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Live organisms versus digital video of the organisms were used to challenge students' naive ideas and misconceptions about blood, the heart, and circulatory patterns. Three faculty members taught 259 grade 10 biology students in a California high school with students from diverse ethnolinguistic groups who were divided into 5 classes using microscopes (128 students) and 5 classes using digital video (131 students) to compare blood transport among invertebrates, fish, and humans. The "What Is Happening in this Class?" (WIHIC) questionnaire was used for assessment of microscope and video groups to detect students' perception of their learning environment following these teaching interventions. The use of microscopes had a clear effect on the perception of the investigative aspects of the learning environment that was not detected with the video treatment. Findings suggest that video should not replace investigations with live organisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research shows that misconceptions about human blood circulation and gas exchange persist across grade levels. The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to investigate the prevalence and persistence of blood circulation misconceptions among prospective elementary teachers and 2) to evaluate the effectiveness of learning activities for discovering what students know and can explain about blood circulation and lung function. The context was an undergraduate introduction to biology course taught by two professors across three semesters at a state university. Independent reviewers identified five categories of erroneous ideas about blood circulation. Many categories still presented problems to students at the end of the course: 70% of prospective elementary teachers did not understand the dual blood circulation pathway, 33% were confused about blood vessels, 55% had wrong ideas about gas exchange, 19% had trouble with gas transport and utilization, and 20% did not understand lung function. Results show that an interview about a drawing as a final exam was significantly better at revealing different errors and a higher frequency of erroneous ideas compared with an essay exam. There is an urgent need for instructional tools to help undergraduate students realize the discrepancies between their own ideas about blood circulation and those of the scientific community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite national guidelines to reform K-12 science education, our students are not learning science any better. Conducted under the auspices of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a symposium examined several programs where professional scientists interact with classroom teachers to improve science education. Symposium participants described their projects and discussed the factors that contribute or detract from each project's success. The events of this symposium are critically analyzed. Four themes emerged as issues that affect the successful implementation and continuation of science education reform projects: scientific literacy as a primary goal, personal characteristics and commitment of project partners, curricular change built on social and developmental goals, and the incentive/reward structures in universities and school systems. This review of the emergent themes places the opinions of the symposium participants into the larger context of a growing science education research literature to inform others about synergy between professional scientists and classroom teachers. Our aim is to help others learn about the characteristics of effective partnerships to improve science education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]