Despite numerous benefits, students do not always respond positively and engage in active learning in STEM courses. Understanding the factors that influence how students' respond to active learning is important to devising interventions that support their learning, especially for students from historically underrepresented groups. This study…

Although extensive research has shown the important educational value of technology-enhanced online units on students' science learning, few studies have looked at upper elementary students' knowledge integration in a web-based inquiry science environment (WISE). This case study investigates how upper-elementary students responded to an online…

Science activities that evoke positive emotional responses make a difference to students' emotional experience of science. In this study, we explored 8th Grade students' discrete emotions expressed during science activities in a unit on Energy. Multiple data sources including classroom videos, interviews and emotion diaries completed at the end of…

Building on the "questioning-based discourse analytical" framework developed by Singapore-based science educator and discourse analyst, Christine Chin, this study investigated the extent to which fifth-grade science teachers' use of questions with either an authoritative or dialogic orientation differentially restricted or expanded the…

In this study we investigated the pedagogical context of whole-class teaching with computer simulations. We examined relations between the attitudes and learning goals of teachers and their students regarding the use of simulations in whole-class teaching, and how teachers implement these simulations in their teaching practices. We observed…

There is on-going international interest in the relationships between assessment instruments, students' understanding of science concepts and context-based curriculum approaches. This study extends earlier research showing that students can develop connections between contexts and concepts--called "fluid transitions"--when studying…

Educational efforts to incorporate ethical decision-making in science classrooms about current science and technology issues have met with great challenges. Some research suggests that the inherent complexity in both the subject matter content and the structure and dynamics of classrooms contribute to this challenge. This study seeks to…

Student Response Technology (SRT) involves the use of hand-held remotes by students during classroom lectures to electronically respond to questions. This study surveyed 350 students enrolled in one of 13 lower-division university science classes taught by five different instructors who used SRT. The survey probed students' perceptions of SRT in…

This paper describes briefly the development and key features of one of the major context-based courses for upper high school students, Salters Advanced Chemistry. It goes on to consider the research evidence on the impact of the course, focusing on teachers' views, and, in particular, on students' affective and cognitive responses. The research…

This paper reports a qualitative study on students' informal reasoning on a controversial socio-scientific issue. Twenty-two students from four science classes in Norway were interviewed about the local construction of new power lines and the possible increased risk of childhood leukaemia. The focus in the study is on what arguments the students…

The purpose of this study was to (a) develop an analytical framework that represents classroom talk and questioning in science, (b) find out how teachers use questioning to engage their students in thinking about conceptual content that enables the construction of knowledge, and (c) identify the various forms of feedback provided by teachers in…