Presents classroom learning activities to help elementary teachers and students learn about and experiment with the sense of taste. One involves tasting an apple while smelling an onion; another involves locating areas of the tongue that respond to salt, sweet, bitter, and sour. (SM)

Describes an inexpensive, reproducible alternative assay that requires minimal preparation and equipment for water testing. It provides students with a direct method of detecting potentially biohazardous material in water by observing the reduction in bacterial luminescence. (PR)

Modifies a laboratory activity to ensure that consistencies exist between the laboratory objectives and the teacher's instructional goals (the constructivist learning theory). The changes are included in the article as well as a rationale for each change. (ZWH)

Describes the results of a study on the similarities and differences in laboratory tasks used in science education at upper secondary school and university level in the three main science subjects in seven European countries. Some differences are noted between the science subjects and educational levels, but the dominant impression of the analysis…

The purpose of this study was to examine how different inquiry experiences affect in-service science teachers' performance in terms of their questions and classroom actions. Teachers in a workshop experience proceeded through structured, guided, and full inquiry stations where materials to make foam were provided. Participants were 26 in-service…

OsmoBeaker is a CD-ROM designed to enhance the learning of diffusion and osmosis by presenting interactive experimentation to the student. The software provides several computer simulations that take the student through different scenarios with cells, having different concentrations of solutes in them.

The educational potential of non-linear systems is given surprisingly little attention in science education research--at least in research that links content matter and educational issues. The project on educational reconstruction of non-linear systems at the IPN has investigated the educational significance of threferring phenomena and the…

The enzyme orotidine-5'-monophosphate decarboxylase is an attractive choice for the central theme of an integrated, research-based biochemistry laboratory course. A series of laboratory exercises common to most instructional laboratories, including enzyme assays, protein purification, enzymatic characterization, elementary kinetics, and…

We describe our experience in building a remote laboratory for teaching magnetic domains. Fulfilling the proposed on-line experiments, students can observe and study magnetization processes that are often difficult to explain with written material. It is proposed that networks of remotely accessible laboratories could be integrated in the Global…

This study focused on differences between teacher-centred and learner-centred experiments in soil ecology. After a pilot study, we selected three experiments simple enough to be carried out by pupils even with little experience in self-determined learning and hands-on practice. The sample comprised 123 fifth and sixth graders from a middle school…

A reaction kinetics experiment for the chemical engineering undergraduate laboratory course was developed in which in-situ Fourier Transfer Infrared spectroscopy was used to measure reactant and product concentrations. The kinetics of the hydrolysis of acetic anhydride was determined by experiments carried out in a batch reactor. The results…

This paper describes the way in which the University of Lowell Instructional Network is being used to provide local schools with access to the university's facilities and faculty. The STAR (Science Teachers Accessing Resources) program is described in detail from its inception, through the planning stages, culminating in two-way television…

Investigations in Natural Science is a program in secondary school biology, chemistry, and physics based upon the description of science as a quest for knowledge, not the knowledge itself. This teaching guide is designed for use with the 19 chemistry investigations found in the student manual. These investigations focus on concepts related to:…

Investigations in Natural Science is a program in secondary school biology, chemistry, and physics based upon the description of science as a quest for knowledge, not the knowledge itself. This teaching guide is designed for use with the 36 physics investigations found in the student manual. These investigations focus on concepts related to:…