An innovative model for collaborative reform in Elementary School Science Teaching

This article received the Innovations in Teaching Science Teachers award at the 1996 meeting of the Association for the Education of Teachers in Science. The award is made possible by Delta Education.This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. TPE-9050015). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.     

General biology: Creating a positive learning environment for elementary education majors

This article received the Implications of Research for Educational Practice award at the 1996 meeting of the Association for the Education of Teachers in Science. The award is made possible by Carolina Biological Supply. The article was published in The American Biology Teacher, April 1994, pp. 216–220, and is reprinted with their permission.This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. TPE-9050015). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.     

Using visits to interactive science and technology centers,museums, aquaria,and zoos to promote learning in science

This article received the “Implications of Research for Educational Practice” award at the 1995 meeting of the Association for the Education of Teachers in Science. The award is made possible by Carolina Biological Supply. An adaptation of this article, entitled “Don’t Compare, Complement: Making Best Use of Science Centres and Museums,” was published in the 1995 Set: Research Information for Teachers, Number 1, Item 1, by the New Zealand and Australian Councils for Education Research.     

Technology and mathematics education: A survey of recent developments and important problems

This paper, prepared for the survey lecture of theme group T2 at the Sixth International Congress on Mathematical Education in Budapest, gives an oveview and analysis of recent progress in applying electronic information technology to creation of new environments for intellectual work in mathematics. The paper is divided into six major sections considering the impact of: 1. Numerical computation; 2. Graphic computation; 3. Symbolic computation; 4. Multiple Representations of Information; 5. Programming and Connections of Computer Science and Mathematics Curricula; 6. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Tutors.Research for this paper was supported in part by the United States National Science Foundation under NSF award no. MDR 87-51500. Any opinions or findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.     

Workforce Education Models for K-12 STEM Education Programs: Reflections on,and Implications for,the NSF ITEST Program

Journal of Science Education and Technology - This article proposes a STEM workforce education logic model, tailored to the particular context of the National Science Foundation’s Innovative...     

Cerebral hemisphere asymmetry: Methods,issues, and implications

This is the seventh ERIC/ECTJ Annual Review Paper, preparation of which was supported by the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) Clearing-house on Information Resources, Syracuse University. The material in this article was prepared pursuant to a contract with the National Institute of Education, U.S. Department of Education. Contractors undertaking such projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their judgment in professional and technical matters. Points of view or opinions do not necessarily represent the official view or opinion of the NIE. - Ed. The author’s own research discussed in this article was supported in part by research grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and from the National Science Foundation.     

乙烯基聚合物和(口恶)二唑衍生物的电致发光器件中激基复合物的蓝色发射

Two types of molecular and polymer devices employing (2-(4′-biphenyl)-5-(4““““““““-tert-butylphenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole) (PBD)and poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK) as electron transport and hole transport materials, respectively, have been fabricated. The structures of these two devices are ITO/PVK( 70 nm)/PBD(60 nm)/A1 and ITO/PVK: PBD (1:1 by mass, 70 nm)/A1. The formation of exciplex is evident by comparing the electroluminescence (EL) of a bi-layer device and the photoluminescence (PL) of a PVK and PBD mixed film.The maximum emission energy of exciplex evaluated is consistent with the peak emission of EL. Blue emissions from both devices are obtained. The type of exicplex is interpreted based on the energy level diagram of the bi-layer device.     

System dynamics approach to urban water demand forecasting

A system dynamics approach to urban water demand forecasting was developed based on the analysis of urban water resources system, which was characterized by multi-feedback and nonlinear interactions among system elements. As an example, Tianjin water resources system dynamic model was set up to forecast water resources demand of the planning years. The practical verification showed that the relative error was lower than 10%. Furthermore, through the comparison and analysis of the simulation results under different development modes presented in this paper, the forecasting results of the water resources demand of Tianjin was achieved based on sustainable utilization strategy of water resources. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.50578108), Doctoral Programs Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (No.20050056016), National Key Program for Basic Research (“973” Program, No.2007CB407306-1), Science and Technology Development Foundation of Tianjin (No.033113811 and No.05YFSYSF032), Educational Commission of Hebei Province (No.2008324) and Tianjin Social Key Foundation (No.tjyy08-01-078). ZHANG Hongwei, born in 1956, male, Dr. Prof.     

Challenging gender-blindness in preservice secondary science teachers

This material is based upon work supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation (Grant No. HRD 945-0022). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.     

Implementing microcomputers in science teaching

Conclusion The most important finding from this study is that if one adheres to the guidelines from the literature on staff development and educational change, teachers can and will change their teaching behaviors. It is very easy, however, to underestimate the time and resources required to implement change in schools. Even a seemingly simple change such as increasing use of educational computing, which teachers can implement in their individual classrooms without an overhaul of schools, is immensely complex and difficult. Helping teachers and schools change requires a systematic effort, with intensive on-going support over a period of three or more years. Science educators, school leaders, and the public must learn that school improvement is not an event but a continual process of renewal and refinement. This study demonstrates the importance of allocating resources to staff development and implementation along with those for curriculum development. Fortunately, the National Science Foundation has recognized the importance of implementation in school improvement by requiring that implementation be an integral part of all curriculum development projects it funds. As Hall (1986) said, “It is not enough to build pretty boxes; what is important is to get the boxes used.” This article is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. MDR-8470061. Any opionions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.     

The Effect of Loans on the Persistence and Attainment of Community College Students

This study informs public policies regarding the use of subsidized loans as financial aid for community college students. Using logistic regression, it analyzes the National Center for Education Statistics’ Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS 90/94) data to predict persistence to the second year of college and associate’s degree attainment over five years. During the period under study, loans did not contribute to higher persistence and attainment rates. Loans are observed to have a negative effect on persistence and no effect on degree attainment. Estimates of the interaction effects of borrowing and income status are insignificant but demonstrate the need for further testing. The findings are attributed to a combination of the high uncertainty of degree completion among community college students and the negative affective component of indebtedness. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the American Education Finance Association Annual Meeting (Austin, Texas, March, 2000) and at the AIR Forum (Cincinnati, Ohio, May 2000). It has also appeared as a working paper of the Institute for Higher Education Law and Governance at the University of Houston, Texas (IHELG Monograph 01–07).This paper is based upon work supported by the Association for Institutional Research, the National Center for Education Statistics and the National Science Foundation under Association for Institutional Research Grant No. 99-128-0.     

NDMP-Plus： An Improved Protocol for Network Based Data Management

Network based data management is the backup/restore mechanism used in a data storage center. This paper presents a new network based data management-NDMP-Plus, a revision of network data management protocol. Components and the working mechanism of the NDMP-Plus architecture are first discussed. Two new techniques in NDMP-Plus-virtual storage layer （VSL） and negotiation mechanism are then studied. VSL is a crucial component to achieve flexibility, and the negotiation mechanism is a key to improve performance. Furthermore, experiments are carried out to evaluate the performance of NDMP-Plus. The result suggests that NDMP-Plus has stronger flexibility and better performance than NDMP.     

Ameliorating gender differences in attitudes about science: A cross-national study

The outcomes of two studies reported here indicate that the teacher inservice workshops, combined with activity-based science lessons, affected students' attitudes and perceptions about electricity. Australian and U.S. studies produced different patterns explored and explained in the paper.This material is based upon research supported by the National Science Foundation under grant MDR-88-50570 in the United States and supported by a grant from the Special Projects Program of the Commonwealth Schools Commission in the Education of GirlsDD section of Projects of National Significance in Australia. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the Commonwealth Schools Commission.     

Preparing student teachers for alternative assessment in science

This material is based upon work supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation California State University Student Teaching Development Project (DOE-9250027) and the W. M. Keck Foundation. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding ordanizations.     

Teaching Physics to In-Service Primary School Teachers in the Context of the History of Science: The Case of Falling Bodies

Our paper presents an in-service primary school teachers’ training program which is based on the idea that the history of science can play a vital role in promoting the learning of physics. This training program has been developed in the context of Comenius 2.1 which is a European Union program. This program that we have developed in the University of Athens is based on socioconstructivist and sociocultural learning principles with the intention of helping teachers to appropriate the basic knowledge on the issue of falling bodies. Moreover, it has the aim to make explicit through the exploitation of authentic historical science events, on the above topic (Aristotle’s, Galileo’s and Newton’s theories on falling bodies) the Nature of Science (NoS), the Nature of Learning (NoL) and the Nature of Teaching (NoT). During the implementation of the program we have used a variety of teaching strategies (e.g. group work, making of posters, making of concept maps, simulations) that utilize historical scientific materials on the issue of falling bodies.

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Reconstructing science teacher education within communities of learners

This article is based on a paper which received the “Innovation in Teaching Science Teachers” Award at the 1993 annual meeting of the Association for the Education of Teachers in Science.     

Convexity and Positivity of Bivariate Quadratic Bezier Surfaces over a Rectangle

With the help of several discriminants about the zero points of a quartic polynomial, the sufficient and necessary conditions for the positivity and nonnegativity of the quartic polynomial over an interval I⊂(−∞, +∞) was derived. Based on these conclusions, the sufficient and necessary conditions for the positivity and convexity of the 2×2 Bézier surface over a rectangle were obtained. A simple sufficient condition was deduced also and finally several examples were given. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (69603009) and the Younger Foundation of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Education (2000QN73)     

Advancing Research in the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education Program

ABSTRACT

Advanced Technological Education is distinct from typical National Science Foundation programs in that it is essentially a training—not research—program, and most grantees are located at technical and two-year colleges. This article presents empirical data on the status of research in the program, discusses the program’s role in supporting NSF’s values of intellectual merit and broader impacts, and offers strategies for enhancing research within the program.     

Analysis of stimulated Brillouin scattering in multi-mode fiber by numerical solution

Stimulated Brillouin scattering in optical fibers is described by a theoretical model and numerical analysis. The results showed that, for an optical fiber pumped by a laser beam with ns-order-pulse width and kW-order peak-power, SBS reflectivity tends to saturate when the fiber length exceeds a limit, named “effective fiber length”. Using small core-diameter and long enough fiber, the SBS reflectivity level could be raised but is limited by optical damage of the entrance surface of the fiber. Therefore, just a small dynamic range can be obtained. Project supported by the Bundesminesterium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), the key Foundation of Education Ministry of China and National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC No. 69578017).     

After-School and Informal STEM Projects: the Effect of Participant Self-Selection

Journal of Science Education and Technology - This research represents an unforeseen outcome of the authors’ National Science Foundation Innovation Technology Experiences for Students and...