Laboratory and practical courses, where students become familiar with experimental techniques and learn to interpret data and relate them to appropriate theory, play a vital role in chemical education. In the large panoply of currently available techniques, it is difficult to find a rational and easy way to classify the techniques in relation to…

Assessment of and for learning has occupied center stage in education reform, especially with the advent of the No Child Left Behind Federal legislation. This study examined the formative function of assessment--assessment for learning--recognizing that such assessment needs to be aligned, at least in part, with the summative function of…

Reforms such as technology-enhanced instruction require principal leadership. Yet, many principals report that they need help to guide implementation of science and technology reforms. We identify strategies for helping principals provide this leadership. A two-phase design is employed. In the first phase we elicit principals' varied ideas about…

The rapid growth of biotechnology knowledge during the past decades has made it necessary to rethink the contents of the school curriculum and has provoked a consideration of the ethical and social issues related to the use of biotechnological applications. With the financial assistance of the European Union, the European Initiative for…

Educational efforts to incorporate ethical decision-making in science classrooms about current science and technology issues have met with great challenges. Some research suggests that the inherent complexity in both the subject matter content and the structure and dynamics of classrooms contribute to this challenge. This study seeks to…

While it is well known which curricular practices can improve student performance on measures of conceptual understanding, the sustaining of these practices and the role of faculty members in implementing these practices are less well understood. We present a study of the hand-off of "Tutorials in Introductory Physics" [McDermott and Schaffer…

The advent of the global information society and a myriad of other rapidly changing variables are presenting many new and unique challenges for the twenty-first century workforce, and perhaps the most pressing of these challenges is actually meeting the needs for qualified workers to fill the positions in emerging and growing fields. One such…

The authors engaged in an education experiment to determine if the integration of lab and lecture activities in zoology and botany proved beneficial to student learning and motivation toward biology. Their results revealed that this strategy positively influenced students' academic achievement, conceptual understanding, and ability to apply…

An emerging body of research suggests that a set of broad "21st century skills"--such as adaptability, complex communication skills, and the ability to solve non-routine problems--are valuable across a wide range of jobs in the national economy. However, the role of K-12 education in helping students learn these skills is a subject of current…

The use of interactive computer graphics in an undergraduate science curriculum is explored. (Author)

The article reviews the current status of special curriculum for gifted learners and proposes a new perspective for the development of mathematics and science curriculum at grades 6-12. Recognition of the need for accelerated content within a conceptual framework that incorporates principles of current technology is emphasized. (Author/CL)

This document describes science benchmarks for grades K-8 in Earth and Space Science, Life Science, and Physical Science. Each subject area is divided into topics followed by a short content description and grade level information. Source documents for this paper included science content guides from California, Ohio, South Carolina, and South…