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During their first visit to Brazil, in 2001, Michel Van Praet, Jean Davallon, and Daniel Jacobi - French researchers in the field of museology - discussed the complex nature of the museum experience. Professor Van Praet underscores the unique character of natural history museums and offers an evaluation of his work as head of the restoration project at Paris's Grande Gallery of Evolution, inaugurated in 1994. Professor Davallon discusses the contribution of semiotics and reception theory in analyzing how an exhibit communicates and how meaning is constructed within it. Dr. Jacobi defines some characteristics of the dissemination of science at museums and points to problems encountered in achieving this end.

In this examination of certain issues related to the history of museums. An emphasis on the functions and missions entrusted to museums does not necessarily reflect the power museums have to create habits or shape meanings. To the contrary, this may reflect the actual fragility of museums and their need to resort to rhetoric to attract governmental favors and funds. Therefore, concentrating on the monumental, representative, or metaphorical aspects of museums obscures the history of these institutions and of their consolidated practices, there by naturalizing the separation between research space and public space and leaving the historian to play the role of an uninitiated observer of the 'cathedrals of science'.

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Beginning with my recollection of hearing C. P. Snow's ‘Two Cultures’ lecture, I sketch my experience of building two academic careers in succession, first in one of the natural sciences and later in the history of such sciences. I outline both the difficulties and the rewards that I encountered in crossing the alleged gulf between the sciences and the humanities, but also emphasise the diversity of cultures that I experienced within each. I describe my own encounter with the academic culture of continental Europe, within which the concept of a monolithic singular ‘Science’ could be dismissed as an ‘anglophone heresy’, and viewed from which the Two Cultures debate could seem both provincial and redundant. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In higher natural science education, the scientific report is the prevailing genre of writing. Despite the fact that communicative skills are highly valued in working life, earlier studies have shown deficiencies among science students. In this paper, we highlight the need for varied communication training, in particularly arguing for the possibilities that students' popular science writing offers. Our study was based on a questionnaire answered by 64 degree project students in biology. The questions focused on the students' own experiences of writing about their projects for the general public and what contribution the writing made to their learning of science. A vast majority of the students expressed that the writing helped change their perspectives and that they saw their subject and project in a different light. Many of the students described that the popular science writing made it easier for them to put the science content in a context, to better understand the aim of their own work, and the implications of their findings. We discuss the positive effects that popular science writing may have on students' subject matter understanding and development of scientific literacy. Our concluding remark is that popular science writing is a useful tool for reflection and that it adds significant value to the students' capacity to change perspectives, understand their subject and develop scientific literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is proved that the school education content was associated with the science development of that time by the teachers of the second half of the 19th century. The essence of scientific discussions on advantages and disadvantages of the theories of formal and material education in the studied period is characterized. The role of the first congresses of natural scientists and teachers in carrying out the issues, connected with determining the education content in general and natural sciences in particular, is revealed. It is proved that the natural sciences component of education content exercised an essential influence on the organization of the educational process in Ukrainian schools of general education in the second half of the 19th century, in particular - on the methodology of teaching the disciplines, on a choice of forms and methods of teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focused on exploring students’ and supervisors’ perceptions of ethical problems in doctoral supervision in the natural sciences. Fifteen supervisors and doctoral students in one research community in the natural sciences were interviewed about their practices and experiences in the doctoral process and supervision. We explored to what extent doctoral students and supervisors experienced similar or different ethical challenges in the supervisory relationship and analyzed how the experiences of ethical dilemmas in supervision could be understood in light of the structure and practices of natural science research groups. The data were analyzed by theory-driven content analysis. Five ethical principles, namely non-maleficence, beneficence, autonomy, fidelity and justice, were used as a framework for identifying ethical issues. The results show that one major question that appears to underpin many of the emerging ethical issues is that the supervisors and students have different expectations of the supervisory role. The second important observation is that doctoral students primarily described their own experiences, whereas the supervisors described their activities as embedded in a system and elaborated on the causes and consequences at a system level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article presents some reflections as a result of a research study developed in a teacher training school in the State of México, the article describes, the internal context in which the initial formation of future teachers of primary education takes place the article focuses on one disciplinary field: Natural Sciences and its teaching. My objective is to demonstrate some procedures utilized by learners where they take an active role in their learning. Therefore, teachers here have to use the appropriate teaching strategies, one "experimental activity", to help students to succeed in their Natural Sciences Studies; the research is conducted following an ethnographic research method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To be successful man in the society in which he live and work are needed his knowledge in different areas: science, culture, art, language, social life, technique, technology, work, relationships among people, sports and so on. In the 21st century dominated by the intense changes in all these areas, which is reflected in the quality of general education. In front of him are now setting a new and different tasks to preparing young people for life and work in the information and technology, not only changed, but unstable, unpredictable, uncertain and demanding conditions. Having in mind that the natural sciences have an important role in changing the conditions of our existence, as well as continuous changes that occur in all areas of life and work, the topic was very interesting for research conducted in schools of the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica. The research refers at the attitudes of science teachers on important issues of general education in elementary school (representation of compulsory education in the curriculum, their compliance with the development of science and technology, the impact on the students' choice of profession, compliance with the evolving capacities of students and significance for education). The obtained results and conclusions we reached are able to contribute to the actualization, popularization and general quality of primary education in Kosovo and Metohija. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the tradition of nature writing, Henry David Thoreau is frequently considered to be the forerunner of American nature writing. In other words, most critics believe that the nature writings in America, generally speaking, were written since the mid-nineteenth century. Distinct from these critical views, this study inquires into the works of an eighteenth-century nature writer long before Thoreau: John Bartram. This study wishes to uncover new ground for American nature writing: by examining the narrative of science and the expression of ecological awareness in John Bartram's writings of natural history, this essay shows that early in America's Colonial Period nature writings had already existed and this study aims to open for the readers' fuller appreciation of Bartram's passion for and deep commitment to the scientific and proto-ecological understanding of the natural world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The students' interest and attitude towards Physics have been the object of international testing, the most recent of which is the PISA testing from 2006. The students' attitude towards sciences is considered to be a significant predictor of their school results in science, respectively of pursuing a career in areas related to Science. The present paper had in view to discover the existence of convergences or divergences among the attitudes of the students in 8th and 9th grade towards the study of natural sciences and towards the teacher's role in studying for the natural sciences. The obtained results have not rendered evidently the existence of major differences but have allowed for the shaping of a profile for Physics as a school subject, from the interviewees' perspective. Thus, Physics is considered to be a difficult but pleasant and interesting subject, with use for oneself but for others as well. Our investigation has pointed out the fact that the students study too little for Physics at home, but that the Physics teacher is effective in teaching and motivating the students to learn. Although this is a pilot research project, our investigation signals a state of fact that implies reflection, mainly on the Physics curriculum but also on the teaching methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal was to examine the relationship between the number of psychology courses students have taken and their perceptions of psychology as a science. Additionally, differences in perceptions of psychology among psychology, education, and natural science majors were examined. Results indicated that students who had taken four or more psychology courses had more favorable perceptions of psychology as a science compared to those who had taken no courses or one course and those who had taken two to three courses. No significant differences in overall perceptions of psychology emerged among students in the three majors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), since its inception as teacher-specific professional knowledge, has been researched extensively. Drawing on a wide range of literature, this paper seeks to clarify how the potential offered by PCK could be utilised to further develop science teacher education. An analysis of PCK models proposed by various researchers, together with methods of elucidating PCK in experienced and novice teachers, is provided. The paper argues that making PCK more explicit in the teacher education process may help novices adjust to teaching, as well as aiding experienced teachers in developing more reflective practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a working theory of person-related predictors of talent development in natural science during elementary school. The working theory resulted from the juxtaposition of scientific findings and teachers' expertise. The results showed that both teachers and researchers conceive of talent development in natural science as a complex process including abilities, personality traits, and skills as predictors. However, teachers focused mainly on skills whereas the scientific literature emphasized cognitive abilities. The working theory can be used for the identification and promotion of natural science talent and the development of teachers' diagnostic skills to assess students' potential in natural science. • The teacher's perspective is rarely considered when developing working theories of talent development. • We identified important predictors of natural science talent development through an extensive literature search. • We compared teacher contributions with the scientific findings to reach a common working theory. • Teachers and researchers share a multidimensional and dynamic understanding of natural science talent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the natural history courses for the pupils on the seventh and eight grades. Three factors of consideration in offering natural history courses are identified. These include the possibility of experimentation, the constructive and inventive capacity of pupils, and topics that involve knowledge appealing to the pupils. Some of the topics discussed in the seventh grade include the meaning of chlorophyll to plants, and nature of different soils relative to plant life. In the eight grade, the topics include the phenomena of boiling, condensation, the distillation of water, and others.

The article discusses the integration of natural science courses in school curricula in the U.S. The integration of science courses is relatively easy provided that the scope of the course is not too great. However, the integration does not have a single concept under which the concepts and theories can be classified, thus, teaching integrated science courses would create a different teaching approach or methodology for every subject matter. The second alternative and attempt to integrate the diverse sciences is at the Michigan State University, where results of the integration proved that there is a little connection between sciences. However the problem lies within the fact that mathematics has always been a huge factor in science, it is therefore difficult not to include the subject in the integration.

The article analyzes the subject-matter topics found in textbooks for use in survey courses in the natural sciences. Methods used are selection of textbooks for analysis, formulation of a composite outline of topics related to the physical sciences, formulation of a composite outline of topics related to the biological sciences and determination of the frequency of appearance of subject-matter topics in the textbooks selected for the investigation. The author concludes that there is a lack of agreement among authors of textbooks concerning the content which should be discussed in survey courses in the natural sciences.

The article presents the author's comments on the role of Universities in training of the nature teacher. The most important element in carrying out any educational program is the teacher. He is indeed the key to the educational situation. His responsibility is especially great and his importance is to be particularly emphasized when new ideas and projects are inaugurated. The success or failure of the nature program rests largely with him. Experience has shown that observation of given phenomena, correlation of observed data, and experimentation in order to check the conclusions deduced, is the safest and most accurate method of discovering truth. Exhaustive knowledge of science is not a prerequisite of a nature teacher, but it is most essential that he be able to use the methods of science. Hence the pupil who has been properly trained in nature study under a teacher who uses the method of observation, correlation and experimentation is better able to cope with any of the problems of life which he is called upon to face.

The article presents information related to the study of natural science. It stresses on the need of learning words and languages associated with natural science during preparatory years. Many technical terms of botany are in Latin and a superficial study of Latin may enhance the power to grasp the language of botany.

The article offers a report relating to the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum in Kentucky. The section reflects on several complains about the museum in relation to their naturalists park staff's interpretation and explanation of the natural history of the parks to the visitors. According to a report, visitors are challenging such interpretations given by park staffs that dissuades their religious beliefs. The column also follows the steps taken by the museum thru Carey Tichenor, chief naturalists at the museum, to avoid misunderstandings between visitors and naturalists park staffs.

The article reviews the Resources and Learning web site from the American Museum of Natural History (http://www.amnh.org/education/resources).