What do students and teachers think about science? In this section you will
find a number of articles from journals that would help you learn about science education in the classroom. When you click on the title of the article on below, you will
find a summary of the research as well as information on where to obtain the
article. A useful resource for finding articles on the Internet is Google
Scholar.
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Article Name: Bad
Science
Author: Alistair B. Fraser
Date: 1994
College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State University
This is a particularly good website maintained by Alistair B. Fraser for
the sole purpose of improving science knowledge. The page does a nice job
raising the instructional issues resulting from misconceptions about scientific
phenomena.
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Bad Science or, Some Lists Useful in Dealing With Questionable Science |
Article Name: Bad
Science
Author: Larry Orcutt
Date: 1999
There is good science, there is pathological science, and then there is pseudoscience (which is, simply, a theory, methodology, or practice that is considered to be without scientific foundation). The several lists on this web site were culled from different sources and are presented as tools for discernment. Though most of the rules apply to experimental sciences, physics in particular, the basic tenets can be generalized without much difficulty to wider applications, including archaeology.
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Children's Misconseptions About Science |
Article Name: Children's Misconseptions About Science
Author: American Institute of Physics
Date: 1998
This is a list of children's misconceptions about physics. Topics include:
- Astronomy
- Atmosphere
- Biosphere
- Color and Vision
- Electricity
- Energy
- Forces and Motion
- Forces and Fluids
- Heat and Temperature
- Light
- Lithosphere
- Magnets and Magnatism
- Properties of Matter
- Measurement
- Sound
- Space
- Work and Power
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Children's
Misconceptions about Weather: A Review of the Literature |
Article Name: Children's
Misconceptions about Weather: A Review of the Literature
Journal: Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association
of Research in Science Teaching, New Orleans, LA, April 29, 2000
Author: Laura Henriques
California State University, Long Beach
Date: 2000
This website reports a synthesis of the existing research about children's
misconceptions relating to weather, climate and the atmosphere. The scientifically
accepted interpretations are presented in tandem with the children's naïve
ideas. In many cases, students' misconceptions are not addressed in the curriculum,
allowing them to exist unchallenged.
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Children's Misconseptions About Weathering, Erosion, Volcanoes, and Earthquakes |
Article Name: Common Misconceptions about Weathering, Erosion, Volcanoes, and Earthquakes
Author: Jessica Fries-Gaither
Date: December 2008
This article discusses common misconceptions about weathering and erosion, volcanoes, and earthquakes. It also provide tools for formative assessment and ideas for teaching the correct scientific concepts.
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Developing an Online Accessible Science Course for All Learners |
Article Name: Developing an Online Accessible Science Course for All Learners
Journal: Contemporary Issues In Technology and Teacher Education
Authors: Veal, W., Bray, M., & Flowers, C.
Date: 2005
Abstract:
The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 was a landmark legislative initiative that outlined the protection of individuals with disabilities. Title III of the ADA directs that public facilities make reasonable efforts to control discrimination and support accessibility policies, practices, and procedures (Council for Exceptional Children, 1994). The 1997 amendment of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (U.S. Congress, 1999) stipulates that students with disabilities are to be educated in the general education curriculum. Institutions of Higher Education are not immune from these policies. In addition, common actions like course development and teaching must include considerations and compliance with the ADA and IDEA guidelines. These guidelines have also extended to the realm of computer technology in recent years (e.g., Chalfen & Farb, 1996; Mendle, 1995) especially as they pertain to online delivery of instruction. The U. S. Access Board (2001), a governing body charged with helping U.S. federal agencies reach Web accessibility, announced a set of guidelines that comply with Section 508 of the 1998 Rehabilitation Act. The result was that all federal agencies had to alter and or develop Web sites that were accessible to those with disabilities. Web page authors can also integrate the same guidelines into generic Web sites, as well as online courses offered at universities (e.g., Robertson, 2002; Robertson & Harris, 2003).
Traditional modes of science instruction have included lecture and presentation by instructors, and different methods and accommodations have been made to include people with disabilities as learners (e.g., Munk, Bruckett, Call, Stoehrmann, & Radandt, 1998; Stefanich, 2001). In recent years online instruction has quickly risen in popularity among universities and colleges as one mode of instruction (Kiefer-O’Donnell & Spooner, 2002). Even though the use of online instruction has progressed quickly, online learning accommodations for people with disabilities has lagged behind other curricular issues (Gardner & Wissick, 2002). The purposes of this paper are to exam online Internet content of an Earth and environmental science (EES) course and determine if the format and design of the Internet content is appropriate for students with visual disabilities. The course used external Web sites on the Internet as the main source of content; thus, the study focused on the impact of an online course design on a specific community of learners and suggests how instructors at all levels might need to revise curriculum that uses the Internet for content to meet the learning needs of some marginalized learners.
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'Easier to Address' Earth Science Misconceptions |
Article Name: 'Easier to Address' Earth Science Misconceptions
Authors: Kent Kirkby, University Of Minnesota
Date: 2008
This is a list of misconceptions about Earth Science. Topics include:
- Earth's Setting
- Earth's Structure
- Plate Tectonics
- Earthquakes
- Mineral and Rock Terms
- Volcanoes
- Paleomagnetism
- Ocean Systems
- River Systems
- Deserts
- Groundwater & Karst Systems
- Glacial Systems
- Climate
- Greenhouse Warming
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Earth Science Misconceptions |
Article Name: Earth
Science Misconceptions
Journal: The
Science Teacher
Authors: William C. Philips
Date: February 1991
There are several studies that have been done regarding various aspects of
students' conceptions of Earth science phenomena. One article that summarizes
several such conceptions is: "Earth
Science Misconceptions" by William C. Phillips (1991). Found in The
Science Teacher, February 1991, pp. 21-23. The NASA version of this article can be found here.
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Earth System Science Misconceptions |
Article Name: Earth
System Science Misconceptions
Authors: Weber State University: Center for Science and Mathematics Education
Date: 2001
This is a list of standards and misconceptions. The two Earth science misconceptions that are covered are:
- Students will understand that gravity, density, and convention move Earth's plates and this movement causes the plates to impact other Earth systems.
- Students will understand the water cycle through and between reservoirs in the hydrosphere and affects the other spheres of the Earth system.
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Pre-Service Elementary Teachers' Conceptions of Moon Phases Before and After Instruction |
Article Name: Pre-Service
Elementary Teachers' Conceptions of Moon Phases Before and After Instruction
Journal: Journal of Research in Science Teaching
Authors: Trundle, Kathy Cabe; Atwood, Ronald K.; Christopher, John
E.
Date: 2002
This study focused on the conceptual understandings held by 78 pre-service
elementary teachers about moon phases, before and after instruction.
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Relationship
between Science Knowledge Levels and Beliefs toward Science Instruction Held
by Pre-Service Elementary Teachers |
Article Name: Relationship
between Science Knowledge Levels and Beliefs toward Science Instruction Held
by Pre-Service Elementary Teachers
Journal: Journal of Science Education and Technology
Authors: Wenner, George
Date: 1993
Aspects of science background knowledge and attitudes toward teaching science
were examined among pre-service elementary teachers. The results indicated
a low level of science knowledge, a negative relationship between science
knowledge and attitude toward teaching science, and a marked lack of confidence
toward teaching science among the prospective teachers.
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Article Name: Research-Based Guides
Journal: Education Week
Authors: None noted
Date: October 9, 2007
The federal Institute of Education Sciences has released two new research-based practice guide's one on ways educators can encourage girls in math and science, and the other offering suggestions on how teachers can shape instruction to boost learning.
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Self-efficacy
and Alternative Conceptions of Science of Pre-Service Elementary Teachers |
Article Name: Self-efficacy
and Alternative Conceptions of Science of Pre-Service Elementary Teachers
Journal: Science Education
Authors: Schoon, Kenneth J.; Boone, William J.
Date: 1998
The purpose of this study was to discover what conceptions are held by pre-service
elementary teachers, to determine the relationship between science teaching
efficacy and the number of alternative conceptions held, and to determine
the relationship between science teaching efficacy and the holding of specific
alternative conceptions.
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Teaching Science: Lab Safety |
Article Name: Teaching Science: Lab Safety
Journal: The Scout Report
Date: 2007
Abstract:
Before entering the world of pipettes and Geiger counters, budding scientists will need to know about lab safety. Science educators will benefit from this laboratory safety site, developed by Professor Norman Herr, who teaches at California State University, Northridge. On his site, Professor Herr provides topically organized links that fall into the areasof safety standards, chemical hazards, chemical storage, and five other relevant topics. Within each section, visitors will find links to state safety standards, sample laboratory safety contracts, and fact sheets on chemical hazards. One potentially delightful classroom activity is the laboratory safety “scavenger hunt”. Through this activity, students willlearn about storage requirements, chemical risks, and other potential delicate matters.
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Ten
Things You Thought You Knew About Sun-Earth Science |
Article Name: Ten
Things You Thought You Knew About Sun-Earth Science
Author: NASA
Date: 2006
A list of common and uncommon, famous and infamous misconceptions about solar-terrestrial
physics.
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Unraveling Students' Misconceptions about the Earth's Shape and Gravity |
Article Name:Unraveling
Students' Misconceptions about the Earth's Shape and Gravity
Journal: Science Education
Authors: Sneider, Cary I.; Ohadi, Mark M.
Date: 1998
This study was designed to test the effectiveness of a constructivist-historical
teaching strategy in changing students' misconceptions about the Earth's shape
and gravity at the upper elementary and middle school levels.
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