While recent research has examined students' and teachers' understanding of models and modeling, few studies have focused on how teacher educators can support preservice elementary science teachers in envisioning enriched learning processes and outcomes for their students while engaging in modeling practices. Informed by reflective practices…

This study examined the ways in which elementary science teachers notice, interpret and respond to students' sensemaking resources that students bring to school in the form of science toolkits. The science toolkits are comprised of three sensemaking resources: (1) ideas; (2) out-of-school experiences and funds of knowledge, and (3) youth genre.…

National standards that centre on the underpinning epistemic practices of the discipline has emphasised the need for teachers to focus much more on knowledge generation approaches to learning. Adopting a complexity perspective, we attempt to understand how teachers shift over time by examining their epistemic orientation to knowledge generation…

Science teachers usually view students' uncertainty as a barrier to overcome, a negative experience to be avoided, a deficiency in need of remedy. Building on the theory of deep learning in science as a generative and sensemaking process, the purpose of this design-based study is to identify tactics for teachers to manage their students' epistemic…

Exploring science teachers' classroom assessment behaviors is a way to understand the professional knowledge competencies underlying effective teaching practices. One of the most important components of in-class assessments is teacher questions. However, studies examining teacher questions that provide support to accurately determine student…

The purpose of the study is to identify the Sense of responsibility of science teachers towards the learning of their students from the perspective of the teachers themselves; the study has included three domains (cognitive, skillful, and emotional); and to demonstrate the differences in the level of responsibility among science teachers based on…

Contextualised learning is required for learners to master successfully the 'big ideas' of science and to perceive the relevance of science education. Science curricula can either foster or impair teaching for contextualised learning depending on what science they plan to be taught and the way they recommend this to be done. This paper presents an…

Purpose: This study aims to investigate how primary teachers, when taking part in digital didactic design (D[superscript 3]) workshops at the Digital Laboratory Centre at the university, develop their insights about how digital tools can be designed and further used in their teaching of science. The research question addresses how D[superscript 3]…

As educators learn about new tools to utilise in their classrooms, there can be questions and ambiguity that accompany the new information; yet they are not always given time or support to address their questions. Acknowledging and embracing the uncertainties that teachers inevitably face when learning about new instructional approaches can help…

Studies focusing on pre-service teachers have shown that the inclusion of the learning cycle model in a methods course result in improvement in understanding of and attitude toward the learning cycle model of inquiry. However, pre-service teachers' understanding and beliefs about the learning cycle model may remain varied and inaccurate and their…

A growing body of work regarding teacher learning and implementation of reform has pointed to the significant role organizational contexts play in shaping teachers' engagement with reform and their implementation decisions. Within science education, the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and standards reflective of the…

The main purpose of this study was to examine teachers' self-perceived practices of context-based science teaching and learning in science classrooms. To achieve this purpose, a cross-sectional survey design was employed. The data were collected from 360 upper primary science teachers in East Gojjam Administrative Zone, Ethiopia. A multistage…

This article examines the key change processes (KCPs) in the critical systemic functional linguistics praxis (CSFLP) of a science teacher, the first author, as she learned SFL theory as a metalanguage for thinking about language and for teaching science writing to culturally and linguistically diverse students. In this case study (Yin, 2012),…

Literature on school education suggests that teaching and learning science in basic level community schools in Nepal is largely theoretical. Consequently, achievement levels and the understanding of concepts of science is much below policy expectations. This paper builds on a shift from dogmatic lecturing to activity-based pedagogy using school…

The Australian Science Teachers Association offers an innovative international professional development program for science teachers called the Science Teachers Exchange -- Japan. The program offers Australian and Japanese teachers an opportunity to travel to the corresponding country, allowing the teachers to grow in their knowledge of the…