The aim of this study is to construct a STEM competencies assessment framework and provide validity evidence by empirically testing its structure. Common interdisciplinary assessment frameworks for STEM seem to be scarce in the literature. Many studies use students' mathematics or science scores obtained from large-scale assessments or exams to…

Systems thinking (ST) is an essential competence for future life and biology learning. Appropriate assessment is critical for collecting sufficient information to develop ST in biology education. This research offers an ST framework based on a comprehensive understanding of biological systems, encompassing four skills across three complexity…

This study, in which the explanatory mixed design was used, has two aims. The first aim is the development of a scale to determine teachers' beliefs about the integration of mathematics and children's literature. The second one is to examine the beliefs of teachers on children's literature and mathematics teaching, with the data collected through…

This paper illustrates the role of metalanguage in an explicit literacy instruction to talk about the forms and functions of scientific genres, particularly the genre of explanation. In the context of science, metalanguage refers to the technical terms for talking "about" scientific language using words like law, hypothesis, and…

Teachers lack effective curriculum-based instruments to assess their students' scientific competence that would provide information for modifying their inquiry instruction. The main purpose of this study was to develop and validate a Curriculum-Based Scientific Competence (CBSC) test to assess students' scientific competence in a 1-semester Grade…

Motivation for an action is determined by the expectation for success and subjective judgment on task values according to the expectancy-value theory. Task values, including intrinsic value, attainment value, utility value, and cost, influence and predict the students' engagement in learning activities and their choices in the future. This study…

The purposes of this study are to investigate Turkish pre-service middle school mathematics teachers' ability in conducting valid proofs for statements regarding numbers and algebra in terms of their year of enrollment in a teacher education program, to determine the proof methods used in their valid proofs, and to examine the reasons for their…

The aim of this study was to develop and validate Science Homework Scale (SHS) which assesses middle-school (grades 6-8) students' perceptions of teachers' homework practices and homework self-regulation in science. Students' perceptions of teachers' homework practices included homework quality and feedback on homework while students' homework…

The objective of this study was to develop an instrument to measure school students' competence in learning science as part of a large research project in Taiwan. The instrument consisted of 29 self-report, Likert-type items divided into 2 scales: Competence in Scientific Inquiry and Competence in Communication. The Competence in Scientific…

This research was designed to study Taiwanese junior high school students' understanding about the validity of conditional statements. Distinguishing between validity and truth is a crucial topic in mathematical reasoning and argumentation but has been always neglected in the mathematics curriculum at junior high school level of schooling. The…

Three issues about students' reasoning, proving and understanding proof in number patterns are investigated in this paper. The first is to elaborate the features of junior high students' reasoning on linear and quadratic number patterns. The second is to study the relationships between 9th graders' justification of mathematical statements about…