Project EXCITE, a seven-year federally funded teacher professional development
program prepared middle grade teachers to design and implement integrative, problembased,
environmental health curricula with over 1600 students. This article examines how
this program, through the developed and implemented curricula, impacted both statebased,
proficiency test scores and process skills test scores. Analyses of proficiency and
performance scores indicate positive effects for both measures, offering educators further
support for the use of integrative problem-based environmental health science curricula.

The aims of this research were to cross-validate the Cultural Learning Environment
Questionnaire (CLEQ) in the local context of Brunei and to evaluate culturallysensitive
factors (gender equity, collaboration, deference, competition, teacher
authority, modelling and congruence) in secondary science students’ learning
environments. Data were collected from 1417 secondary science students enrolled at
non-government schools in Brunei and their 49 science teachers by administering the
CLEQ (Fisher & Waldrip, 1997). Factor, validity and reliability analyses supported
the instrument’s suitability to evaluate the culturally-sensitive factors associated with
the cultural learning environment of these students. The students generally believed
that both genders are treated equally and that they are independent learners, although,
to some extent, they were reluctant to give their independent views in their classes.
The perceived, predicted and observed mean values by students, teachers and
researcher, respectively, were comparable for all these scales except for teacher
authority and modelling scales, where differences were highly significant. The data
revealed no gender, regional, or grade level differences in students’ perceptions.
However, perceptions of students from different race groups were different.
Implications of the research are discussed.

One component of the science education reform process must be a sustained effort
toward making the study of science more interesting and meaningful to students,
especially in urban areas. Creating authentic learning opportunities where a scientist
instructs the curriculum intervention is one way to make science lessons more relevant.
This project involved assessing student cognitive gains on a locally relevant science
topic: eastern coyotes (Canis latrans). This study used a mixed methodological
(qualitative – quantitative) framework for students from two urban environmentallybased
high school science courses in the Boston area. Both classroom interventions
tended to show meaningful learning gains when assessed before and after the short (two
to three week) curriculum unit. Furthermore, students retained much of this knowledge
during a post-delayed survey ten weeks after the curriculum unit finished. Coyotes and
other common wild animals could potentially be used as flagship or charismatic species
to trigger increased interest and a knowledge base of the environment in which students
live.