The use of investigations in science teaching is both common and commonly advocated for in science education literature. We suggest that the use of investigations should differ depending on the complexity of the subject matter. That complexity can vary depending on both the nature of the information and students' expertise levels. The present…

Inquiry learning is an effective learning approach if learners are properly guided. Its effectiveness depends on learners' prior knowledge, the domain, and their relationship. In a previous study we developed an Experiment Design Tool (EDT) guiding learners in designing experiments. The EDT significantly benefited low prior knowledge learners. For…

In the context of inquiry-based learning, it is widely acknowledged that fostering teachers' skills in formative assessment is vital for enhancing student learning. This study examined the impact of a formative assessment-based inquiry model on science student understanding and explanations. A quasi-experimental approach that adopts the design of…

Giving feedback to peers can be a powerful learning tool because of the feedback provider's active cognitive involvement with the products to be reviewed. The quality of peers' products is naturally an important factor that might influence not only the quality of the feedback that is given, but also the learning arising from this process. This…

Inspired by a theoretical view of knowledge as a resource, this study explored in detail how a student used knowledge as a resource when she engaged in problem-solving about rocks and what she learned as a result of the practice of solving scientific problems. The context of the study was an inquiry project conducted in an earth science course for…

Many studies have been conducted in recent years on the explanations given by preschool-age children about different natural phenomena. Nonetheless, very few studies have actually focused on the important domain of matter and its transformations. Specifically, the field of chemical reactions remains unexplored. This qualitative study aims to…

Technological innovations and changing learning environments are influencing student engagement more than ever before. These changing learning environments are affecting the constructs of student behavioural engagement in the online environment and require scrutiny to determine how to facilitate better student learning outcomes. Specifically,…

One of today's challenges in science education involves the development of appropriate conceptions of inquiry teaching and realizing how these experiences can support students' understanding of the nature of science and inquiry (NOS and NOSI). To meet this challenge, we developed a course for in-service science teachers, in which…

This study investigated the effects of providing domain information in an early stage of an inquiry process, together with an aligned hypothesis scratchpad, on inquiry learning, and hypothesis generation in particular. Participants were provided with basic domain information that was adapted to their prior knowledge (experimental condition) or…

Hypothesis-based reasoning with conditionals is a skill that is required for engaging in integral activities of modern elementary school science-curricula. The teaching of this skill at this early stage of education, however, is demanding, particularly in whole school classes in which it is difficult to adapt teaching to children's individual…

Purpose: While blended learning has been proved to be successful in learning outcomes, the landscape of blended learning has changed under coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Hence, the present study aims to explore first-year university students' perceptions of wholly blended learning during the pandemic, through the three constructs in the…

A majority of research in Computational Thinking (CT) mainly focuses on teaching coding to school students. However, CT involves more than just coding and includes other skills like algorithmic thinking. The current study developed an Online Inquiry-based Learning Platform for Computational Thinking (CT-ONLINQ) that follows Inquiry-Based Learning…

This qualitative study investigated the perceptions of prospective teachers on critical thinking (CT) skills before and after completing the Functional English (FE) course at the Bachelor of Education Honors (B.Ed. Hons) and Associate Degree in Education (ADE). A purposive sampling technique was employed to select 40 participants, with eight…

Hypothesis generation is an important but difficult process for students. This study investigated the effects of providing students with support for hypothesis generation, with regard to the testability and complexity of the generated hypotheses, the quality of the subsequent inquiry learning processes and knowledge acquisition. Fifty-two…

The results of an earlier four-year longitudinal research study on the development of experimental design skills led to the conclusion that 12-13 year old students probably need more help to design experiments than had been offered to them in that project. This paper reports the findings of the first year of a further four-year empirical research…