. Categories include community, curriculum, constructivist connections, confidence, competence, computers, and caring. (YDS)

A middle school science teacher describes the learning and thinking processes of his class as they worked and played with pendulums and learned to build a swing that could tell time. The article illustrates how students can learn the value of the scientific method for problem solving. (DB)

Discusses the role of writing about problem solving in the development of mathematics and science skills. Provides examples of student writing in math and science to show students' enhanced engagement and cognitive awareness. (JPB)

Describes a field course targeting a combination of university undergraduates and K-12 teachers, emphasizing development of participants' problem-solving skills, and assessing the effectiveness of several non-traditional teaching methods. Teaches participants to develop and test their own ideas. (Contains 19 references.) (Author/YDS)

Compared the impact of robotics (computer-powered manipulative) to a battery-powered manipulative (novelty control) and traditionally taught science class on science achievement and problem solving of fourth through sixth graders. Found that the robotics group had higher scores on programming logic-problem solving than did the novelty control…

Describes an experimental system based on an engineered strain of bakers' yeast that is designed to involve students in the process by which scientific knowledge is generated. Students are asked to determine why the yeast grow to form a reproducible pattern of red and white. (WRM)

Describes an activity in which students construct relationships between their leg lengths, stride lengths, and movements in order to estimate the speeds of the dinosaurs that made various fossilized tracks. (WRM)

Describes a cooperative, interactive problem-solving exercise for studying eukaryotic cell structure and function. Highlights the dynamic aspects of movement through the cell. Contains 15 references. (WRM)

The National Research Council has suggested that science classes need to become more active and authentic. To help with this effort, Thayer Model Engineering was created several years ago as an inquiry science course at Champlain Valley Union High School in Hinesburg, Vermont. In this school, the students apply the Thayer Model--a four-step…

This laboratory exercise encourages upper level biochemistry students to build and expand upon previously developed laboratory skills and knowledge as they conduct a comparison of two methods of plasmid preparation based upon cost, quality of product, production time, and environmental impact. Besides creating an environment that mimics a more…

In traditional science teaching, teachers expect the average student to implicitly learn and apply subtle concepts and to connect seemingly disjointed information. Teachers expect them to actively assemble the building blocks of critical thinking, often without example (Meyers 1986). The critical analysis of issues and problems is second nature to…

This study was an attempt to identify the epistemological roots of knowledge when students carry out hands-on experiments in physics. We found that, within the context of designing a solution to a stated problem, subjects constructed and ran thought experiments intertwined within the processes of conducting physical experiments. We show that the…

This study examines the effects of teaching Linkage and Problem Translating Skills on students' problem-solving performance and their learning of the five cognitive variables namely, Concept Relatedness, Idea Association, Problem Translating Skill, Non-Specific but Relevant Knowledge and Specific Knowledge. Seventy three Grade 9 (Secondary 3)…

The aim of this study on 42 seventh graders (ages 12-13) was to determine whether and to what extent students' metacognitive level is inked to their conceptualization and performance in problem solving at school, especially science problems. This hypothesis is supported by a number of studies showing that metacognition is a factor in learning. Two…