The objective of the current study was to identify an effective learning environment for kindergarten students as they acquire an initial understanding of scientific inquiry activities (SIA) and a simple (idealized) scientific inquiry cycle (SIC). The study aimed to examine (a) the effects of instructional support and (b) the role of similarity…

This longitudinal study examines the relationship between students' knowledge-in-use performance and their performance on third-party designed summative tests within a coherent and equitable learning environment. Focusing on third-grade students across three consecutive project-based learning (PBL) units aligned with the Next Generation Science…

This study, which was reviewed through the Registered Report process, examined the initial efficacy of the Scientific Explorers program (Sci2) on second-grade students' science achievement. Sci2 is grounded in the growing body of empirical research on science instruction, embedding principles of explicit instruction within a guided inquiry-based…

This case study investigates, at three Swedish schools, primary school students' knowledge of the equal sign. The schools were chosen as representatives of schools whose students have different socioeconomic backgrounds. The data consist of Grade 3 and 6 students' responses to an assessment form based on Matthews et al. ("JRME,"…

Guided by the theoretical framework of curriculum as a platform for talent development, this quasi-experimental field study investigated an intervention focused on engineering curriculum and curriculum based on a biography of a scientist through a comparative design implemented in low-income schools. Student outcome measures included science…

Experimentation skills are a central component of scientific thinking, and many studies have investigated whether and when primary-school children develop adequate experimentation strategies. However, the answers to these questions vary substantially depending on the type of task that is used: while discovery tasks, which require children to…

Learning to learn (L2L) is an important component of lifelong learning. First, the article discusses various possible definitions of L2L and identifies the most comprehensible definition, which provides the basis for the analysis. Subsequently, it presents the results of a pilot study carried out in the early stage of primary education. This study…