Vocabulary knowledge plays a critical role in supporting text comprehension and broader learning across the school day. While school offers opportunities to build vocabulary knowledge, studies have shown that very little time is devoted to vocabulary instruction at the elementary level. This may be, in part, because educators commonly report being…

This article attempts to address the challenge that preschool teachers face, when integrating a specific content area, science, with play. The study builds on the theoretical framework of Play-Responsive Early Childhood Education and Care (PRECEC), in which teaching, and play are understood as a mutual activity. In this mutual activity, teachers…

Preservice elementary teachers enter their science methods courses with a range of prior experience with science practice. Those prior experiences likely inform much of their science pedagogy and goals. In this study, the authors examine how a cohort of preservice elementary teachers engaged in science practice as they learned content in a physics…

Developing a deeper understanding of scientific concepts is one of the primary goals of science education. To improve students' conceptual understanding, it is necessary to explore the major characteristics of their learning process. Informed by previous work on conceptual understanding, this study focuses on the concept of evaporation, exploring…

This explanatory case study aims to investigate conceptual changes on the part of gifted and talented students and describe their reflective thinking with regard to problem-solving as part of the problem-based learning (PBL) process. Twenty-two gifted and talented fourth grade primary school students participated in the study. The students were…

Through a meta-analysis, this study examines how effective particulate nature of matter (PNM)-based intervention studies are at improving academic performance. Well-known databases (e.g., ERIC, Springer Link, Taylor & Francis, and ScienceDirect) were used to look for the PNM-based intervention studies via specific keyword patterns. Also, a…

While technology advancement and scientific innovation have created new topics and fields of inquiry in STEM education, external content experts such as university scientists/researchers have been increasingly involved to enhance K-12 teachers' disciplinary understandings and professional development (PD). However, few studies have scrutinized…

A system of climate learning includes students, educators, administrators, educational leaders, community members, and others across different contexts and from diverse lived experiences. As people begin to foster climate learning within these systems, the work of drawing people together in this work can seem daunting. However, the lessons from…

Although there has been extensive research on students' understanding of the particulate nature of matter (PNM), there is still a lack of research on contexts that can be used to teach this challenging topic. In a previous design-based research study, the authors developed a teaching-learning sequence (TLS) on the PNM in the context of crystal…

Visualizations are commonly used in educational materials, however not all visualizations are equally effective at promoting learning. Prior research has supported the idea that both perceptually rich and bland visualizations are beneficial for learning and generalization. We investigated whether the perceptual richness of a life cycle diagram…

This study aims to help concrete thinkers learn science through the use of Piagets' cognitive processes (CPs) during scientific inquiry. A total of 203 fourth-grade students participated as volunteers in a pre-post control group study. The students were from urban, remote rural, and suburban regions of Indonesia. Data analysis demonstrated that…

Understanding the role of metacognitive judgements in science learning can significantly contribute to the qualification of both teaching and learning processes. We present some of the existing relationships between two important theoretical categories in education: metacognitive judgements and cellular theory learning. The research was conducted…

Awe is a complex emotion theorised to impact science learning and practice. In science education, awe has the potential to motivate explanation-seeking, promote conceptual change, and instill feelings of connectedness to the natural world. This exploratory study examined teachers' experiences with awe as well as their uses of awe in their science…

Computational thinking (CT) has great potential for enhancing mathematics and science lessons in K-12 education. Numerous studies demonstrate that under the right circumstances, CT integration in math and science can improve student learning and promote deeper understanding. However, teacher education currently does not include preparation for…

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of STEM activities carried out with the flipped learning model within the scope of science class on the scientific creativity, perceptions about STEM, and attitudes towards STEM of 4th grade primary school students and to reveal students' opinions about the learning process. The sample of this…