Volume 96, Number 8, December 1996

Table of Contents

Abstracts

Table of Contents

Abstracts

• The Relationships Between Parental Influence and Student Achievement in Seventh Grade Mathematics

Jianjun Wang, Louis Wildman, & George Calhoun
California State University 

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        Parental influence has been identified as an important factor affecting student achievement, but the variables addressed by various parent-school partnership programs vary, and lack literature support. This deficiency was ameliorated in this study through an analysis of a national data base from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY). All parental variables investigated in LSAY were considered in this study, and significant variables of studentsâ achievement in seventh grade mathematics were selected through the Backward Elimination Procedure in the Statistical Analysis System (SAS). The results show that those variables significant at a = .05 have accounted for around 22% variability of the student achievement. A further analysis of the empirical results seems to indicate that parent education and encouragement are strongly related to improved student achievement. However, parents should attempt to understand studentsâ feeling, and expect students to take the full responsibility for their successes in the school.
 
• Influences on Science Fair Participant Research Design Selection and Success

Eric J. Pyle
West Virginia University 

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        The purpose of this investigation is to gain a better understanding of the characteristics of pre-college researchers by examining the influences on research design selection and success in competition. The 22 participants were finalists at the 44th International Science and Engineering Fair, where they completed a questionnaire describing the influences on their research activities and methodologies. Additional data consisted of artifacts collected from the participants and the Science Service. Data were analyzed using an interpretive methodology. Assertions generated from the analysis indicated that students are largely accurate in self-reports of design, interacted with mentors on several levels, outside influences reflect shifts in motivational orientation, and success attributions reflect internalization of influences. Recommendations for future research with science fair participants are included.
 
• Integrating the Study of Trigonometry, Vectors, and Force Through Modeling

Helen M. Doerr
Syracuse University 

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        In this case study, we have investigated the construction of understanding of the motion of an object down an inclined plane which takes place through the process of model building. This study was conducted in an integrated algebra, trigonometry, and physics class at an alternative public school. The components of the modeling process explored in the study are the action of building representations and relationships from physical phenomena, the use of a simulation environment to explore conjectures, and the iterative process of developing and validating a solution through the use of a multirepresentational analytic tool. Four major results related to student model building emerged from this study. First, students pursued problems with far more diversity in approaches than the problem itself might have initially suggested. Second, this analysis challenges conventional notions of closure and completeness. Third, the integration of the simulation environment provided access to an expertâs model that could be used as the students built their own model of the phenomena being investigated. The fourth theme is that of progressive complexity in the student model as a structure that was built over an extended period of time. The implications of these results for both instruction and curriculum are discussed.
 
• Factors That Support School Change to Enhance the Use of Microcomputers in Rural Schools

M. Gail Shroyer, & Carol A. Borchers
Kansas State University 

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        This study examines how a national model for integrating microcomputers into science teaching was implemented in rural school districts. The implementation of a national model for rural school districts required several adaptations. The organizational, procedural, community, and personal factors that led to those adaptations and influenced microcomputer usage in rural science teaching are discussed.
 
• Learning About Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Through an Action Research Project: Co-Constructing an Issues-Based Model for STS Education

Erminia Pedretti
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto 

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        This article describes the experiences of six science teachers and a facilitator (the author) involved in an action research group in science, technology and society (STS) education. Two strands of research have informed the evolution of this action research project. The first strand comes from an interest in science, technology and society education, while the second strand emerges from the literature on action research as a possible means of accomplishing some of the goals articulated by STS advocates. Therefore, the purposes of this paper are two-fold. First, the paper explores the genesis of an issues-based model for STS education and curriculum development created by the teachers and facilitator of the action research group, and briefly highlights applications of this model in a classroom context. Second, action research is examined as a potential tool for professional development in the context of science education.