Presents an approach that can help students to understand what happens in an experiment. Uses overlapping transparencies of both the experiment and the analysis. Includes details of the experiment and transparency preparation. (DDR)

Finds that interpretation of Galileo's only known experimental manuscript produces some interesting questions that offer pedagogical applications. Promotes classroom "research games" consisting of reconstructed experiments with Galileo's inclined plane and with other instruments to allow further speculation. (Author/WRM)

Describes a safe but qualitative alternative to an experiment in which bullets are shot into wooden blocks from below, with some bullets hitting the blocks in the center and others off-center. Explains why the off-center blocks reach greater heights in spite of the fact that the bullet's energy is divided between translational and rotational…

Describes a "dry laboratory" using data from virtual rats to help students understand the hormonal regulation of gastrointestinal function. (Author/WRM)

Discusses the merits of the Spectrum Techniques gamma spectroscopy system as used by university students to determine the mass-energy of an electron from measurements of the energies of Compton-scattered gammas. (WRM)

Contends that mud dauber nests--which are widely available, safe, inexpensive, and easy to use--offer a novel and highly motivating way to teach ecological concepts to life science students at many grade levels. Presents background information for teachers, details classroom-tested methods for nest dissection, provides keys to nest contents, and…

Describes a laboratory exercise for undergraduate science students in which they evaluate soil samples for various parameters related to suitability for crop production and capability for retention of contaminants. (Contains 18 references.) (WRM)

Presents an activity that allows students to remove tarnish from silver using the reaction of tarnish with aluminum rather than the abrasion method of commercial tarnish removers. Makes suggestions for adapting the activity to an at-home investigation. (WRM)

Explains an activity in which students construct a simulated ice core. Materials required include only a freezer, food coloring, a bottle, and water. This hands-on exercise demonstrates how a glacier is formed, how ice cores are studied, and the nature of precision and accuracy in measurement. Suitable for grades three through eight. (Author/PVD)

Describes two simple laboratory exercises that allow students to test hypotheses concerning the requirement of cell energy for osmosis. The first exercise involves osmotically-caused changes in the length of potato tubers and requires detailed quantitative observations. The second exercise involves osmotically-caused changes in turgor of Elodea…

Describes an experiment in which groups of students in a plant tissue culture course worked together to test application of the Skoog-Miller model (developed by Skoog and Miller in regeneration of tobacco experiments to demonstrate organogenesis) to sweet potato root explants. (ZWH)

Describes a science experiment that gives students experiences with the float-sink phenomena and allows them to practice what Piaget called formal operational thinking. The goal of the experiment is to determine some of the variables responsible for cans of soda sinking or floating. (TJQ)

Explores pupils' (n=800) ideas about what scientists do, their more general knowledge about theories and how they change, and their impressions of how theory and experiment interact in the school science that they have experienced. Discusses teacher and out-of-school effects, gender, school work, and development with age. Contains 22 references.…

Argues that science education is a fundamental tool for global education and that it must be introduced in early years as a first step to a scientific culture for all. Describes testing validity of a didactic strategy for developing the learning of concepts, which was based upon an experimental work approach using everyday life contexts. (Author)

Advocates using computer-simulated learning environments to allow students to develop their own problem-solving rules when it comes to collecting and evaluating scientific data. Describes the use of "Identibacter interactus" to simulate identification of an unknown microorganism. (WRM)