bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The effect of imagery generation on science rule learning
Authors: McIntosh William J. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThis study was designed to investigate the effect of teacher‐induced imagery generation on rule recall and transfer. The independent variables were the degree of imagery encouragement during instruction and the reported utilization of images while performing problem solving tasks on a criterion test. The dependent variable was scores on the criterion test. The results of the study indicate that imagery utilization significantly facilitates rule recall and also that imagery encouragement during instruction leads to significant rule transfer gains for low imagery students. The implications of these findings for teaching are addressed.
Exploring relationships among four science teaching‐learning affective attributes of sixth grade students
Authors: Harty Harold , Samuel K. V. , Beall Dwight 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThe intent of this study was to investigate possible relationships among the constructs of attitudes toward science, interest in science, science curiosity, and self‐concept of science ability. Data were collected from 228 sixth‐grade students by way of four Likert‐type instruments, each of which measured a given attribute. Statistical procedures included univariate and multivariate analysis of variance, product‐moment correlations, canonical correlations, multiple regression analysis, and factor analysis. The results indicated that attitudes toward science, interest in science, and science curiosity are highly related. Implications for classroom science teaching and suggestions for future research have also been discussed.
Research interests of secondary science teachers
Authors: Gabel Dorothy L. , Samuel K. V. , Helgeson Stanley , Novak Joseph , Butzow John 
Published: October 2006

AbstractIn the past few years, science educators and the nation at large have become increasingly concerned about the “Crisis in Science Education.” An underlying cause of this crisis is the nonuniform quality of instruction delivered by secondary science teachers. One way to improve the quality of teaching in the schools is the application of science education research findings to teaching. Most teachers are unaware of the research findings and/or do not apply them in their classrooms. This study helps determine the areas of research which are of greatest interest to secondary science teachers. Results will be used by NSTA to determine the contents of future volumes of the monograph What Research Says to the Science Teacher. A random sample of 600 secondary science teachers was obtained from the National Registry of NSTA. Teachers were sent a 23 item questionnaire that asked them to rate their interest in each research topic on a five point scale. The questionnaire contained the 12 items prepared by a NARST‐NSTA committee in 1979 and an additional 11 items using the same format. Demographic data collected from the survey included sex, teaching assignment, role in school, type of school, type of community, years of teaching experience, and familiarity with What Research Says. … Data were analyzed using this demographic data as well as according to whether teachers returned the original or a follow‐up questionnaire. Teachers who returned the first questionnaire had basically the same preferences as those who returned the follow‐up questionnaire. Sixty percent of the teachers completed the questionnaire in usable form. Overall results of the study based on both frequency of response and on mean rating indicate that the following five topics are of greatest interest to secondary science teachers: laboratory experiences, motivational techniques, effect on college courses, problem solving, and meaningful learning. Analysis of data according to the subject taught indicated that chemistry and physics teachers are more interested in problem solving than biology teachers, and that chemistry, physics, and earth science teachers are also interested in the sequence of the content. Males and females had the same top five interests but in a different order. The same is true for teachers of grades 7–9 versus grades 10–12. Rural teachers preferences varied substantially from those in other settings and differences were also found for teachers familiar with What Research Says … compared to the rest of the sample. For every classification of teacher, the area of least interest was sex difference research.
Human and machine diagnosis of scientific problem‐solving abilities
Authors: Good Ron , Kromhout Robert , Bandler Wyllis 
Published: October 2006

AbstractDiagnosis of the problem‐solving state of a novice student in science, by an accomplished teacher, is studied in order to build a computer system that will simulate the process. Although such “expert” systems have been successfully developed in medicine (MYCIN, INTERNIST/CADUCEUS), very little has been accomplished in science education, even though there is a reasonably close parallel between expert medical diagnosis of patients with physiological problems and expert instructional diagnosis of students with learning problems. The system described in this paper, DIPS: Diagnosis for Instruction in Problem Solving, involves a new line of research for science educators interested in interdisciplinary efforts and ways in which computer technology might be used to better understand how to improve science learning. The basic architecture of the DIPS system is outlined and explained in terms of instruction and research implications, and the role of such “intelligent” computer systems in science education of the future is considered.
Teaching hands‐on science activities: Variables that moderate attitude‐behavior consistency
Authors: Koballa Thomas R. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThe relationship between prospective elementary teachers' attitudes, subjective norms, and intentions to teach science using hands‐on activities at least twice a week during their first year of employment was investigated. The findings suggest that measuring prospective teachers' attitudes toward science cannot adequately predict nor provide a satisfactory explanation of their science teaching behaviors. The findings also provide clear support for two hypotheses derived from Fishbein and Ajzen's theory of reasoned action regarding the predictability of prospective teachers' intentions to teach science from their attitudes and subjective norms.
Student gain in reasoning ability as a function of teacher reasoning level and teaching style preference
Authors: Lawrenz Frances , Lawson Anton E. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThis study examines the effect of teacher reasoning level (i.e., concrete versus formal) and teaching style preference (i.e., inquiry vs. expository) on improvement in student reasoning ability. A random sample of fourth and seventh grade teachers and their students were selected to participate over one school year. Students completed a reasoning test in the early fall and late spring. Teachers completed two instruments in the Spring, a reasoning test and a teaching style preference questionnaire. Students of concrete operational teachers showed greater gains in reasoning ability than students of formal operational teachers while students of inquiry teachers showed slightly greater gains than students of expository teachers. Possible explanations are discussed as are suggestions for future research.
Predicting elementary science learning using national assessment data
Authors: Welch Wayne W. , Walberg Herbert J. , Fraser Barry J. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThis study made use of data collected during 1981—1982 from a random sample of 1960 nine‐year‐old students from 124 elementary schools involved in a national assessment of educational progress in science sponsored by the National Science Foundation. This data base was used in secondary analyses which probed the validity of a model of educational productivity involving a set of nine aptitudinal, instructional, and environmental variables which require optimization to increase student learning. When controlled for other factors, ability, motivation, class environment, home environment, amount of television viewing (negative direction), gender, and race were all found to be significantly related to achievement. For an attitude outcome, the factors linked with attitudinal attainment were ability, motivation, class environment, and race. Overall the findings supported the model of educational productivity and suggested that elementary science students' achievement and attitude are influenced jointly by a number of factors rather than one or two dominant ones. Also the study attests to the potential value of science education researchers performing secondary analyses on the high‐quality random data bases generated as part of this national assessment.
Cognitive strategies used by chemistry students to solve volumetric analysis problems
Authors: Anamuah‐Mensah J. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThe study investigated the strategies used by 47 high school students to solve volumetric analysis problems in chemistry. Using the talking‐aloud technique, the students were required to calculate the concentration of hydrochloric acid used in a titration with NaOH after having performed the titration themselves. Students were met individually and their verbalization audiotaped. After making this calculation, each student was asked to use the same data to predict the concentration of acid in three situations involving different mole ratios. It was found that two main strategies, Formula Approach and Proportional Approach with their variants, were employed by the students during the problem solving process. The Formula Approach was found to be used mainly by the students in the high ability group while students in the low ability group used the Proportional Approach. It was also found that problems involving 2:1 stoichiometric ratios presented a number of conceptual problems to the students. These conceptual problems were found to be related to their inability to write balanced equations or write correct formulas, focusing on only the strength of acid, inability to use the mole ratios in the calulations and deriving the mole ratios from the formulas of reactants.
Does the presentation style of questions inserted into text influence understanding and retention of science concepts?
Authors: Leonard William H. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThe purpose of this research was to determine the relative effects of the presentation style of questions inserted into text materials for students in university introductory biology. The sample was randomly assigned to seven treatment groups of approximately equal size and read a 2,354‐word passage on bacterial adaptations taken from a popular university general biology textbook. Experimental treatment groups read the same passage with (1) questions placed at the beginning of selected paragraphs and with the questions presented with (2) underlining, (3) in uppercase, (4) set above the paragraph, (5) underlined and set above, and (6) set above in uppercase respectively. The criterion variable was a 20‐item multiple‐choice exam with five possible answers per question given once to all students immediately after they read the passage and again exactly four weeks later. Presentation strategy groups were contrasted against the reading without questions groups. Four of the six groups reading with questions at the beginning of the paragraph scored significantly higher on the test given immediately after the reading than the group reading without questions. There were no significant differences between any of the group scores for the test given four weeks after reading. Other differences in results between these strategies and implications for text writers are discussed.
The effect of real‐time laboratory graphing on learning graphic representations of distance and velocity
Authors: Brasell Heather 
Published: October 2006

AbstractExtended Microcomputer‐Based Laboratory (MBL) experience has been shown to be effective in improving middle‐school students' graphing skills. This study reports evidence that a treatment period as short as a single class period with a motion MBL unit was sufficient for high school physics students to improve their comprehension of distance and velocity graphs when compared with a pencil‐and‐paper graph‐construction control treatment. Most of the improvement appears to be attributable to the real‐time graphing feature of the MBL. A delay of only 20–30 seconds in displaying the graphed data inhibited nearly all of the learning.
Some benefits of creating macro‐contexts for science instruction: Initial findings
Authors: Sherwood Robert D. , Kinzer Charles K. , Bransford John D. , Franks Jeffery J. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThe national concern over the development of higher order thinking and problem solving skills reinforces the assumption that science education must involve more than the mere memorization of factual content. Nevertheless, research also indicates that effective thinking and problem solving depends on the availability of domain‐specific knowledge, hence science content cannot be ignored. Our goal in this paper is to present initial data indicating that learning can be enhanced when information is presented in the context of video‐based macro‐contexts that illustrate how science information can be used to solve meaningful problems. The experiments show positive results through simple uses of technology. The results suggest that more sophisticated uses of technology, especially computer‐controlled interactive videodisc technology, would have even greater benefits on comprehension and learning in science. We discuss what some of these more sophisticated uses might be.
The four‐card problem resolved? Formal operational reasoning and reasoning to a contradiction
Authors: Lawson Anton E. 
Published: October 2006

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 recommended.
Science education research interests of elementary teachers
Authors: Gabel Dorothy , Samuel K. V. , Helgeson Stanley , McGuire Saundra , Novak Joseph , Butzow John 
Published: October 2006

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 been lacking.
The influence of role‐specific self‐concept and sex‐role identity on career choices in science
Authors: Baker Dale R. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractDespite much effort on the part of educators the number of females who choose science careers remains low. This research focuses on two factors which may be influencing females in their choice of careers. These factors are role‐specific self‐concept in science and self perception in terms of stereotypical masculine and feminine characteristics. In addition logical ability and mathematics and science courses were also examined as factors in career choice. Females preferring science related careers and females preferring nontraditional careers such as police, military and trades were found to have a positive role‐specific self‐concept and a masculine perception of themselves. Females preferring traditional careers such as teacher or hairdresser had a poor role‐specific self‐concept and a more feminine perception of themselves. Males as a group were found to have a more positive role‐specific self‐concept than females. Logical ability was also related to a science career preference for both males and females. Males expected to take more higher level math courses than females, while females preferring science careers expected to take the most higher level science courses.
Decision making: Influence of features and presentation mode upon generation of alternatives
Authors: Heath Phillip A. , White Arthur L. , Berlin Donna F. , Park John C. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractDecision making can be defined as the process of making reasoned choices among alternatives based upon judgments consistent with the values of the decision maker. Models describing decision making generally include: identification of the problem, collection of relevant information, generation of alternatives, identification of consequences of alternatives, and selection of alternatives. This research focuses on the ability of children to generate alternatives in decision‐making tasks. The problem was to determine the differential effects of the number of features of a decision‐making situation in interview and computer‐simulation modes on the number of alternatives children generate. The study involved 208 children with equal numbers of 2nd and 4th grade boys and girls. Each child responded to three decision‐making situations either in an interview or computer‐simulation mode. The three situations varied on the number of features of the award objects. An increase in the number of features (color) of the award objects (jelly beans) in a decision‐making situation increased the number of alternatives generated. The children in this study generated more alternatives in the interview setting than with the computer simulation.
Student perceptions on the conditions of learning the proportion concept in canadian upper secondary science (physics, chemistry, biology) classes; results from the second international science study (S.I.S.S.) in Canada
Authors: Menis Joseph H. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractCorrelates of Canadian upper secondary science students' achievement in the proportion concept were studied from data collected as part of Canada's participation in the Second IEA Science Study. Average class achievement on 14 items concerning the proportion concept was calculated and related to students' reports of teachers' instructional approaches. The study analysis revealed that classes where the proportion content was well covered by the teachers demonstrated higher achievements. Students whose teachers perceived as making science relevant and interesting did well on the test items, and the use of lab work and being task oriented were also related to students' higher achievement.
Instructional objectives: What effects do they have on students' attitudes towards integrated science?
Authors: Olarewaju Adedayo O. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThe effect of instructional objectives on students' attitudes towards integrated science was investigated in this study. The sample consisted of 291 class one (seventh grade) students who were pretested before being exposed to the experimental situations. There were two experimental groups (objective and no objective) and a control group. A posttest was administered after the completion of the treatment. Results showed that the experimental groups had more favorable attitudes towards integrated science than the control group; the no objective group had better attitudes than the objective group. There was no significant effect due to the type of school or sex of the students. Implications for science teaching are considered.
Successful and unsuccessful problem solving in classical genetic pedigrees
Authors: Smith Mike U. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractUsing the think‐aloud interview technique, 16 undergraduates and 11 genetics graduate students and biology faculty members were asked to solve from 1 to 3 classical genetics problems which require pedigree analysis. Subjects were classified as either successful or unsuccessful and the performances of these groups were analyzed from videotaped recordings of the interviews. A number of previously reported findings were corroborated. Additional observations are discussed in terms of genetic knowledge, use of production rules, strategy selection, use of critical cues, hypothesis testing, use of logic, understanding of issues of probability, and the thinking process itself. Taken collectively, these findings evidence a remarkable similarity between the successful solution of pedigree problems and the processes of medical diagnosis and scientific investigation. This convergence of research findings suggests a qualitative advance in the understanding of problem solving. Based on this understanding, recommendations for classroom instruction are presented.