It is generally accepted that a robust science education includes knowledge of science, as well as knowledge "about" science, or, in other words, an understanding of the "Nature of Science." However, debates around what Nature of Science is and how to measure it are far from settled, and this compromises our ability to support…

The "Theory of Special Relativity" is widely regarded as a difficult topic for learners in physics to grasp, as it reformulates fundamental conceptions of space, time and motion, and predominantly deals with situations outside of everyday experience. In this paper, we describe embedding the physics of relativity into a computer game, and…

While Shulman argues that an important component of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is teachers' understanding of the alternative conceptions commonly held by students, relatively little is known about what students believe about many topics in the school curriculum. This paper focuses on a content area typically featured in Geography…

The purpose of this review is to present a comprehensive evaluation of science attitude instruments based on published psychometric evidence. A multitude of instruments have been used through the years and some have been linked to career choice and school performance. Substantiating such associations is of paramount importance if researchers wish…

Australian Education Review (AER) 51 elaborates on issues raised by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) Research Conference 2006: "Boosting Science Learning--What Will It Take?" It challenges current orthodoxies in science education and proposes a re-imagining that charts new directions for science teaching and…

Beliefs about science and religion held by students (n=44), teachers (n=10), and clergy (n=4) in a Lutheran secondary school in Australia were assessed via survey and interview. Participants' views of the relationship between science and religious beliefs were complex. Concludes that traditional science programs do not adequately address the range…

The substantial interest exhibited in the last decade in the identification of students' misconceptions of a wide range of scientific concepts has not extended to identification of students' misconceptions of the nature of science itself. This study examined the attitudes of 32 secondary school students, each from Canada, the United States, and…