This study examined opinions toward research among biology faculty in Texas institutions of higher learning. The objectives of the study were to determine what the viewpoints of Texas biology faculty were toward research according to faculty rank and institutional type. Mailed questionnaire approach was used in this study to collect data.…

Various rural prevention research challenges have been articulated through a series of sessions convened since the mid 1990s by the National Institutes of Health, particularly the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Salient in this articulation was the need for effective collaboration among rural practitioners and scientists, with special…

Despite over 10 years of reform efforts, research still shows that students typically have inadequate conceptions of what science is and what scientists do. Many science students, as well as some teachers, use a single "scientific method" that, "proves a hypothesis" by systematic data collection. By following a prescribed set of steps, and writing…

To promote the use of scientific inquiry methods in K-12 classrooms, departments of teacher education must provide science teachers with experiences using such methods. To comply with state and national mandates, an apprenticeship course was designed to afford preservice secondary science teachers opportunities to engage in an authentic, extended,…

Researchers suggest that backlashes to feminism may appear in the form of pro-family campaigns. Social scientists have observed themes in the current pro-marriage movement to support this claim; others note historical cycles of pro-family backlash to feminism. This article is a sociohistorical analysis of texts from a leading organized advocate of…

Educators, students, and parents are among those who have stereotypical preconceived ideas about science and scientists. The study reports on a content analysis of graphic images in 303 of the "Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12" from the years 1973 through 2005. Using quantitative and qualitative content analysis, all of the images…

Instructional techniques based on research in cognitive science and physics education have been used in physics courses to enhance student learning. While dramatic increases in conceptual understanding have been observed, students enrolled in these courses tend to move away from scientistlike views of the discipline and toward novicelike views, as…

The artist and scientist have been depicted as polar opposites since Michelangelo claimed that Leonardo da Vinci was wasting time with foolish inventions while his art suffered. However, the artist taking on the role of the researcher has precedent. In the 1960s, Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), led by Bell Labs' engineer Billy Kluver,…

Relates the story of Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen and presents one view of the extent to which the discovery of the x-ray was an accident. Reconstructs the sequence of events that led to the discovery and includes photographs of the lab where he worked and replicas of apparatus used. (GS)

Retrieval of passages from documents rather than whole documents as units speeds both user access to wanted information and the screening out of false retrievals. Results of an experiment suggest that high quality passage retrieval services for scientists are now feasible. (Author/PF)

Author recalled simultaneously the scientific lives of Priestley, Franklin, Rumford, Davy, Faraday, and other investigators of "experimental philosophy" (what we now call chemistry), and the life of the Royal Institution, founded in 1797 to promote both research and its practical applications. (Editor/RK)

Highlights the differences in patent laws in different countries to illustrate the importance of searching foreign patents, indicates how patent searches should be tackled and what assistance is available from patent offices, searching organizations and commercial patent documentation services, and considers the probable effect of the Europatent…

This article records an interview with the chemist Lord Todd, who talks about his career, his views on the education of scientists, the changes in the approach to chemistry, and the future of chemistry. (DT)

This article describes a meeting in 1874, seen to be the origin of the American Chemical Society, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of Joseph Priestley's discovery of oxygen. The remainder of the article is concerned with Priestley's scientific contributions and their implications. (DT)

This article, based on a talk the author gave to the 'Innominates', an interdisciplinary faculty group at the University of Chicago, focuses on events of the years surrounding the British Expeditions to Brazil and West Africa in 1919 that led to the confirmation of Einstein's theory of relativity. (BT)