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Iowa Academy Of Science Officers & Directors; Standing Committee Chairmen; Section Chairpersons; Editorial Review Board

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

No abstract provided.

Nsta Pit Stop

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

You'll be able to make a pit stop at this year's area convention in Indianapolis on October 23-25. While we hope there's no need for "major repairs" you'll be able to refuel your tank of teaching ideas as you see and hear what others are doing.

Assessing Laboratory Instruction In Biology, Melton E. Golmon

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Biology curriculum developments of the last decade have emphasized the importance of laboratory instruction in the learning environment. Not only do most students enjoy laboratory work but it provides them with an opportunity to make first hand observations, manipulate equipment, collect data, organize data, and draw their own conclusions concerning this information. One teaching strategy for laboratory instruction developed by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) creates a setting in which a question can be formulated that may be answered as a result of laboratory work. Special instruction is given for specific laboratory techniques and skills when necessary but major …

Team Orientation In The Chemistry Laboratory, David N. West

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

The importance of laboratory experience for students is widely accepted by chemistry educators and usually includes the following behavioral objectives: 1. Training in the scientific method. 2. Developing skills with laboratory apparatus. 3. Learning and applying chemical theory. 4. Communicating laboratory results. It is the opinion of this writer that through a team orientation approach to instruction other behavioral objectives can be attained in laboratory situations that are also useful to students pursuing professional careers in chemistry.

Coal? What's That?

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

In any analysis of the energy resources now available to the United States of America, coal occupies a dominant if not a preeminent position. The very fact that, within the borders of the U.S., there is more energy in the form of coal (more than three trillion tons) than in all of the other combined resources of fossil fuel-petroleum, natural gas, oil shale, and bituminous sandstone-makes coal loom as our most important source of energy for the remaining years of this century, and perhaps for centuries to come.

A Pound Of Prevention: Teacher's Guide To Behavior Problems, James L. Hymes Jr.

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

They come to school with one big urge: to be liked by the other children, to find a place they can fit in. It is not a question of being in or out; IN they have to be. Children have only one choice: to be in on something good or to be in on something bad. No child can stand to be ignored. It feels better to be noticed for swearing, or for mistakes, or for forgetting, or for silliness, than not to be noticed at all.

On Appreciating Science

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

The scientific attitudes which should be developed are: An intense curiosity about the world in which we live; A firm understanding that every effect has a cause, and every cause is the effect of a prior cause; A firm belief in truth; Making careful and accurate observations; Weighing all the evidence before drawing a conclusion; Appreciating the debt owed to scientists of the past.

Earth Incorporated, Robert Rienow, Leona Train Rienow

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

"Earth" is a proper name. Do we speak of "the mars," or of "the jupiter," or of "the venus"? Then why "the earth"? It is a degradation of both our thinking and our very special planet.

Matemáticos: Una Mano De Obra Necesaria, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Module 5: Analysis Of Physics Problems And Test Questions, Francis P. Collea, Robert Fuller, Robert Karplus, Lester G. Paldy, John W. Renner

Physics Teaching and the Development of Reasoning: Workshop Materials

You may be wondering how to apply the concept of developmental stages in your physics teaching, To help you with this, we have prepared modules 5-11 dealing with differing aspects of instruction. Module 5 concentrates on the analysis and writing of physics problems and test questions. As you read the examples we have selected, keep in mind the characterisrtics of concrete and formal thought described in Module 2. A matter that we find difficult to resolve concerns how to give all students, regardless of the reasoning patterns they use initially, practice in problem solving. Furthermore, evaluation through tests should give …

Module 1: How Students Think, Francis P. Collea, Robert Fuller, Robert Karplus, Lester G. Paldy, John W. Renner

Physics Teaching and the Development of Reasoning: Workshop Materials

You have probably been curious at various times in your teaching career about the thinking strategies that students enrolled in physics appear to use to solve problems. It is difficult for most of us to understand that many students do not use reasoning patterns that seem to be obvious. Many students substitute numbers into a formula they remember, even though the formula may not be applicable to the problem at hand. This situation quite naturally leads us to wonder about the reasoning that students utilize when we would employ mental operations such as separating variables, excluding an irrelevant factor, or …

Module 4: Formal Thought, Francis P. Collea, Robert Fuller, Robert Karplus, Lester G. Paldy, John W. Renner

Physics Teaching and the Development of Reasoning: Workshop Materials

In Piaget’s theory, concrete thought is characterized by serial ordering, simple classification, conservation logic and other operations applied to objects that a person is able to observe or manipulate directly. Formal thought includes these operations but goes beyond them to utilize other processes in situations where one does not deal with tangible objects. Formal processes often involve proportional reasoning, separation of variables, elimination of contradictions, and class inclusion or exclusion operations.

Module 10: Teaching Goals And Strategies, Francis P. Collea, Robert Fuller, Robert Karplus, Lester G. Paldy, John W. Renner

Physics Teaching and the Development of Reasoning: Workshop Materials

Most physics classes include students who use concrete reasoning patterns on some occasions and formal reasoning patterns on others. Most likely their approach to a new kind of problem will Include a mixture of techniques derived from their previous learning, their awareness of their own reasoning, and their ability to engage in self-regulation. Obstacles to their success may stem from misconceptions they formed as a result of poorly assimilated prior learning experiences. So what? What does that tell me about the goals and strategies I might choose for my teaching? In this module we shall pursue the implications of the …

Module 8: Learning Activities For Self-Regulation, Francis P. Collea, Robert Fuller, Robert Karplus, Lester G. Paldy, John W. Renner

Physics Teaching and the Development of Reasoning: Workshop Materials

It is quite clear from the earlier modules in this workshop that a teacher's awareness of students' patterns of reasoning will influence his choice of subject matter, level of presentation, selection of text, and assignment of homework problems. We shall now describe some ways in which the learning activities can be planned so as to enhance the opportunities for self-regulation after a student is introduced to a new idea. On the basis of Piaget’s developmental theory, concrete learning activities play a central role in the improvement of a student's reasoning. The physics laboratory, therefore, is an especially important part of …

Osmosis, Allen R. Killpatrick

Physical Science Modules for Bioscience Students

OBJECTIVES

After you have completed this module, you will be able to:

a) describe qualitatively the pressure of blood in the human body as a function of location in the circulation system, i.e., aorta, artery, arterioles, ... , vena cava.

b) Discuss in a paragraph (short or long) how the osmotic pressure in the capillaries regulates the water level of the interstitial fluid under normal pressure.

c) Describe how a weak ventricle in the heart creates an edema in the capillaries. Use the terms of this module, i.e., abnormal pressure, water pressure inside and water pressure outside, in this description. …

Elementary Biological Statistics, Norman J. Chonacky

Physical Science Modules for Bioscience Students

It is assumed that you have been introduced to the ideas of parametric descriptions of statistical data (e.g., mean, standard deviation, etc.) in the context of physical measurements. These concepts must be broadened and generalized in their interpretations when used in the context of biological data. It is the purpose of this module to introduce appropriate biological examples and employ them to generate and illustrate these broader notions of statistical analysis. Of particular interest will be questions such as: "What is it that the mean value of a data set seeks to represent when there is no 'true value ' …

An Introduction To Model Rocketry For The Classroom Teacher, David Reese

All Graduate Projects

The writer of this project was in a fifth grade teaching position beginning Fall, 1974, in Lacey, Washington. The writer taught thirty students in a self-contained classroom situation. The purpose of this individualized study was to develop a general framework and assemble some specific materials which would aid others in starting and developing a program in model rocketry in an orderly and logical manner.

Gracious Reader, Please! Heed Humble Editor's Request

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Confusion says we need certain elusive copies of the ISTJ to complete the library at the Science Education Center.

On The Feasibility Of Coal-Driven Power Stations, O. R. Frisch

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

The recent discovery of coal (black, fossilized plant remains) in a number of places offers an interesting alternative to the production of power from fission. Some of the places where coal has been found show indeed signs of previous exploitation by prehistoric men, who, however, probably used it for jewels and to blacken their faces at religious ceremonies. The power potentials depend on the fact that coal can be readily oxidized, with the production of a high temperature and an energy of about 0.0000001 megawatt days per gram. That is, of course, very little, but large amounts of coal (perhaps …

Seeing Sound, Sondra Waltz

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Making sound visible is a useful activity in teaching students the concepts that sound is caused by vibrating objects and that different sounds are caused by different types of vibration. This particular activity makes it possible to see the sounds produced by observing a vibrating, metal plate. As the plate produces sound it vibrates violently in some areas and not at all in other regions. If a small amount of very fine sand or poppy seed is sprinkled on the plate as it vibrates, the seeds will move to areas where vibration is minimal and form distinct distributional patterns on …

Food From Newspaper

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Cellulose is the most abundant organic material which can be used as a source of food, fuel and chemicals. The net world-wide production of cellulose is estimated at one hundred billion tons per year. This is approximately 150 lbs. of cellulose per day for each and every one of the earth's 3.9 billion people. The energy to produce this vast quantity of cellulose comes from the sun and is fixed by photosynthesis.

Personalized System Of Instruction (Psi): An Alternative, James G. Buterbaugh, Robert Fuller

Personalized System of Instruction (PSI), or Keller Plan, Materials

Buterbaugh and Fuller discuss the Personalized System of Instruction--what it is, how it can (or cannot) be evaluated, and some problems which may be encountered with its use. If the lecture-taught course has instructors meeting the students as adversaries, continually answering redundant questions, haggling over half-credit for half-correct answers, and generally finding most students being inhibited by the lock-step timing of a lecture course, then PSI is an alternative. Extensive acceptance and employment of this alternative mode of instruction should cause instructional developers to take another look at the essential features of the system. PSI has been widely employed by …

Introduction To Workshop On Physics Teaching And The Development Of Reasoning, Francis P. Collea, Robert Fuller, Robert Karplus, Lester G. Paldy, John W. Renner

Physics Teaching and the Development of Reasoning: Workshop Materials

Are physics teachers in high schools, colleges, and universities knowledgeable concerning the reasoning patterns their students use? The personal experiences of many instructors and research carried out during the last few years indicate that a substantial fraction of physics students have difficulty applying functional relationships among variables, considering all necessary combinations of experimental and theoretical conditions of a problem, and examining their own reasoning critically to locate possible errors. The theory of intellectual development formulated by the Swiss psychologist and epistemologist Jean Piaget deals with these matters and can therefore be of help to physics teachers. We have prepared these …

Module 2: Concrete And Formal Thought, Francis P. Collea, Robert Fuller, Robert Karplus, Lester G. Paldy, John W. Renner

Physics Teaching and the Development of Reasoning: Workshop Materials

Observations of many children and young people attempting to perform problem-solving tasks have led Jean Piaget and other psychologists to formulate theories concerning the mental processes an individual uses to deal with problem situations. In this module, we shall introduce you briefly to stages of reasoning, a feature of Piaget 's theory we consider important for physics teachers.

Module 3: Proportional Reasoning, Francis P. Collea, Robert Fuller, Robert Karplus, Lester G. Paldy, John W. Renner

Physics Teaching and the Development of Reasoning: Workshop Materials

In Piaget' s theory, concrete operational thought is characterized by serial ordering , simple classification, and conservation logic applied directly to objects. A concrete thinker doing a Piagetian task must be able to observe objects and/or manipulate them. Formal operational thought involves proportional reasoning , separation of variables, elimination of contradictions, and class inclusion or exclusion operations. A formal thinker is able to work in situations where he does nor deal with tangible objects. The formal thinker can apply the operations used by a concrete thinker, but goes beyond these operations when solving problems.

Module 6: Analysis Of Learning Materials, Francis P. Collea, Robert Fuller, Robert Karplus, Lester G. Paldy, John W. Renner

Physics Teaching and the Development of Reasoning: Workshop Materials

Module 6 continues with the application of the concept of developmental stages in your physics teaching. The module concentrates on the analysis of physics texts and film loops, which provide important instructional inputs for students. As you read the excerpts we have selected for your review, keep in mind the characteristics of concrete and formal thought explained in Module 2. Also, remember that all students, regardless of their developmental stage, will find the text easier and will understand a new topic in a more broadly-based way if they can progress gradually from a concrete view of the subject. Of course, …

Module 7: Self-Regulation, Francis P. Collea, Robert Fuller, Robert Karplus, Lester G. Paldy, John W. Renner

Physics Teaching and the Development of Reasoning: Workshop Materials

How can students be made made aware of their own reasoning? This question identifies one aspect of formal thought. It must be answered if students are to proceed to formal thought by self-regulation, the process whereby an individual advances from one stage of reasoning to the next. We have alluded to self-regulation in several of the earlier modules, but concentrated on the characteristic reasoning patterns associated with each stage. In this module we shall describe self-regulation in detail.

Module 11: Suggested Reading, Francis P. Collea, Robert Fuller, Robert Karplus, Lester G. Paldy, John W. Renner

Physics Teaching and the Development of Reasoning: Workshop Materials

This module contains reprints of several articles related to the ideas of stages of development and self-regulation and a bibliography of books and articles that you may wish to study after you complete the workshop.

This module contains the following materials:

1. Reading list of suggested books and articles.

2. Are Colleges Concerned with Intellectual Development?
Joe W. McKinnon, Oklahoma City University
John W. Renner, University of Oklahoma
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICS 39: 1047 (September 1971)


3. Piagetian Theory and Instruction in Physics
John W. Renner and Anton E. Lawson
THE PHYSICS TEACHER, 11: 165 (March 1973)

4. Promoting Intellectual …

Workshop On Physics Teaching And The Development Of Reasoning: Complete Set Of Modules, Francis P. Collea, Robert Fuller, Robert Karplus, Lester G. Paldy, John W. Renner

Physics Teaching and the Development of Reasoning: Workshop Materials

The titles of the eleven workshop modules are as follows:

I. How Students Think
2. Concrete and Formal Thought
3. Proportional Reasoning of College Students
4. "Formal Thought"
5. Analysis of Physics Problems
6. Analysis of Instructional Materials
7. Self-Regulation
8. Learning Activities for Self-Regulation
9. Analysis of Physics Concepts
10. Teaching Goals and Strategies
11. Suggested Reading

The work is 135 pages; the pdf file is 19 Mbytes.

Thermometry And Heat Transport In The Human Body, Thomas C. Campbell, Norman J. Chonacky

Physical Science Modules for Bioscience Students

We've all grown up with sensations of hot and cold. You receive such specific sensations from touching objects, but also a generalized sensation from your environment. Thus, you may say: "This is hot; that is cold." But also, you say: "I am hot (cold, clammy, chilly, etc.)." These sensations are judgements about thermal conditions from the psychological point of view.

From the physical point of view, heat is transported energy; the body is an engine which transforms chemical energy to mechanical energy, and in doing so produces a residual amount of thermal energy from which the body must continually divest …