Australian Science Education Project Research Articles

Practicalizing piaget at the asep guidelines conference 1970

‘To understand is to invent’ (Piaget, 1968). This paper examines the attempt of Les Dale, the Assistant Director of the Australian Science Education Project, to apply Piagetian theory to describing a theory of instruction for the Project. The historiographical method consists in examining and comparing instances of curriculum invention in science education in Australia starting with contemporary and retrospective accounts of the key figures (Fawns 1988a). This paper is a case record (Stenhouse, 1978) which synthesises public and personal material in the files collected by the author. It has been subjected to review by Dale and others including those to whom it was presented at A.S.E.R.A. It accompanies an earlier paper (Fawns, 1989) which assessed the social context of the Debate at the Guidelines Conference 20 years on.

“Coping with the modern world” the context and the debate at the Australian Science Education Project Guidelines Conference 1970

“Coping with the modern world” the context and the debate at the Australian Science Education Project Guidelines Conference 1970

Book Review: The Australian Science Facilities Program: A Study of Its Influence on Science Education in Australian Schools, Review of Research on Australian Science Education Project

Book Review: The Australian Science Facilities Program: A Study of Its Influence on Science Education in Australian Schools, Review of Research on Australian Science Education Project

Evaluating the Impact of a National Curriculum on Content‐Free Cognitive Outcomes

Summaries English This paper elucidates some of the conceptual, measurement and methodological problems associated with evaluating science curricula in terms of their impact upon students’ content‐free cognitive outcomes. In particular, a report is given of an investigation of the effects of incorporating ASEP (Australian Science Education Project) materials into the science programmes of a large sample of seventh‐grade students in Tasmania. In this investigation, the content‐free outcomes were assessed at the beginning and end of a school year by means of three measures of understanding of the nature of science and four measures of enquiry skills. It was found that a significant relationship emerged between the curriculum variables and one learning outcome, between sex and six learning outcomes, between socio‐economic status and one learning outcome, and between school type and all seven learning outcomes. All together, the curriculum shows a continuous influence on the general cognitive‐learning results...

Aspects of change associated with the concept of evolution in the Australian science education project

Aspects of change associated with the concept of evolution in the Australian science education project

Second Generation Curriculum Projects And Australian Science Education Project

Second Generation Curriculum Projects And Australian Science Education Project

Australian science education project: Overview of evaluation studies

Australian science education project: Overview of evaluation studies

Variations in the Environment of Self-Paced Classrooms: Their Nature, Determinants and Effects

In a series of studies where units from the Australian Science Education Project (ASEP) were used to guide classroom activities, a number of pre- and posttest measures were administered to assess pupils' understandings, their attitude to science and science concepts, and their perceptions of the learning environment. The Learning Environment Inventory and Class Activities Questionnaire were used to measure pupils' perceptions, and classroom behaviours were classified using a scheme designed especially for the purpose. The data were analysed using correlational, canonical correlational, and multiple regression techniques, and a number of interpretable findings were obtained. The introduction of the ASEP units did have a marked effect on the nature of classroom behaviours and led to changes in how pupils perceived the learning environment. Using the canonical and regression analyses it was possible to predict the class environment more successfully than individual successes in the environment, although the environmental measures contributed little to explaining the variance in the achievements, attitudes and satisfactions of individuals studying the ASEP units. There were some interesting congruences between the results from the behaviour and perception measures, but the findings also raise some queries about the use of both sets of measures in self-paced learning environments.

A review of current and planned research concerning the Australian Science Education Project

A review of current and planned research concerning the Australian Science Education Project

Additional characterization of the adenosatellite virus associated with the infectious canine hepatitis virus.

Additional characterization of the adenosatellite virus associated with the infectious canine hepatitis virus.

Formative evaluation and the australian science education project

Formative evaluation and the australian science education project