摘要:

AbstractAre student attitudes toward science‐technology‐society (TSS) affected by visitation to science‐technology museums? The purpose of this study was to determine whether such visitations affected student STS attitudes, and in what ways particular factors of the visitation impacted these attitudes. Factors examined included prior classroom experience with STS, instructional methodology employed by teachers, grade level, socioeconomic status, school type (public or private), and gender. The subjects involved in the study were 194 Kansas students in grades 6‐8, and their 13 classroom teachers. Data were collected via a pretest‐posttest control group design by using study‐specific questionnaires and the Moore‐SutmanScientific Attitudes Inventory.Results indicated that significant differences in attitudes were present between visiting and nonvisiting students and between grade levels. No significant differences were found between other factors. One possible conclusion is that sound pedagogy should be used prior to and during museum visitations as well as in

ISSN:0022-4308    

DOI:10.1002/tea.3660240702

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractTo test the hypothesis that adolescents classified as formal operational, based upon use of proportional reasoning on the “Pouring Water Task” (Lawson, Karplus,&Adi, 1978) have acquired the mental structures necessary to comprehend hypothetico‐deductive arguments of a pattern referred to as “reasoning to a contradiction,” while adolescents classified as concrete operational, based upon use of additive reasoning on the same task have not, a sample of 100 high school students were administered the task and three versions of a problem requiring use of reasoning to a contradiction before, immediately after, and one month after brief verbal instruction in use of that reasoning pattern. Results were generally supportive of the hypothesis as most of the concrete students failed the immediate and delayed posttest problems (62 and 80%, respectively) while most of the formal students succeeded (80 and 71%, respectively). Group differences were significant (p<.001) in both cases. These results suggest that, contrary to those who have argued that content plays a substantial role in logical performance, a general hypothetico‐deductive reasoning competence exists in some adolescents and is applicable across a wide variety of task domains. Science instruction which aims to teach this competence is

ISSN:0022-4308    

DOI:10.1002/tea.3660240703

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThe purpose of this descriptive study was to examine selected units of commonly used elementary science texts, using the Project Synthesis goal clusters as a framework for part of the examination. An inquiry classification scheme was used for the remaining segment. Four questions were answered: (1) To what extent do elementary science textbooks focus on each Project Synthesis goal cluster? (2) In which part of the text is such information found? (3) To what extent are the activities and experiments merely verifications of information already introduced in the text? (4) If inquiry is present in an activity, then what is the level of such inquiry?Eleven science textbook series, which comprise approximately 90 percent of the national market, were selected for analysis. Two units, one primary (K‐3) and one intermediate (4‐6), were selected for analysis by first identifying units common to most series, then randomly selecting one primary and one intermediate unit for analysis.Each randomly selected unit was carefully read, using the sentence as the unit of analysis. Each declarative and interrogative sentence in the body of the text was classified as: (1) academic; (2) personal; (3) career; or (4) societal in its focus. Each illustration, except those used in evaluation items, was similarly classified. Each activity/experiment and each miscellaneous sentence in end‐of‐chapter segments labelled “review,” “summary,” “evaluation,” etc., were similarly classified. Finally, each activity/experiment, as a whole, was categorized according to a four‐category inquiry scheme (confirmation, structured inquiry, guided inquiry, open inquiry).In general, results of the analysis are: (1) most text prose focuses on academic science; (2) most remaining text prose focuses on the personal goal cluster; (3) the career and societal goal clusters receive only minor attention; (4) text illustrations exhibit a pattern similar to text prose; (5) text activities/experiments are academic in orientation, almost to the exclusion of other goal clusters; (6) end‐of‐chapter sentences are largely academic; (7) inquiry is absent or present only in limited forms in text activities/experiments; and (8) texts allocate only a minor portion of space to activities/experiments. Detailed findings are given as numeral, percentage, and decimal values. Discussion focuses on the implications of the results and a comparison of NSTA recommendations with the

ISSN:0022-4308    

DOI:10.1002/tea.3660240704

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractPreliminary data (Bodner and McMillen, 1986) suggested a correlation between spatial ability and performance in a general chemistry course for science and engineering majors. This correlation was seen not only on highly spatial tasks such as predicting the structures of ionic solids (r= 0.29), but also on tasks such as multiple‐choice stoichiometry questions (r= 0.32) that might not be expected to involve spatial skills. To further investigate the relationship between spatial ability and performance in introductory chemistry courses, two spatial tests were given to 1648 students in a course for science and engineering majors (Carter, 1984) and 850 students in a course for students from nursing and agriculture (La‐Russa, 1985) at Purdue. Scores on the spatial tests consistently contributed a small but significant amount to success on measures of performance in chemistry. Correlations were largest, however, for subscores that grouped questions that tested problem solving skills rather than rote memory or the application of simple algorithms, and correlations were also large for verbally complex questions thaty required the students to disembed and restructure relevant informat

ISSN:0022-4308    

DOI:10.1002/tea.3660240705

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractScience education researchers have always sought to improve the quality of our nation's schools. One way of doing this is to make research findings on the teaching of science available to teachers. Perhaps an even more effective way is to plan research studies with teachers' interests in mind. The purpose of this study was to determine the science education research interests of elementary teachers and to examine the data according to certain demographic variables. The sample consisted of 553 elementary teachers in 98 schools from across the nation. The survey instrument contained 28 items, 16 of which were included on a survey instrument prepared by White et al. The data collected using the Likert‐type questionnaire were dichotomized as “1” important and “O” not important and were analyzed using the Cochran Test and the McNemar Test for post hoc comparisons. Results of the study indicate that the top five research interests of teachers in the order of preference are: hands‐on experiences, science content of the curriculum, cognitive development and learning styles, problem solving, and teaching strategies. The area of lowest interest was research on sex differences.Results of the survey have several important implications for science education. First, they can be used to help science educators plan research that may be of interest to elementary teachers. Second, they can be used by groups such as NSTA who publish research reviews, and by colleges and universities that prepare elementary teachers, as a guide to not only what is of interest to elementary teachers, but to identify those areas of research for which dissemination has b

ISSN:0022-4308    

DOI:10.1002/tea.3660240706

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0022-4308    

DOI:10.1002/tea.3660240707

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0022-4308    

DOI:10.1002/tea.3660240708

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0022-4308    

DOI:10.1002/tea.3660240701

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY