Science data literacy (SDL) is an important literacy for college students in STEM majors to possess. However, the current understanding of SDL is incomplete and lacks effective cultivation strategies. This study integrates the core ideas of science literacy (SL) and data literacy (DL), while considering the characteristics of science data, and…

Literature indicates that virtual reality (VR) effectively supports and enhances spatial thinking in astronomy education. This study examines how pre-service elementary teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) characteristics manifest during astronomy VR material's development and utilization. Nine sophomores, organized into…

Since the 1980s, studies have increasingly shown that traditional teaching causes a deterioration in students' conceptions of physics and of learning physics. The present study examined the influence of an intervention on high school students' conceptions of physics and of learning physics. The intervention included two components: a unique design…

In spite of being readily available, photographs have played a minor and passive role in science classes. In our study, we present an active way of using photographs in classroom discussions with the use of a classroom response system (CRS) in middle school astronomy classes to teach the concepts of day-night and seasonal change. In this new…

Teachers choosing between different models to facilitate students' understanding of an abstract system must decide whether to adopt a model that is simplified and striking or one that is realistic and complex. Only recently have instructional technologies enabled teachers and learners to change presentations swiftly and to provide for learning…

Modeling is an important approach in the teaching and learning of science. In this study, we attempt to bring modeling within the reach of young children by creating the SimSketch modeling system, which is based on freehand drawings that can be turned into simulations. This system was used by 247 children (ages ranging from 7 to 15) to create a…

The need to prepare students with twenty-first-century skills through STEM-related teaching is strong, especially at the elementary level. However, most teacher education preparation programs do not focus on STEM education. In an attempt to provide an exemplary model of a STEM unit, we used a rapid prototyping approach to transform an…

Situating science concepts in concrete and authentic contexts, using information and communications technologies, including multimodal modeling tools, is important for promoting the development of higher-order thinking skills in learners. However, teachers often struggle to integrate emergent multimodal models into a technology-rich informal…

This study aimed to determine students' knowledge levels related to specific astronomy concepts and the effect of a planetarium environment on teaching. The study sample included seventh-grade (12-13 years old) students. For this purpose, 240 students of various socioeconomic and cultural levels from six schools (two in the city center, two…

Science teachers need an adequate understanding of nature of science (NOS) and the ability to embed NOS in their teaching. This collective case study aims to explore in-service science teachers' conceptions of NOS and the embeddedness of NOS in their teaching about astronomy and space. Three science teachers participated in this study. All…

In a European project--CoReflect--researchers in seven countries are developing, implementing and evaluating teaching sequences using a web-based platform (STOCHASMOS). The interactive web-based inquiry materials support collaborative and reflective work. The learning environments will be iteratively tested and refined, during different phases of…

Teachers' attitudes toward science, especially toward astronomy, are considered to be an important aspect of teaching and learning astronomy in school. Research findings to date remain inconclusive as to whether attitudes toward science change with the science courses taken or with increasing achievement. Therefore, preservice teacher attitudes…

This study explored young children's understandings of targeted lunar concepts, including when the moon can be observed, observable lunar phase shapes, predictable lunar patterns, and the cause of lunar phases. Twenty-one children (ages 7-9 years) from a multi-aged, self-contained classroom participated in this study. The instructional…

A questionnaire of 19 questions given to a total of 433 students in college preservice training for future high school teachers showed that science and nonscience majors held a series of misconceptions on several central topics in basic astronomy. (Author)

Describes the Virtual Solar System (VSS) course which is one of the first attempts to integrate three-dimensional (3-D) computer modeling as a central component of introductory undergraduate education. Assesses changes in student understanding of astronomy concepts as a result of participating in an experimental introductory astronomy course in…