A long experience in undergraduate vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) process design projects is shared in this paper. The VCM process design is shown to be fully compliant with ABET 2000 criteria by virtue of its abundance in chemical engineering principles, integration of interpersonal and interdisciplinary skills in design, safety, economics, and…

This paper discusses the physical principles behind the flying ability of both kites and airplanes. This background material was developed for a program in which a Japanese kite maker conducts kite making and flying classes in the Japan School District Elementary Schools of the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS), Pacific Region. The…

Most physics problem-solving studies provide data that indicate problem representation is different between experts and novices. This paper presents "cognitive aids" guiding the process of elaboration of a problem representation through intermediate representations. Intermediate means that the representation is situated somewhere between…

A "Xenograde system" is an imaginary science system. As an imaginary science, it contains a set of concepts and principles which mimic many of the concepts and principles found in physics and other physical sciences. Xenograde is a highly complex closed system which simulates the movement of satellites orbiting a nucleus and some small particles…

Derives a systematic structure contributing to the solution of the quantum riddle in Einstein's sense by deducing quantum mechanics from the postulates of symmetry, correspondence, and covariance. Indicates that the systematic presentation is in agreement with quantum mechanics established by Schroedinger, Born, and Heisenberg. (CC)

It is useful to place the development of educational research within the context of the historical development of scientific research as a whole. The work of Whitehead, Northrop, Toulmin, and, especially, Kuhn suggests the value of viewing research as a social process through which ideas and intellectual techniques are diffused. It is useful for…

A proposal to monitor and summarize the experience that will be gained during the course of the ATS-F Education Satellite Communications Demonstration is described. The goals of the demonstration and the context in which it must be evaluated are discussed in an introduction. Subsequent sections deal with specific analytic approaches proposed, the…

Offers some basic energy education principles and provides an annotated list of instructional materials. (Author/MLF)

Educational research always implicitly subscribes to moral and philosophical commitments. It is always value-laden because research methods entail a commitment to some educational philosophy. To accept that philosophy and values cannot be expunged from educational research is not to concede that educational research cannot be a scientific pursuit.…

Over decades, a number of researchers in science curriculum and science teaching and learning have pointed out that the history of science plays a pivotal role in the achievement of science literacy. However, recent studies have shown that both practitioners and textbook writers often fail to deal with subjects such as history and philosophy of…

Philosophical analysis indicates that underlying much of the Western scientific world view is the metaphysical presupposition of duality, the claim being made that the world is made sense of in terms of either/or and in terms of polarities (e.g., light versus dark). By way of contrast, no concept is more important in Asian philosophical and…

Western culture's sense of reality has been shaped to a large extent by a mechanistic science world view. Such a viewpoint still dominates the thinking promoted by school science. Quantum theory is the most successful physical theory that has been conceptualized, yet Newtonian thought is still one of the main pillars on which the present-day…

This study was designed to examine preservice elementary teachers' beliefs about the nature of science, document changes in these beliefs over the duration of a year-long science methods course and embedded teaching practicum, and assess the impact of these beliefs on their classroom practice (Bright, 2001). The pre-test and post-test case study…

This digest reviews information in the science education literature on teaching about societal issues in science classes. Reasons for including a discussion of social issues in science classrooms are given, and instructional approaches for teaching about science and society are presented. Several Internet resources related to teaching about…

Discusses the use of a simple computer exercise to derive a general law for simple pendulum phenomena with square-law damping. Indicates that less mathematical skills are requires in the computer treatment than in the analytical treatment.