Danielle J. Ford

Sixth Graders' Conceptions of Rocks in their Local Environments

Instruction in a constructivist framework involves creating opportunities for learners to integrate new learning about abstract geological ideas with prior science-related experiences, and to apply ideas learned in class to everyday events. But do children readily make these connections? I surveyed 55 sixth grade children about their knowledge of rocks in their local area. Results indicate that students can provide appropriate but general definitions for rocks and explanations of their formation. They can name examples of rock specimens in their home areas, but have little understanding of the underlying geology of the region. Implications of these results emphasize that making local connections, especially in activities such as rock and mineral identification, should be included in K-12 geological education.

The Science Semester: Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry for Prospective Elementary Teachers.

We describe the Science Semester, a semester-long course block that integrates three science courses and a science education methods course for elementary teacher education majors, and examine prospective elementary teachers’ developing conceptions about inquiry, science teaching efficacy, and reflections on learning through inquiry. The Science Semester was designed to provide inquiry-oriented and problem-based learning experiences, opportunities to examine socially relevant issues through cross-disciplinary perspectives, and align with content found in elementary curricula and standards. By the end of the semester, prospective elementary teachers moved from naïve to intermediate understandings of inquiry and significantly increased self-efficacy for science teaching as measured on one subscore of the STEBI-B. Reflecting on the semester, prospective teachers understood and appreciated the goals of the course and the PBL format, but struggled with the open-ended and student-directed elements of the course.

Book Review: Designing and Implementing Technology-Rich Learning Environments That Facilitate Authentic Inquiry Innovations in Science and Mathematics Education: Advanced Designs for Technologies of Learning:

The potential benefits of technology in the contexts of mathematics and science education are increasingly justified by promising research on the design and implementation of technology-rich learning environments and their contributions to student learning. While the challenges of implementing beneficial technologybased programs in all classrooms remain an issue (Cuban, 1993; Salomon & Perkins, 1996), research and design stretching beyond current limitations does allow us to imagine what might be possible for future math and science classrooms. The contributors to this edited volume present a selected representation of technology-based approaches to science and math education in K-16 environments. While innovations in technological tools are prominently featured, many of the papers in this collection also inform research on reasoning, representation, and cognition in science instruction. The eleven papers (plus introduction) in this edited volume are concentrated in science, rather than mathematics (an unfortunate imbalance—only Roschelle, Kaput, and Stroup address mathematics education), and focus primarily on middle school, high school, and college settings. The design of these tools and their uses in classrooms are justified with generally constructivist views on learning science—that students engage in learning that stems from their own questioning and interests, that school science not be out of sync with the technological advances and conventions of scientific practice, and that students develop metacognitive strategies to mediate their content and inquiry learning. To briefly outline the contributions: Kozma explains the importance of understanding representations in developing knowledge of chemistry, and describes MultiMedia