This case study examines how material resistance (limitations posed by the physical world) and graph interpretation intersected during a high school biology investigation using digital sensors. We use an extended episode from a small group to illustrate how, in an inquiry-based unit, measuring near the resolution limit of a sensor caused scaling…

This study investigates upper secondary students' situational interest in a collaborative citizen science programme that involves genetic monitoring of freshwater fauna by analysing environmental DNA (eDNA) extracted from local pond water. The programme was attended by a sample that comprised 1879 students (M[subscript age] = 18.15, SD = 1.94)…

Explanation studies underlined the importance of using evidence in support of claims. However, few studies have focused on students' use of others' data (second-hand data) in this process. In this study, students collected data from a local water source and then took all the data back to the classroom to create scientific explanations by using…

A critical component of science and math education is reasoning with data. Science textbooks are instructional tools that provide opportunities for learning science content (e.g. facts about force and motion) and process skills (e.g. data recording) that support and augment reasoning with data. In addition, the construction and design of textbooks…

Science education trends promote student engagement in authentic knowledge in practice to tackle personally consequential problems. This study explored how partnering scientists and students on a social media platform supported students' development of disciplinary practice knowledge through practice-based learning with experts during two pilot…

There is on-going international interest in the relationships between assessment instruments, students' understanding of science concepts and context-based curriculum approaches. This study extends earlier research showing that students can develop connections between contexts and concepts--called "fluid transitions"--when studying…

This paper examines the use and role of the term "hypothesis" in science teacher education as described by teacher students. Data were collected through focus group interviews conducted at seven occasions with 32 students from six well-known Swedish universities. The theoretical framework is a sociocultural and pragmatist perspective on…

The results presented here derive from a longitudinal study of Swedish upper secondary science students' (16-19 years of age) developing understanding of key chemical concepts. The informants were 18 students from two different schools. The aim of the present study was to investigate the mental models of matter at the particulate level that…

This paper is based on a study of how students' read nature in different ecosystems. Its focus is on ecology and the context is outdoors. This literacy has to do with an ability to recognise organisms and relate them to material cycling and energy flow in the specific habitat that is to be read. A teaching sequence was designed in order to develop…

The National Science Concept Learning Study represented one of the largest and the most extensive surveys of its kind undertaken in Taiwan in recent years. A total of 36,093 students from the sixth, eighth, ninth, and eleventh grades participated in the main study. This paper provides the background information about the sampling and booklet…