Recent research indicated that teachers conceive and orient their teaching depending (among others things) on their conceptions about both the nature of science and the construction of the scientific knowledge. This is an important educational issue because the image generally held by students sees science simply as a rhetoric of conclusions.…

This paper documents a pilot study designed to explore the ideas of high school students regarding the nature and role of theories, an aspect of the nature of science (NOS) that continues to be problematic for students, teachers, and the general public. Although there is a much greater emphasis on the nature of science in standards documents,…

Many studies of college chemistry students have found a gap between students' success in solving computational chemistry problems and their success in solving conceptual chemistry problems. This paper examines college students' understanding of the concept of stoichiometry, the particulate nature of matter, and chemistry problem solving. This…

This paper presents three reasons why teachers should understand and actively use models and model building to frame science. First, science model building and testing is the heart of scientific enterprise, and understanding of the process is crucial for developing scientific literacy. Second, models are a familiar framework through which to…

Consistent with the current reform movement in science education, the purpose of this study was to examine how the introduction of an innovative curriculum influenced teachers' beliefs. Six teachers each implemented an Acids & Bases Curriculum Unit in a variety of middle school settings. The teachers were interviewed regarding their beliefs…

This paper discusses both the extent and manner in which the history of science is included in current secondary school physics textbooks. The study investigates what qualifies as history of science in a physics textbook; the focus, extent, and pervasiveness of the history of science content as it actually appears in a textbook; the focus of…

This study brings an anthropological perspective informed by sociolinguistic discourse analysis to examine how teachers, students, and scientists constructed ways of investigating and knowing science. The teaching and learning processes for a group of third grade students and how, in the following academic year, these same students drew upon their…

This paper describes a study of high school students' participation in the construction and revision of explanatory models as they attempted to account for a variety of inheritance phenomena observed in computer-generated "fruit flies". Throughout the course students were encouraged to explore epistemological issues related to the assessment and…

As both individuals and societies, we are making decisions today that will have profound consequences for future generations. From preserving Earth's plants and animals to altering our use of fossil fuels, none of these decisions can be made wisely without a thorough understanding of life's history on our planet through biological evolution.…

Discusses the physical principles underlying the design of a small scale suspension bridge, including its types and strength calculations. Included are the working equation and two formulas for determining the load per unit length. (CC)

Reviews theoretical principles underlying the quark model. Indicates that the agreement with experimental results and the understanding of the quark-quark force are two hurdles for the model to survive in the future. (CC)

Describes the collisional properties as a logically essential component of the ideal gas model since an actual intraparticle process cannot support observable anisotropic velocity distributions without collisions taken into account. (CC)