The problem of this study is to determine the relationships between (1) growth in interest and achievement of high school science students and (2) attitudes, preparation, and experience of science teachers. The study encompasses grades nine through twelve, inclusive, in a sample of Texas accredited public high schools.

The problem of this study was to analyze the answers given by four groups (grade levels) of elementary school children and one group of adults (college freshmen) to direct questions regarding natural phenomena, to classify their explanations, to determine the methods and types of explanations used by these groups when they explain typical natural phenomena, and to compare these findings with the results of other investigators, especially Jean Piaget and Mervin E. Oakes.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of using verbal analogies in teaching ninth-grade physical science. The experiment is designed to determine if teaching by analogies is more effective than conventional methods of teaching, and to ascertain the effect of analogies on achievement for different ability levels in different subject areas of physical science.

This study tries to delineate the paradigms of opinion among Colombian Computer Industrialists with respect to the role of informatics in national development especially (1) their estimation of the performance of the informatics in the modernization process, (2) the perceptions on which this attitude was based, (3) their ability to integrate the informatics instruction into the development process, (4) their ability to establish the need of doctoral programs in informatics into the development process, and (5) their ability to recognize the importance of the network communication as a medium of knowledge exchange among higher education institutions.

The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze secondary science education curriculum and instruction trends for the period 1953-1992 by using the technique of content analysis to examine a representative portion of journal articles and policy statements in secondary science education. Two major science publications, The Science Teacher and Science Education, were selected for analysis.

The purpose of this study was to test a teacher inservice training model which was designed to increase the number and use of hands-on science activities, increase the number of times teachers teach science, and improve students' perceptions of science.

The primary purpose of this study was to compare regular classroom instruction which used Guided Mental Imagery (GMI) to a non-GMI teaching method. This comparison was expected to yield data which would provide insights relating to the potential of GMI as a useful and effective instructional strategy. Quasi-experimental research methods were followed. The experimental design was a modified "post-test only control group design." Two-hundred-four students in naturally occurring in tact classes formed the experimental and control groups. All groups received instruction in identical science/health content. Two parallel post-tests were administered to all students. Post-test "A" was given immediately after instruction to measure learning acquisition. Post-test "B" was given four weeks later to measure retention of learning. Means for test scores were grouped according to treatment and sub-grouped by the variables: IQ, handedness, identified learning disability, and intellectual giftedness. T_ tests for differences between independent means were conducted. Students' acquisition of basic academic content, when instructed with GMI methodology, was found to differ significantly from students' acquisition of the same content with non-GMI instruction. No statistically significant differences based on instructional methodology were found for content retention. The investigator concluded that GMI instruction may increase learning. Although measures of retention did not show significant differences between groups, a review of the mean scores revealed a minimal difference. This was interpreted to indicate equality of retention between the two methods. Recommendations for further investigation were offered. Post-testing of subjects at additional intervals, and increased training of students and teachers in GMI prior to collection of data were suggested.

M.Ed. (Science Education) / The nature of science (NOS) remains a problematic construct, which many science teachers do not address in their science teaching. This is owing to an uninformed understanding of the NOS by teachers, who therefore do not include NOS aspects in their science teaching. It is, however, imperative to introduce learners in the Intermediate Phase to NOS elements because it is during this phase that they formally learn science Although there is no specific definition of the NOS, there are guidelines in the framework provided by Chiappetta, Fillman and Sethna on the NOS elements that should be included in science textbooks. The NOS framework for science textbook analysis comprises four themes: Science as a body of knowledge, Science as a way of investigating, Science as a way of thinking and the Interaction among Science, Technology and Society. My study focuses on the analysis of workbooks in the Intermediate Phase Natural Sciences and Technology that were distributed by the South African Department of Basic Education during 2013. These workbooks were distributed as part of the implementation of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) in the Intermediate Phase. The workbooks are a combination of textbook and writing book. These workbooks contain ample information about science concept knowledge and colourful illustrations of real life science phenomena. The NOS units of analysis as stipulated in the NOS framework by Chiappetta et al., were identified for the content analysis of science textbooks, in this case science workbooks. As part of the process of content analysis, a qualified science teacher and I analysed the identified pages in each of the six workbooks from Grades 4 to 6. The overall agreement of codes indicated that the NOS themes are substantially covered in the Natural Sciences workbooks, especially the theme Science as a way of investigating and Science as a body of knowledge. The NOS theme Science as a way of thinking receives more coverage than the NOS theme Interaction among Science, Technology and Society. The latter theme was poorly covered in the identified pages of analysis from the six different workbooks. It is suggested that future writing of science textbooks, especially in the Intermediate Phase, should cover all four NOS themes equally. This could assist Intermediate Phase learners in gaining an informed understanding of the nature of science in order to make educated decisions in the scientific enterprise as adults.

M.Ed. (Education) / This study is an analysis of Grade 9 Natural Sciences textbooks for their representation of the nature of science. The textbooks analysed are CAPS compliant and approved by the Department of Basic Education. Like any other modern education system in a democratic dispensation, the South African education system has undergone several curricular changes post- independence (1994). These changes have been due to, but not limited by, factors pertaining to political and economic reforms. Curricular revisions have spanned a period of almost 20 years, commencing with Curriculum 2005 (C2005) to the current revised Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS). Science curriculum documents subscribe to the tenets of the nature of science (Lederman, 2007). Bell (2008) suggests that science is best defined by its characteristics, otherwise known as the tenets of NOS. Eleven key aspects of NOS that are intricately related to the basic tenets of science derived by Lederman (2007) form the analytical framework used in this study. The aspects are: Empirical; Inferential; Creative; Theory-driven; Tentative; Myth of the scientific method; Scientific theories; Scientific laws; Social dimensions of science; Social and cultural embeddedness of science and Science vs. pseudoscience. These aspects further formed a detailed scoring rubric to record the extent to which NOS is represented in the units of analysis, which comprise complete paragraphs, activities, worked examples, figures with captions, tables with captions, charts with captions, and marginal comments of the sampled topics ...

Orientador: Renato Eugênio da Silva Diniz / Banca: Sueli Terezinha Ferrero Martin / Banca: Renata Cristina Cabrera / Resumo: O contexto atual da escola pública a coloca como instituição legitimadora da lógica do sistema capitalista. Nessa esfera, o ensino das Ciências Naturais se apresenta sob a perspectiva positivista de ciência, na qual o conhecimento científico assume caráter determinado, acumulativo e incontestável, certificador da lógica alienante imposta por esse sistema e opressor do processo de humanização do Sujeito. Entendemos como necessária uma pedagogia que apresente bases teórico-práticas para a configuração de um ensino das Ciências Naturais que forneça elementos para superar essa condição alienante e favoreça o processo de humanização do indivíduo. Essa é uma pesquisa de abordagem crítico-dialética na qual adotamos como referencial teórico-metodológico a Pedagogia Histórico-Crítica e temos como objetivo identificar as significações atribuídas por professores de Ciências ao ensino dessa disciplina nas séries finais do Ensino Fundamental, analisando-as a partir dos referenciais da Pedagogia Histórico-Crítica. Para isso, realizamos entrevistas semiestruturadas para levantamento de dados junto aos professores. Como movimento analítico utilizamos o instrumento construtivo-interpretativo dos núcleos de significação. De maneira geral os professores de Ciências apresentam Significações a respeito da desvalorização do conhecimento científico na escola, sobre a utilidade do conhecimento científico na compreensão do cotidiano e sobre a concepção de ciência embasada na perspectiva empírico-posi... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The present context of the public school state it as a logic legitimating institution of capitalistic system. The Natural Science teaching is presented under a positivist perspective in which the scientific knowledge assumes decisive, accumulative, inquestionable form certifying alienating logic imposed by this system and oppressor of humanization process of the individual. We understand as necessary a type of pedagogy which presents theorical-pratical basis for a Natural Science teaching configuration to provide elements to overcome this alienating condition and to promote the humanization processo of the individual. This is a critical-dialectical approach research that one we use as theoreticalmetodological reference to the Historical-Critical Pedagogy and we have as aim to identify the meanings assigned by Science teachers to this discipline in the beginning of secundary education analysing them from Historical-Critical Pedagogy reference. Therefore, we accomplished semistructured interviews to gather data from the teachers. We used constructive-interpretative instrument of the nucleus of meaning as analitical tool. Altoghether the Science teachers present meanings regarding to scientific knowledge descredit at school, on the usefulness of the scientific knowledge on daily comprehension and on the Science concept supported by empiric-positivist perspective. By this work we indicate some inherent elements to Natural Science teaching which refer to Science teacher práxis and... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre