Although hands-on laboratory experiments are traditionally used in schools, virtual laboratories have entered today's classrooms, due to their specific affordances. In this study, we compared the effect of using hands-on and virtual laboratories in isolation to two different combinations on middle school (7th grade) students' acquisition of conceptual knowledge and inquiry skills. Our findings indicate that using hands-on and virtual laboratories sequentially instead of in isolation gives better results for students' acquisition of knowledge and inquiry skills. This result, together with similar findings from other studies, suggests that virtual and hands-on laboratories may have complementary affordances. In the current study, no advantage was seen for either of the two different combinations used.

The study reports on an investigation about the impact of science-technology-society (STS) instruction on middle school student understanding of the nature of science (NOS) and attitudes toward science compared to students taught by the same teacher using traditional textbook-oriented instruction. Eight lead teachers used STS instruction an attempt to improve student understanding of NOS concepts. The major findings of the study suggest that students experiencing STS instruction improve their understanding of the nature of science and attitudes toward science significantly more than do students who were instructed with traditional instruction. Analysis of the data indicates that students in STS classrooms attain more positive changes in their views about the NOS. Specifically, the STS students displayed powerful changes in their understanding of the ways in scientific theories and the scientist. Implications for improving teacher professional development programs are suggested.

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The purpose of this study was to determine whether Science, Technology, and Society (STS) learning increases student concept mastery, general science achievement, use of concepts in new situations, and attitudes toward science in middle school classrooms. The study involved two teachers and fifty-two students in grades 6 through 8. Two sections of middle school science were taught by two longtime teachers where one used an STS approach and the other retained a typical use of the textbook as a class organizer. Each teacher administered the same pre-and post-assessments. Major findings indicated that middle school students experiencing the STS format with constructivist teaching practices: (1) learned basic concepts as well as students who studied them directly from the textbook, (2) achieved as much general concept mastery as students who studied in a textbook dominated way, (3) applied science concepts in new situations better than students who studied science in a more traditional way, (4) developed more positive attitudes about science, (5) exhibited creativity skills that were more individual and occurred more often, and (6) learned and used science at home and in the community more than students in the typical textbook dominated section. Further, the STS approach coincided well with the kind of teaching across the curriculum that is (recommended as) central to teaching in middle schools.

The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of the Iowa Chautauqua Professional Development Program in terms of changes in concept mastery, use of process skills, application of science concept and skills, student attitudes toward science, student creativity, and student perceptions regarding their science classrooms. Participants were 12 teachers who agreed to participate in an experimental study where an inquiry approach was utilized with one section and traditional strategies in another section. A total of 24 sections of students were enrolled in inquiry sections (365 students) and traditional sections (359 students). The data collected were analyzed using quantitative methods. The results are tabulated and contrasted for students enrolled in the two sections for each teacher. The results indicate that student use and understanding of science skills and concepts in the inquiry sections increased significantly more than they did for students enrolled in typical sections in terms of process skills, creativity skills, ability to apply science concepts, and the development of more positive attitudes.

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