Volume 97, Number 1, January 1997

Table of Contents

Abstracts

Table of Contents

Abstracts

• Examination-Type Preferences of College Science Students and Their Faculty in Israel and USA: A Comparative Study

Uri Zoller and David Ben-Chaim
Haifa University&endash;Oranim, Israel
Steven D. Kamm
Oklahoma City Community College 

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        The science-examination preferences of college science students and their science faculty were surveyed, using the TOPE questionnaire at a teacher training and a community college in Israel and the U.S., respectively. The results obtained in the two countries were ãintrallyä and ãinterlyä compared, in total and by gender, in terms of significant/no significant differences in the preferences made and the reasons provided by the students and faculty for their ranking. The findings suggest that: (a) college science students prefer mostly, the Israelis more so than the Americans, the nonconventional, written exams in which time is unlimited and any materials are allowed; (b) American college science students prefer the traditional class science examination (G) significantly more than their Israeli counterparts; (c) the preference of higher order cognitive skills (HOCS)-oriented exams (B, I and H) is significantly higher for female science students in Israel compared with no gender difference concerning the preferred examinations in the US, and rejection of oral examinations by all in both countries, significantly more by female students; and (d) there exists a significant gap between the preferred type of examinations of science students and their faculty in both countries. In view of the HOCS-orientation and the goal of conceptual understanding in current reforms of science education worldwide, the consonance between these curriculum objectives and examination practices is advocated. This, in turn, requires that provisions be made to lessen the gap between science teachers and their studentsâ examination type preferences for better science learning to occur.
 
• Exploration and Visualization: Making Critical Connections About Linear Systems of Equations

Karan B. Smith
The University of North Carolina at Wilmington 

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        Linear systems of equations are used to model relationships in both science and mathematics. Studies have shown that gaps exist in student understanding of important ideas about such systems. Students show weaknesses in understanding the connections between algebraic and geometric representations, the impact of scaling and approximation methods, and the validity of methods like Gaussian elimination. As demonstrated with the activities presented in this article, current technology allows readily accessible representations in algebraic, numeric, and geometric forms. Integrating these different representations into our curriculum helps students to think more critically about systems, to foster new perspectives, to feel more confident in their results, and to understand better the relations between different representations.
 
• The Effects of Teachers and Schooling on the Vocational Choice of University Research Scientists

Robert E. Rowsey
Auburn University 

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        Thirty-five research scientists from the academic areas of Chemistry, Geology, Physics and Zoology were surveyed to obtain information regarding the effect of teachers and formal schooling on their decisions to become scientists. All subjects included in the study held the Ph.D. degree and were actively involved in research. Data analysis indicated that 63 percent of the subjects had identified a genuine interest in science by the time they were in the ninth grade, but only 9 percent of them attributed this interest to their elementary or junior high school teachers. The data revealed that 43 percent of the population were influenced to become scientists by one or more high school teachers. Also, one-third of the subjects had made the decision to become a scientist by the time of high school graduation. Most of the other two-thirds of the individuals studied decided to become scientists because of the influence of college professors in their freshman- and sophomore-level courses. The subjects were asked if particular events that occurred in junior or senior high school science classes positively influenced them to become scientists. Seventy-eight percent of the subjects responded that there were no classroom activities occurring that attracted them to science.
 
• Middle School Studentsâ Understanding of Number Sense Related to Percent

A. Susan Gay
University of Kansas
Douglas B. Aichele
Oklahoma State University 

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        This study examined middle school studentsâ understanding of percent, focusing on number sense. Participants in the study were 106 seventh-grade and 93 eighth-grade students. Students were given a written test that included 21 multiple-choice questions and an open-ended item. Research interviews were conducted with 28 selected students. Students performed better interpreting a quantity expressed as a percent given a pictorial continuous region than when a pictorial discrete set of circles was given. Students had difficulty interpreting a quantity expressed as a percent of a number. The strategies used by students to make comparisons about percents represent a wide range of correct and incorrect approaches to the questions. In addition to the use of 50% and 100% as common reference points, students successfully applied fractional relationships, estimation and mental computation to make comparisons. A variety of inappropriate strategies which included computational procedures and numerical comparisons were also employed, some of which resulted in the correct multiple-choice response.
 
• The Nature of Student Thinking in Life Science Laboratories

Daniel P. Shepardson
Purdue University 

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        The nature of student thinking in confirmation and open-inquiry laboratory activities was compared. Student thinking in laboratory activities was contextualized by the laboratory activity structure and teacher and student interactions. Students in each laboratory treatment were observed throughout five life science laboratories, with the life science topic consistent across treatments. From a frequency perspective there appeared to be no difference in the student thinking processes exhibited across life science content. Based on the multiple regression analysis, however, the nature of student thinking differed across laboratory treatments. Student thinking processes exhibited in confirmation laboratories emphasized procedures and techniques, making sense of and doing the laboratory, whereas student thinking in open-inquiry laboratories emphasized data analysis, making sense of the results. Student-student interactions contributed more to student thinking in open-inquiry laboratories, whereas teacher-student interactions promoted student thinking in confirmation laboratories.
 
• Integrated Mathematics Interfaced With Science

Joe Dan Austin, Sharon Walen
Montana State University
James Hirstein
University of Montana 

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        This study is a description of a high school mathematical curriculum designed to implement the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards. The curriculum is teacher written, application based, uses technology where appropriate, has students working in groups, and incorporates open-ended problem solving. For one year, twenty-two classrooms of mainly ninth-grade students studied this new curriculum. Students took a pre- and post-treatment attitude questionnaire, PSAT examination, and an authors written open-ended end-of-the-year assessment. A control group of six classes of ninth-grade students also took the PSAT and the open-ended End-of-Year Tasks. Paired t-tests found significant attitude improvement in experimental studentsâ mathematical confidence. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) found no significant differences between experimental and control classes on the PSAT. Multivariate ANOVA found significant differences on the end-of-the-year test favoring experimental classes. These results suggest that a Standards-based curriculum can improve studentsâ mathematics attitude and problem-solving skills.