This study investigated the extent to which the proposed Factory of Ideas (FOI) teaching approach impacted on students' understanding of energy based on their prior knowledge. The FOI is a didactic approach that, unlike the classic cognitive conflict approach, employs a variety of activities to offer students a scientific conception for comparison…

The purpose of this study was to explore grade eight students' views in terms of different scientific reasoning progress levels. To explore students' views, phenomenographic study was used. The qualitative analysis of students' interviews elicited three major themes of students' views about scientific reasoning progress levels: naïve, mixed, and…

Understanding plate tectonics is pivotal to development of an integrated understanding of Geoscience topics. However, geology is frequently introduced to students in lower secondary school by describing separate processes, such as sedimentary rock formation, rather than investigating the overall driving forces for change. This study investigated…

This research aimed to understand what physics and chemistry pre-service teachers learn within pedagogical content knowledge in a lesson study with the topic speed of sound, 8th grade. Participants were three pre-service teachers. This was a qualitative and interpretative study. Data were collected from participant observation, individual…

In mathematics, physics, and chemistry, women are still considered to be at a disadvantage. In the present study, the development of the symptoms of learned helplessness was of particular interest. A study involving average and mildly gifted 8th-grade boys and girls (top 60%) investigated whether girls, regardless of ability level, experience…