ABSTRACT
Anxiety about science, taking science courses, and teaching science are topics of concern and comment among science educators. The teacher is of central importance in communicating the elements of science (Jacobson, 1975), yet elementary teachers are poorly prepared (Mechling, 1984) and spend very little time teaching science (Cawelti & Adkison, 1985; Mechling & Oliver, 1983; NSF, 1980). Achievement scores are declining nationally (Rakow, Welch, & Hueftle, 1984; Rothberg, 1984), do not compare favorably internationally (Coleman, 1985; Franz & Enochs, 1982), and few women are enrolled in science classes (Matyas, 1985).
