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Instructional shifts required by equitable, reform‐based science instruction are challenging, especially in the elementary context. Such shifts require professional development (PD) that supports teacher internalization of new pedagogical strategies as well as changes in beliefs about how students learn. Because of this complexity, many PD programs struggle to foster lasting pedagogical shifts, necessitating further investigation into why some teachers successfully embrace reform practices while others do not. This qualitative study uses a nonlinear, iterative model of teacher learning (Interconnected Model of Professional Growth; Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002) alongside professional noticing to help understand why elementary teachers in science PD differentially make sense of and internalize new pedagogies. Findings indicate that teachers most likely to adopt reform‐based instructional practices from the PD were those who clearly connected student learning to their instructional moves. In addition, teachers who more actively attended to student sensemaking and productive struggle took up pedagogies from the PD more substantively than did colleagues who attended solely to student engagement and affect. Finally, teachers who attended to and valued novel ideas from students' lived experiences were more likely to change their beliefs about students' capacity to learn science, and thus more likely to see the value of instructional practices from the PD. In sum, structuring PD to build on these specific teacher noticing skills can encourage more teachers to move away from traditional, teacher‐directed instructional practice, and more fully support reform‐based instructional practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the use of active learning pedagogies in college science courses has been demonstrated to improve student learning and engagement, lecture‐based methods still feature predominantly across university courses. Often lacking meaningful opportunities to learn about and test out new pedagogies, faculty have been slow to adopt and enact new teaching practices. Partnerships in which faculty facilitate teacher professional development may provide an important space for faculty learning and innovation related to college instruction. There is a large body of research examining the impact of such partnerships on teacher instructional change; however, few studies consider the impact of these programs on the instructional practices of science faculty. Moreover, existing studies lack theoretical frames to elucidate the various processes that shape faculty adoption of new teaching practices. This qualitative study examines the processes by which science faculty reshape their pedagogical practices through facilitating professional development for K–12 teachers, and how individual characteristics, social interactions, and organizational contexts influence their choices. We use a theoretical framework that affords an understanding of the iterative process and multiple factors that influence shifts in instructional practice. Implications of findings for grant‐writing and professional development that foster opportunities for relationship building and learning among faculty and teachers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review examines 105 empirical studies that investigate students' views of the nature of science (VNOS), effects of curricular interventions on changing students' VNOS, and relations between VNOS and demographics, majors, and learning of science. The reviewed studies can be categorized into three theoretical frameworks: the unidimension, the multidimension, and the argumentative resource frameworks. Each framework is reviewed first with regard to its theoretical foundation, methods of data collection and analysis, and the respective findings. This is followed by a critical discussion on the methodological issues and the strengths and limitations of the framework. Potential directions regarding theoretical framework, methodology, and pedagogy are suggested in the future directions section. For example, this review proposes the shift to argumentative resource framework for VNOS research and a refinement for judging the 'sophistication' of student VNOS. The role of inquiry in student VNOS is also discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 95:961-999, 2011 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article grapples with the question of how much curriculum change is appropriate in a given context and in a given time frame. How can a balance be struck between stagnation, on the one hand, and the promotion of unrealistic innovation on the other? In answer to this dilemma, the concept of a zone of feasible innovation (ZFI) is proposed and explored, drawing on the literature of school development, teacher professional development, and of developmental psychology, the work of Vygotsky in particular. A series of procedures are suggested to help define the nature and scope of a ZFI in any given situation. Finally, vignettes from case studies of innovation in science education are evoked to provide real-life counterpoints to the theoretical constructs of the literature. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed, 91:439–460, 2007 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two elementary certified middle school science teachers are studied for changes in practical knowledge supporting the implementation of kit-based inquiry as part of a schoolwide reform effort. Emphasis is placed on studying how these two pilot teachers enact guided inquiry within their unique pedagogical and curricular interests, and what adaptations they make in their use of Science and Technology for Children™ and Science and Technology Concepts for Middle School™ curriculum. Case study results support the notion that reform is complex and personal, and teachers as professionals need collective and individual support in the classroom as they make incremental changes in practice toward becoming inquiry-oriented teachers. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed91:492–513, 2007 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest is a powerful motivator; nonetheless, science educators often lack the necessary information to make use of the power of student-specific interests in the reform process of science curricula. This study suggests a novel methodology, which might be helpful in identifying such interests--using children's self-generated questions as an indication of their scientific interests. In this research, children's interests were measured by analyzing 1555 science-related questions submitted to an international Ask-A-Scientist Internet site. The analysis indicated that the popularity of certain topics varies with age and gender. Significant differences were found between children's spontaneous (intrinsically motivated) and school-related (extrinsically motivated) interests. Surprisingly, girls contributed most of the questions to the sample; however, the number of American girls dropped upon entering senior high school. We also found significant differences between girls' and boys' interests, with girls generally preferring biological topics. The two genders kept to their stereotypic fields of interest, in both their school-related and spontaneous questions. Children's science interests, as inferred from questions to Web sites, could ultimately inform classroom science teaching. This methodology extends the context in which children's interests can be investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Around the world, many people concerned with the state of the environment participate in environmental action groups. Much of their learning occurs informally, simply by participating in the everyday, ongoing collective life of the chosen group. Such settings provide unique opportunities for studying how people learn science in complex settings without being directly instructed. This study was designed to investigate learning and teaching that occurs through ordinary, everyday participation in environmental action. We draw on data collected during a 2-year ethnographic study of a coast-wide eelgrass-mapping project. Taking a whole activity as our unit of analysis, we articulate the forms of participation that volunteers take and theorize learning in terms of changing participation and expanding opportunities for action. The community-based eelgrass stewardship group we studied is both socially and materially heterogeneous, made up of people young and old and with different expertise. We show that changing forms of participation are emergent features of unfolding sociomaterial inter-action, not determinate roles or rules. Furthermore, the possibilities for learning expand when individuals have the opportunity to frame problems that arise in ongoing activity. In the setting of our study, attributions (dichotomies) such as "off-task/on-task" and "teacher/learner" are artificial. We suggest that by providing expanding opportunities, in the form of a variety of sociomaterial resources, science educators can rethink the design of school-based science learning environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large percentage of U.S. students attending high-poverty urban middle schools achieve low levels of science proficiency, posing significant challenges to their success in high school science and to national and local efforts to reform science education. Through its work in Philadelphia schools, the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University developed a teacher-support model to address variation in science curricula, lack of materials, and underprepared teachers that combined with initial low levels of proficiency block improvements in science achievement. The model includes a common science curriculum based on NSF-supported materials commercially available, ongoing teacher professional development built around day-to-day lessons, and regular in-class support of teachers by expert peer coaches. One cohort of students at three Philadelphia middle schools using the model was followed from the end of fourth grade through seventh grade. Their gains in science achievement and achievement levels were substantially greater than students at 3 matched control schools and the 23 district middle schools serving a similar student population. Under school-by-school comparisons, these results held for the two schools with adequate implementation. Using widely available materials and techniques, the model can be adopted and modified by school partners and districts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we debate the strengths and limitations of standards-based science education reform in the United States. Our purpose is to raise questions and encourage conversations about the mis/uses of standards to shape science curriculum and instructional practices at both state and national levels. We begin by examining the case of California: California recently developed science content standards and used these standards to guide the development, assessment, and adoption of K-8 science instructional materials, a process in which we participated. We offer substantive critique of the California standards themselves and the ways such standards narrowly frame science education for the state's teachers and students. We then move to more general challenges posed by fashioning standards as instruments of reform: the proliferation of increasingly unwieldy instructional materials and the muting of teachers' voices in local decision-making processes. While we do not call for the elimination of standards, we argue for greater awareness of the challenges in using standards to achieve science education reform and for renewed effort to include teachers in the translation of standards into local, responsive practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As science educators struggle to reform science education, we need a better understanding of the conundrums associated with the ways educators enact innovative science within and against the "academic," "rigorous," and "elite" sociohistorical constructions of science. I ethnographically investigated the meanings of an innovative, reform-based curriculum (Active Physics) in various micro (classroom) and macro (school and community) contexts. I conducted the study in a high school serving primarily upper middle class students, the majority of whom (97%) planned to attend college. I explored how meanings of the curriculum transformed as the curriculum traveled across space and time. While certain aspects of the context enabled innovative science (e.g., support from the administration, pressure to serve a wider range of students), other aspects of the context constrained the potential of the curriculum (e.g., the need to establish for students, parents, and administrators the legitimacy of Active Physics as "real" and "rigorous" physics). Using practice theory to understand the influence of context and agency in shaping school science practice, this study demonstrates the potential for viewing meanings of science in local settings as partially fluid entities, sometimes reproducing and sometimes contesting sociohistorical legacies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the response of teachers on the integration of earth science in the secondary school teaching as introduced by the National Curriculum for Science in Great Britain. Effectiveness of earth science teaching; Influence of the background of teachers on the learning of students; Significance of improving earth science teaching.

Evaluates the steps for inventing new science curriculum as a response to demands for a reformation of the middle school science curriculum. Education responses for a new age; Changes in American society; Debate for education reform; Rise of the middle school; Description of young adolescents; Postmodern science; Aspects of modernizing education in the sciences.

The article presents a case study of teacher change on the interactions among beliefs, role metaphors and teaching practices. The study suggest that the metaphors teachers use to makes sense of their role have substantial affect on classroom practice. It is evident in this investigation that curriculum innovations were adapted and changed to fit the beliefs systems which supported the teacher's role metaphors. It indicates that individual commitment to change on the part of a teacher is not sufficient to induce the desired changes.

The article discusses the development of secondary science curriculum in Malaysia. In 1967 secondary school education curriculum was reform under the coordination of the Educational Planning and Research Division of the Ministry of Education. The adoption of the new secondary science project materials began in 1968 and proceeded through 1981. The problems that came out from the adaptation of the foreign curricula were recognizably the physical and economic, which includes the lack of amenities such as laboratories, apparatus, trained staff and funds.

The article presents an issue of "Science Education" that contains selected papers prepared for the "History and Philosophy of Science and Science Teaching Conference," on November 6 to 11, 1989, at Florida State University. Its goal was to arrange a forum dedicated to the creation of interdisciplinary insights into problems and solutions related with teaching and learning science. During the conference, some participants had argued for the best strategy in teaching mathematics and science as a response for science curricula reform. According to the author, ample time is needed to obtain the goal for science curriculum change.

The article discusses a systematic plan to implement a curriculum development of science education in Pakistan. An effort of curriculum evolution may bring a refresh program for a nation's benefits such as economic and vocational welfare, health and nutrition advancement and in technological potential. The six year implementation cycle includes the nature of schooling, agencies, and the vision and aims of Pakistan for educational growth. Three accounts are vital for the change cycle which acts upon the school curriculum of the nation.

The article outlines the study of curriculum policy development in a move toward renewal of science education in Canada. The process of curriculum policy development employed to a certain science study resulted in several methodological insights. First is the emerging stage of curriculum policy research distinct from policy making requiring clarification. Second, the problem of methodology associated to major policy review required development. Third, the utilization of complimentary methods required theoretical grounding within the rules of research methodologies. In these process, curriculum development would be meaningful by involving teachers in policy making and analyzing the discrepancies between current practice and policy proposals that will result to change in science education practice.

The article focuses on the perceived importance of the major goals and objectives of science education as formulated in the major research development effort called Project Synthesis which was funded by the National Science Foundation in the U.S. It is interesting to point out that changes in attitude on the part of the general public concerning science. Significantly, public perceptions of the science curriculum can change over short periods of time as indicated in the results of the study. Significantly, educators should be aware of the changes in perception that should utilize such changes in public attitude in the initiation of appropriate curriculum changes.

The article focuses on the revision of the science curriculum for upper-secondary schools in Japan. Two new science courses were introduced. Science I, in which topics are carefully selected from Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Earth Science, is constructed to allow students to acquire scientific literacy. Science II is constructed around three broad areas such as, observations of and experiments on specific matters and phenomena, surveys of the natural environment, and studies on historical cases in science.

The article describes a study on high school biology textbooks as source of misconceptions in genetics. The authors contend that the major sources of misconceptions are conceptual organization, particularly sequencing of topics in texts, conceptual relationships, use of terms and mathematical elements. They assert that an investigation of the conceptual organization of textbooks suggest sources of misconceptions and identification of such sources will allow teachers to design more appropriate instructional materials. They suggest a psychological sequence of instruction as a way of improving the learning of genetics.

The article discusses a study to develop and use a conceptual scheme for aquatic studies. The author asserts that because of the lack of a conceptual scheme to base the curriculum writing process, curriculum developers have no framework of goals and objectives upon which to organize their writing. The resulting efforts resulted in materials applicable only to a restricted geographic area or which do not give students an adequately broad view of their aquatic world. He suggests that a valid conceptual scheme can be designed and used as a framework for curriculum construction.

The article discusses a study on instructional changes to the high school science curricula. The authors called these instructional changes "extending discretion," intending to increase the student's ability to work on his own, but within a structure that allows teacher supervision when needed. The authors assume that all tasks are divided into two parts: prescribed and discretionary, and that by distinguishing between prescribed and discretionary tasks in science experiments, and by a conscious implementation and increase in discretionary activities, students may be trained to increase their use of discretion to levels at which they are maximally capable.

The article evaluates several curriculum reform projects supported by the National Science Foundation in the U.S. As a result of the effort, three major curriculum programs were developed under the direction of various educational associations. The final outcome of the said programs was the use of laboratory activities instead of using textbooks. Although each of the projects included formative evaluation activities to ensure that materials were usable and effective, there was no nationally coordinated, independent effort to assess their effect on student outcomes.

The article discusses the Nuffield Chemistry publication and its implications for science curricula reformation in Great Britain. The Nuffield Chemistry has been introduced in 1962 as an ordinary-level publication for science practitioners and science students as well. The Nuffield Foundation commissioned a consultative group to assess and inquire the publication's efficiency. Several commentaries were gathered from wide range of science practitioners and students in an attempt to come up with a more comprehensible publication package. Those obtained concerns were addressed and several issues were resolved leading to the revision of the discipline. Such approach paved way towards the materialization of a more comprehensive, practically-oriented science course.

The article presents the Nuffield Science Teaching Project and its implications for the school science curricula in Great Britain. The project, which has been spearheaded by expert science teachers, is aimed at innovating science curriculum towards optimum knowledge development for students and science practitioners as well. The science disciplines being pioneered for the project were biology, physics, and chemistry, known as Nuffield Chemistry for chemical discipline. The project was introduced in 1962 to a group of more intellectually able students and its effectiveness was observed until 1982. It was found that in 1970, the publication of Nuffield Chemistry played major impact on chemical education, making chemistry teaching more practically-based.

The article aims to develop a more thorough rationale for the implementation of an interdisciplinary approach to science education. This rationale will entail arguments stressing the need for educational reform and will summarize the most viable approaches and important considerations in responding to this need. It is necessary that science education be incorporated into the progressive educational view. The progressive position equates subject matter with meaningful experience. It is sound pedagogy that students be exposed to aspects of science through their own familiarity with its social applications.

The article presents a research on the reform of physics education in Malaysia. The educational change is designed to accommodate and facilitate the changes taking place within the country such as environmental pollution, congestion in mass transits, communication breakdowns, and an increasing economic disparity within the population. In this connection, Malaysian science and science-based education has been straightened out by changing its syllabus, philosophies of education and teaching styles. Physics education has been revised based on British models to modify the format and method of teaching the subject that will be based on learning through guided discovery strategy.

The article focuses on the adoption and intuitive adaptation of major curriculum developments in science education in the U.S. The application of the Curriculum Adaptation Scheme aims to identify decision points which are discussed in the literature on curriculum evaluation for adaptation and can be identified by comparing adapted curricular to their origins. There were two measures used to evaluate the CAS instrument which are content validation and assessment for usefulness. The usefulness of CAS was assessed for two groups of potential users, experience and less experienced curriculum adaptators.

The article focuses on the development of a tool for assessing and revising science curriculum in Iowa schools. The tool is designed to aid local schools in developing a sequential, articulated curriculum premised upon their community, student, and staff needs. The science curriculum is the keystone which specifies the processes, knowledge, and scientific activities which students experience in their formal education. There is also evidence that those teachers affected by curriculum decisions prefer to be involved in the assessment and development of the curriculum.

The article focuses on the trends in science curriculum development in the U.S. The objective of this research was to determine how the learner, the society and the subject matter affects the stages of the curriculum movement since the 1940s. A review on these trends will provide a framework on how the society influenced curriculum reform that emerged in the middle of 1960s. During this period, the country has experienced a rapid social reconstruction through schooling. School program are focused on developing newer, more enlightened social and economic consumer.

The article focuses on the improvement of science education in the U.S. This has been improved through curriculum innovations and in-service programs that assist teachers with the new curricula. The programs is composed of off-campus environmental programs, on-campus research participation and on-campus biochemistry, astronomy, physics, and computer science programs. The biochemistry program include topics in carbohydrates, amino acids, lipids, proteins, enzymes, and nucleic acid. In the program, the students learn biological chemistry under a biochemistry course, where they have earned substantial increase in their knowledge of organic and inorganic chemistry and biochemistry.

The article discusses the role of teachers in education curriculum development for science education in the U.S. In some schools, educational programs are offered which aims to suggest a variety of objectives for primary science and to show teachers how to develop more specific objectives, plan instruction useful in constructing effective education curriculum. Teachers are placed in vital decision making roles when it comes to curriculum development. They need to be exposed to many curricula and need to evaluate them, which therefore, science teachers would need to develop skills to make these evaluations.

The article discusses the formative evaluation in the development of instructional change in a university physics course in the U.S. Formative evaluation refers to the evaluation of an intermediate level in a teaching instrument development and can also be the outcome evaluation part throughout the process of development. Outcome evaluation also serves to appraise or evaluate whether the goals of the innovation are met. Formative evaluation aimed to assess the level of attainment of the objectives in the instructional exploration by testing the attitude and achievement hypotheses in the process.

The article discusses the study to determine whether the adoption of the new science curriculum can lead to increased use of the teaching behavior of teachers. The New York State Regents Earth Science Syllabus was designed for teachers to encourage the use of specific kinds of instructional procedures. For the procedure, the study used the Tape Analysis Instrument to determine relative amounts of time spent in various types of classroom activity. The study resulted to a difference in the predicted direction between teachers using the traditional syllabus and teachers using the revised syllabus. It has also been found out that there was a change in the teaching behavior of the teachers using the revised syllabus.

The article focuses on the changes that have occurred in Latin American states regarding the teaching of Earth Science. The changes have been caused developments in science education in the U.S. A study for the development of such education to six South American countries was conducted in order to assist educators in understanding certain influences. These countries include Venezuela, Colombia, Boliva, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. It was then concluded that in South America, a pattern of curriculum implementation in earth science is observed which is similar what has been followed in the biological and physical sciences. It has been found out that Venezuela and Colombia include earth science in the secondary curriculum.

The article determines the occupational frame of reference of the authors of articles concerned with the objectives for teaching secondary school chemistry published in selected professional periodicals from 1918-1967. This study is an outgrowth of an earlier work involving the objectives for teaching high school chemistry. It has attempted to deal with matters involving only the first course in high school chemistry. Chemistry is the course in secondary education dealing with the study of matter and energy and the changes they undergo.

The article discusses the proposed future science curricula and teacher training for high schools in the U.S. The second generation of science curricula puts emphasis on the interdisciplinary approach to science teaching, issue-oriented, and stresses attitudes and values. A curriculum-proof teacher and emphasis on both affective and cognitive domain are suggested for the new curricula. Retraining and reorientation in teacher preservice training, and change in the in-service training programs would be an immediate major tasks which should be undertaken to bring about the said change in the curricula.

The article addresses the need for curricular changes in science education and considers the perceptions of young people about science. Science is associated in the minds of young people with applications such as nuclear bombs, people sniffers and overkill. Young people drift toward mysticism and anti-rationalism and there seems to be a movement away from science as a subject of interest. The situation requires the introduction of new constituents into science instruction to make it relevant to the times. A feature which must be introduced into the curriculum is the interaction between science and history. Science courses should veer toward emphasis on science as an instrument for use by man, the role of science in history and the development of appropriate humanistic value systems for using scientific knowledge constructively.

The article explores the psychological implications of discovery learning in science education. The author claims that discovery learning or inquiry training has been the central theme of the numerous curriculum projects on both the secondary and primary level. Significantly, the proponents and opponents of discovery learning find support for their respective positions from the findings of psychologists involved in the research of learning theory. Furthermore, the study focuses on the most pertinent elements of learning theory such as: (1) learning readiness; (2) meaningfulness of material; (3) activity and passivity; (4) motivation; and (5) transfer of training.

The paper presents a general paradigm for the structuring of a science course behaviorally and cites examples of behavioral schema from the life sciences. The first step in structuring a course behaviorally is to decide upon the terminal behaviors. These behaviors indicate what the student should be able to do when he completes the program. The essence of good curriculum development is the sequencing of instructional paradigms to maximize learning and minimize the duplication of previously learned material. Behavioral objectives should form an integral part of the process.

The article discusses the role of the elementary school teacher in relation to the curriculum reform movement. The article notes that an integrated, organizational pattern relating the teacher to the other individuals and groups concerned is used as a guide to the teacher's role in any curriculum endeavor. It also considers the implications for elementary education and the training of teachers. Meanwhile, the article provides various definitions of curriculum. The article concludes that decisions regarding class size, the use of specialists or non-gradedness should be made in relation to the intellectual goals of the school.

The article focuses on science teaching and the teaching of the essential mathematics for science in the United States and Great Britain. In studying the gap between theory and practice in the curriculum of mathematics and science, a thinker identified that revisions in curriculums are reforms which have nothing to do with the psychology of learning. Related to this concern, the contention of Piaget on cognitive development is considered. He identified five stages of cognitive development. These are sensori-motor actions upon things, contemplation about things, pre-operational actions upon things, concrete operations with things, and intuitive operations with things.

The article presents the structural comparison of a curriculum study. According to the author, the 1950 and 1960 decade will be remembered in educational history as the period of rapid curriculum change, spurring with great curriculum studies. The author suggest that by using the biological analogy of comparing the structures of the major component in the curriculum, looking at the curriculum study movement as a whole to see what major trends exist within, as well as the common element contained in the study will be made possible.

The article evaluates the issues involving contemporary biological thinking and education. The origin of the essentially temperate zone oriented approach to biology might readily be explained in terms of the history of science in general and the history of biology in particular. Systematic attempts to expose undergraduate and graduate students of biology to the richness and diversity of tropical life have hardly begun. Widespread and intensive training of young biologists in the tropics seems beset with numerous severe difficulties.

The article discusses some resistance factors found within the school system which affect the changes in science teaching. Resistance is defined as anything from a simple question which must be resolved about a proposal to outright opposition to it. The author had identified sources of resistance including school board, town officials, parents and general public. It is suggested that public information, involvement, curriculum study and in-service education are steps to minimize resistance to change.

The article discusses the change in science curriculum content and its implication for secondary education in the U.S. The focus of the change is on conceptual development and critical thinking. To cope with the problem of assimilation of new knowledge and scientific manpower, the new curricula stress the use of concepts, problem solving, student oriented activities and open ended experiments. One implication of the change is on the responsibility for authorship. Federal government policies, scientists and private foundations are cited as curriculum change factors.

The article discusses curriculum development in elementary science education as evaluated by the author in the context of current teaching practice. At the outset, the author has discussed how industry and industrial leaders in various sections of the country have had a tremendous influence in the mounting drive to press for more adequate development of the science aptitude latent in the young. He has also explained how the schools' willingness to spend money for the purchase of science materials has contributed to successful results. He has likewise tackled the importance of knowing the different developments in science. His suggestion for revisions calling for an imaginative and realistic orientation to the new, accumulating knowledge of children and science concludes the article.

The article focuses on the trends in science education in the U.S. The several courses of study were first surveyed to classify the major units in relation to the main topics set up. The methods in which the various curriculum guides were organized, the way in which the concepts and basic learning were stated, and the details included varied all the ways from simple topical outlines to multi-volume and detailed resource guides with how-to-to-it sections. The tabulations were analyzed in terms of the basic learnings distributed among the ten topics in each major area in order to determine the emphasis placed by various groups of teachers who developed the curriculum guides.

The article focuses on the types of curricular studies in science teaching. They determine the aims which govern the teaching of the various field of science, subject matter content which is being taught, the relative stress placed upon the topics in the course of study, the appropriateness of the teaching materials to the students, the integration of science learning between the various levels of instruction and the interests of children in science at different levels of instruction. Newer techniques have been developed to obtain science interests, and statistical manipulations have been employed to verify the results of the observations.

The article presents the result of a project aimed at producing a syllabus in biology for general education, based upon previous investigations and current judgments from various leaders in the area of general education and in the biological sciences. The syllabus contains forty-two principles of biology. For each principle there is a list of several criteria of general education. Specific readings were suggested for each principle in order that students may obtain a better understanding of biology.