IntroductionThe Science Museum of Minnesota, located in St. Paul, recently opened a new theatre called the Omnitheatre. The Omnitheatre provides a movie-in-the-round experience which may prove to be an excellent science educational tool. Its first movie-experience, which has been attended by hundreds of school groups, is entitled "Genesis." The film depicts ideas associated with the "Big Bang" theory of the universe and the theory of plate tectonics. The spoken narrative which accompanies the visual presentation treats these concepts using vocabulary and ideas which are new to many of the school children attending the movie.What is learned by the school children attending the "Genesis" experience? To what extent can this be a more effective learning experience if the attention of students is focused on the concepts of plate tectonics and "Big Bang" theory before the field trip to the Omnitheatre? Does preliminary instruction help one ability group of students (lower, middle, upper) more than another? These are questions this study attempted to address.

Several researchers have suggested that the computer holds much promise as a tool for science teachers for use in their classrooms (Bork, 1979, Lunetta & Hofstein, 1981. It also has been said that there needs to be more research in determining the effectiveness of computer software (Tinker, 1983).This study compared the effectiveness of microcomputer simulated experiences with that of parallel instruction involving hands-on laboratory experiences for teaching the concept of volume displacement to junior high school students. This study also assessed the differential effect on students' understanding of the volume displacement concept using sex of the students as another independent variable. In addition, it compared the degree of retention, after 45 days, of both treatment groups.It was found that computer simulated experiences were as effective as hands-on laboratory experiences, and that males, having had hands-on laboratory experiences, performed better on the posttest than females having had the hands-on laboratory experiences. There were no significant differences in performance when comparing males with females using the computer simulation in the learning of the displacement concept. This study also showed that there were no significant differences in the retention levels when the retention scores of the computer simulation groups were compared to those that had the hands-on laboratory experiences. However, an ANOVA of the retention test scores revealed that males in both treatment conditions retained knowledge of volume displacement better than females. 0

During the 1960s and 1970s a number of family learning projects evolved, most of which focused on pre-schoolers and their parents. The goal of some of these programs was to provide enjoyable, structured experiences in which parents and their children learned together. Recently, a number of institutions have been sponsoring enrichment science classes or learning experiences for parents and older children. The study described here is based on a project funded by the National Science Foundation (DISE No. 07872) which was attempting to show that it was possible to increase scientific literacy of two different age groups by simultaneously exposing parents and their middle school children to short courses in science. The project is an outgrowth of a study previously r e p o d (Gennaro, Bullock, Br Alden, 1980) carried out at the Minnesota Zoological Gardens. The study is based on data obtained during the first two years of the project and used various data gathering pmedure.~ such as the use of questionnaires, interviews, observations, and cognitive testing. It was found that children register for the courses primarily because of interest in the subject matter of the courses and that parents register because of their desire to n u t u x the child and the child's interest in the subject matter of the course. Both parents and children made significant gains in learning as measured by subject matter tests. Participants reported that the experience was both enjoyable and valuable. Children's attitudes toward their parents and the course were sigpificantly higher if the children perceived a highly cooperative learning environment with their parents. Parents who scored in the medium or high range on the pretest had significantly more interactions with their children concerning information about course tasks than those who scored low on the pretest.

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