selected science resources

Books

(with editorial or publisher's review)

Bean, J.C. (1996). Engaging Ideas: The Professor's Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
"A practical nuts and bolts guide for teachers from any discipline who want to design interest-provoking writing and critical thinking activities and incorporate them into their courses in a way that encourages inquiry, exploration, discussion and debate."
Bligh, D.A. (2000). What's the Use of Lectures? San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
"This book is an indispensable resource to anyone who is or aspires to be a college teacher. Donald Bligh first examines in great but readable detail the nature of the teaching and learning exchange that takes place in a classroom lecture, bringing the latest research to bear on his many insights about how and how much students actually retain and learn and what strategies lecturers can use to enhance students' attention and retention. Bligh then goes on to provide a step-by-step guide to developing an effective lecture. Throughout the book he also compares and contrasts the lecture format with other currently used teaching approaches, such as small group discussion, so that readers will more clearly understand the distinctive teaching strategies that work for each mode."
Boyer, E.L. (1997). Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
"Ernest L. Boyer's Scholarship Reconsidered offers a new paradigm that recognizes the full range of scholarly activity by college and university faculty and questions the existence of a reward system that pushed faculty toward research and publication and away from teaching."
Delisle, R. (1997). How to Use Problem-Based Learning in the Classroom. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum development.
"Robert Delisle details the PBL process, the teacher's role in problem-based learning, and important background information about the history of PBL. The book describes a variety of PBL lessons, including problems, a chart for organizing student research, and information about assessment."
Dunbar, R. (1995). The Trouble with Science. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
The author "asks whether science really is unique to Western culture, even to humankind. He suggests that our "trouble with science"-our inability to grasp how it works, our suspiciousness of its successes-may lie in the fact that evolution has left our minds better able to cope with day-to-day social interaction than with the complexities of the external world."
Freedman, R.L.H. (1994). Open-Ended Questioning: A Handbook for Educators. Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
"This step-by-step guide helps educators to master a simple method for writing open-ended questions and use them to assess student progress. Examples throughout the text illustrate the method, which encourages higher-level thinking and allows for a variety of responses from students at all levels of experience."
Glassick, C.E., Huber, M.T., and Maeroff, G.I. (1997). Scholarship Assessed: Evaluation of the Professoriate. San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass Publishers.
"Begun under the oversight of Ernest L. Boyer, "Scholarship Assessed" is the long-awaited follow up to his previous book, "Scholarship Reconsidered". This book examines the changing nature of scholarship in today's colleges and universities. It proposes new standards for scholarship and faculty performance with special emphasis on methods for assessing and documenting effective scholarship."
Mazur, E. (1997). Peer Instruction: A User's Manual. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
"Peer Instruction is an interactive teaching style that actively involves students in the learning process by focusing attention on underlying concepts through interactive "ConcepTests", reading quizzes, and conceptual exam questions. Results, assessed through scores on the Force Concept Inventory and final exams, show that students better understand concepts and perform better on conventional problems in this environment. It can be easily adapted to fit individual lecture styles and used with any textbook. Eric Mazur's Peer Instruction approach has been successfully field-tested in a variety of settings, most of them quite different from his home campus at Harvard University."
Seymour, E. and Hewitt, N.M. (1996). Talking About Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
"Explores the reasons undergraduates switch from science, mathematics, and engineering majors to nonscience majors, based on a three-year, seven-campus study. Chapters on preparation, careers and lifestyles, and gender and race issues are illustrated with first-hand accounts of students' experiences in the sciences. An overview chapter explains the study's methods and findings. For educators and those who work with college students." (Book News, Inc.)
Siebert, E.D. and McIntosh, W.J., eds. (2001). College Pathways to the Science Education Standards. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press.
"This one-of-a-kind book applies the Standards, written for K-12 classes, to the college level. Designed for postsecondary science content teachers, science educators, and administrators, this book shows how to implement all six areas of the Standards on campus--teaching, professional development, assessment, science content, science education programs, and science education systems. To bring the topic to life, 40 "From the Field' vignettes give concrete examples of how higher education faculty and administrators have already used the Standards to make classrooms more student-centered and inquiry-based."
Trefil, J. and Hazen, R.M. (2001). The Sciences: An Integrated Approach (3rd ed.). New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
"This book takes an integrated approach to science to educate readers so they understand the issues and can participate in the debates that will only grow over time. It provides readers with a sound overview of the principles of sciences required to make decisions related to issues such as healthcare, technology, the environment, alternative energy sources, nutrition and medical research."
Walvoord, B.E. and Anderson, V.J. (1998). Effective Grading: A Tool for Learning and Assessment. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
"The grading process can yield rich information about student learning. Effective Grading enables faculty to go beyond using grades as isolated artifacts and helps them make classroom grading processes more fair, time-efficient, and conducive to learning. Classroom assessment of student learning can then contribute to departmental and general-education assessment in ways that meet the needs of institutions and accrediting agencies. Tailored to specific needs of faculty members who seek to make grading a valuable part of student learning and motivation, Effective Grading balances assessment theory and hands-on advice. It offers an in-depth examination of the link between teaching and grading and provides concrete guidance on such critical steps as setting and communicating grading standards, developing assignments to grade, managing time spent on grading, and providing feedback for students."

This project is supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation
www.nsf.org