Science has long been regarded as an important subject in a school curriculum and science teachers play a vital role in the learning process of the students in the science classrooms as well as in other subjects. However, students still encounter problems related to their science teachers, which significantly influence their academic performance…

The objective of this study is to describe the way in which two important biological phenomena, namely diffusion and osmosis, are addressed in the classroom. The study builds on extensive research conducted over the past twenty years showing that students' appropriation of these two phenomena remains partial and incomplete. To understand some of…

Earlier studies have found that students, including adults, have problems understanding the scientifically accepted model of the Sun-Earth-Moon system and explaining day-to-day astronomical phenomena based on it. We have been examining such problems in the context of recent research on visual-spatial reasoning. Working with middle school students…

With the globalisation of education, large numbers of students with interrupted schooling and low English literacy levels represent both a quantitative and qualitative shift in the kinds of students faced by teachers in classrooms. In Australia, after a year in an intensive English language programme, immigrant and refugee students are placed in…