Introduces one professor's endeavor, "Insect Fear Film Festival," to educate the public about entomology. Discusses some related topics and misconceptions. (YP)

Described is a lesson in which students are taught how to use a compass and determine where they are heading. Provided are detailed instructions, illustrations, reproducible task cards, additional activities, and an answer key. (RT)

Describes an activity which provides students with a concrete example of how isolines translate into daily weather maps. Outlines materials, procedures, and information needed for teaching the lesson. Includes an example of a map showing isotherms across the United States. (RT)

Discusses the response of journalists and scientists for overcoming the suspicion of scientific research among the general public. Provides some recommendations and lessons from successful national initiatives. (Author/YP)

Compared background and motivation of 82 high-achieving college women in engineering and science to those of 31 women in the humanities and social sciences. Areas of investigation included family composition and parental characteristics, childhood socialization, sources of support for career choice, and work characteristics. Significant…

Addresses some of the problems confronting curriculum writers who seek to interface Science-Technology-Society (STS) units into science. Describes an urban school program which has STS as a component and has been successful in keeping at-risk students motivated and achieving in attendance. (RT)

Describes biological competitions at the high school level in Poland. Argues that they can be used to enhance and maintain students' interest in the subject. (Author/YP)

Describes a science club at the high school level for promoting opportunities to apply the student's skills outside the classroom. Provides several tips for starting a club. (YP)

Describes a small-scale study of a course that placed emphasis on context- and activity-based science. The Salters' science course makes use of a wide range of learning strategies. Author concludes that pupils' interest and enthusiasm for school science may be increased through a combination of using pupil's everyday interests and employing a wide…

Discusses the effects of a three-week summer residential program on participating students' interest in science, decisions about college or university attendance, and choice of major. (Author/CCM)

Examines sixth grade students' (n=437) attitudes and experiences related to science. Finds significant gender differences in science experiences, attitudes, and perceptions of science courses and careers. (Contains 33 references.) (Author/WRM)

Describes four middle school African American girls' engagement with science. The girls were selected in the seventh grade because they expressed a fondness for science in school or because they had science-related hobbies outside of school. Finds that the girls' stories demonstrate the ways girls choose to engage in science and how this…

Interest is a powerful motivator; nonetheless, science educators often lack the necessary information to make use of the power of student-specific interests in the reform process of science curricula. This study suggests a novel methodology, which might be helpful in identifying such interests--using children's self-generated questions as an…

Parents' math and science-promotive behaviors predict children's activities and interest in these courses. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)

Two studies examined the roles of altruistic values, egalitarianism, self-efficacy, and perceptions of utility in shaping children's interest in scientific fields. In Study 1, middle school girls attending an intervention program ("n"=617) heard presentations by female scientists (expected to increase egalitarianism), engaged in hands-on science…