This collection of essays offers new perspectives for science educators, curriculum theorists, and cultural critics on science education, French post-structural thought, and the science debates. This book contains chapters on the work of Bruno Latour, Michael Serres, and Jean Baudrillard plus chapters on postmodern approaches to science education…

This study assesses the influence of a philosophy of science course a preservice secondary science teachers' view of the nature of science; perceptions of teaching about the nature of science in future classrooms; and instructional planning related to the nature of science. It was exploratory and interpretive in nature. Data collection was…

This paper examines and tests the assumptions that a curriculum which adequately portrays instructional strategies (related to teaching the nature of science, science curricular content, and teachers' views of the nature of science) will increase students' understanding of the nature of science. This study was conducted over a 16-week period. A…

The focus of this study is an eight-week science enrichment mentorship program for elementary and middle school girls (ages 8 to 13) at Coleson Village, a public housing community, in an urban area of western Washington. The goal of the program was to build confidence and encourage creativity as the participants discovered themselves as competent…

This paper discusses the traditional lecture-based instruction method. Strong experimental evidence suggests that social context affects knowledge construction and depends on prior knowledge. Engagement in the inquiry process using constructivist viewpoints can make the characteristics of science, scientific knowledge, and scientific method easy…

Presented are the results documenting the proof-of-concept effectiveness of an 8-day afterschool professional development program through which secondary science teachers learned to implement an instructional method using historical cases in biology to teach nature of science concepts. Results of the study using a variety of quantitative and…

Reviews theoretical and experimental fundamentals of Einstein's theory of general relativity. Indicates that recent development of the theory of the continually expanding universe may lead to revision of the space-time continuum of the finite and unbounded universe. (CC)

General biology courses should be planned and taught in colleges according to widely accepted theories and laws of biology. A list of 24 such principles is provided around which general biology courses could be structured. (PS)

Consideration of relative oxidizing/reducing strength is greatly facilitated when this topic is presented in terms of transfer of one or more electrons between members of a conjugate redox pair. (DF)

History, design, and evaluations are presented for electrostatic motors. Illustrations. Bibliography. (DS)