Just as science education is too often limited to the acquisition of facts, technology education is too often limited to proficient use of technology. Neither of these goals fully realize a robust definition of science and technology literacy. To achieve greater science and technology literacy, students must understand the natures of both science…

This paper considers the adoption of general science courses in two Canadian provinces, Ontario and Quebec, during the 1930s. In Ontario, a few science teachers had followed the early general science movements in the United States and Britain with interest. During the 1930s, several developments made the cross-disciplinary, applied thrust of…

Funding agencies in Canada are attempting to break down the organizational boundaries between disciplines to promote interdisciplinary research and foster the integration of the social sciences into the health research field. This paper explores the extent to which biomedical and clinician scientists' perceptions of social science research operate…

The Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) is designed to support undergraduate students' professional development as future scientists. Juniors, seniors, and postbaccalaureates who attended ABRCMS during 2008-2011 were emailed a link to an online questionnaire in which they reported their experiences at the…

What early experiences attract students to pursue an education and career in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)? Does hands-on research influence them to persevere and complete a major course of academic study in STEM? We evaluated survey responses from 149 high school and undergraduate students who gained hands-on research…

Since long time ago, many authors advocated for more presence of physics history in physics teaching and learning in order to give students a better vision of the "nature of science", in other words, to let them learn not only established physics knowledge but also the ways of how physicists managed to get that knowledge. Generally,…

According to a report released in 2005, titled "Rising Above the Gathering Storm," there is a critical priority to develop, recruit, and retain top students, scientists, and engineers to maintain U.S. economic competitiveness in response to rapid globalization. To improve our global competitiveness, the U.S. must retain individuals from…

Children have laser-like attention for everything teachers do and say. They are skillful social scientists, learning about themselves, relationships, and the world by carefully observing the people around them. As keen observers, children notice the smallest details of a teacher's body language, tone of voice, and movements. Teachers' interactions…

It is frequently said that a good teacher will spice up their lessons with anecdotes and stories associated with the subject as these help to bring the subject alive. This is true in teaching radioactivity but it is not always easy to find a useful fund of stories--especially for a non-specialist. Paula Kennedy shares the stories and anecdotes…

In 2007, the Women in Physics Group of the Institute of Physics initiated the Very Early Career Woman Physicist of the Year Award. The award seeks to recognise the outstanding achievements of women physicists who are embarking on a career in physics and to promote the career opportunities open to people with physics qualifications. The prize is…

Understanding the nature of science (NOS)--what science is and how it works, the assumptions that underlie scientific knowledge, how scientists function as a social group, and how society impacts and reacts to science--is prominent in science education reform documents (Rutherford and Ahlgren 1990; AAAS 1993; McComas and Olson 1998; NRC 1996; AAAS…

Scientific synthesis has transformed ecological research and presents opportunities for advancements across the sciences; to date, however, little is known about the antecedents of success in synthesis. Building on findings from 10 years of detailed research on social interactions in synthesis groups at the National Center for Ecological Analysis…

Purpose: The objective was to identify and understand the factors involved in scientists' selection of preferred bioinformatics tools, such as databases of gene or protein sequence information (e.g., GenBank) or programs that manipulate and analyse biological data (e.g., BLAST). Methods: Eight scientists maintained research diaries for a two-week…

We present an innovative course-based undergraduate research experience curriculum focused on the characterization of single point mutations in p53, a tumor suppressor gene that is mutated in more than 50% of human cancers. This course is required of all introductory biology students, so all biology majors engage in a research project as part of…

This study argues that student-centred methods in the teaching of physics can be beneficial for students' enculturation into the discipline and into a physicist's profession. Interviews conducted with academics and students from six master degrees in physics in three different European countries suggest that student-driven classroom activities,…