Cognitive style differences, also known as 'empathizing' and 'systemizing' have been argued as one reason that may explain differences in children's motivation to learn science. Researchers claim that people with a 'systemizing' cognitive style are likelier to engage in science than those with an 'empathizing' cognitive style. As such, they…

Scientific inquiry is widely accepted as a method of science teaching. Understanding its characteristics, called Nature of Scientific Inquiry (NOSI), is also necessary for a whole conception of scientific inquiry. In this study NOSI aspects were taught explicitly through student inquiries in nature in two summer science camps. Students conducted…

Motivation to learn science plays an important role in the persistence, achievement, and career aspirations of students studying science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Several studies have focused on how supplemental summer programmes build science motivation in undergraduate STEM students, but few studies have focused on how such…

Youth are introduced to STEM topics through informal settings like science camps, aquaria, and zoos. In these interactive and sensory-rich environments, a well-designed programme can help participants to acquire knowledge and cultivate interest through experiential learning. Given the importance of informal activities in environmental education,…

The current research is to give an example to the inquiry-based science teaching implementations for facilitating knowledge acquisition and retention in a short period of time. Thus, the aim of the research is to transfer of acquired knowledge into different situations using sequential inquiry activities, which have challenging questions for…

This study focuses on a youth science camp for pupils in sixth to ninth grades that is organized annually by the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. The main idea of the science camp is to learn to do guided inquiry in nature. The study investigates the significance of science camp for encouraging young participants to learn science and how the camp…

Background: Asking questions is an important scientific practice, and students around the world are expected to learn how to ask their own research questions while performing inquiry. In contrast to authentic scientific inquiry, in most simple inquiry tasks that are carried out in schools, the research questions are given to the students. Here, we…

Advances in science education research have the potential to improve the way students learn to perform scientific interpretations and understand science concepts. We developed active, collaborative activities to teach skills in manipulating flow cytometry data using FlowJo software. Undergraduate students were given compensated clinical flow…

To date, there has been a wealth of research on participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, but most research focuses on the implementation of programs and whether these programs work. Such research can be expanded and enhanced by considering geographic perspectives on participation in the STEM fields and by…

The purpose of this three-year study was to examine secondary school students' attitudes about science in classrooms with "resident scientists" who had been trained in inquiry science teaching. The study was based upon a National Science Foundation (NSF) program called Project Flowing Waters, a five-year NSF Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12…

Inquiry-based instructional approaches are an effective means to actively engage students with science content and skills. This article examines the effects of an ongoing professional development program on middle and high school teachers' efficacy beliefs, confidence to teach research concepts and skills, and science content knowledge.…

This article presents a systematic review of research on the achievement outcomes of all types of approaches to teaching science in elementary schools. Study inclusion criteria included use of randomized or matched control groups, a study duration of at least 4 weeks, and use of achievement measures independent of the experimental treatment. A…

Inquiry-based instructional approaches are an effective means to actively engage students with science content and skills. This article examines the effects of an ongoing professional development program on middle and high school teachers' efficacy beliefs, confidence to teach research concepts and skills, and science content knowledge.…

"PlantingScience" is an award-winning program recognized for its innovation and use of computer-supported scientist mentoring. Science learners work on inquiry-based experiments in their classrooms and communicate asynchronously with practicing plant scientist-mentors about the projects. The purpose of this study was to identify specific…

This article reports on an alumni study of middle school participants in a university-based science camp; at the time of the study the youth were completing their junior or senior year of high school. The science- and technology-intensive program was set in an intentionally designed positive youth development context. The camp was free to youth…