Teaching controversial issues poses challenges for teacher candidates, stemming from apprehensions about potential backlash and gaps in content and pedagogical knowledge. The prevailing emphasis on tested subjects such as mathematics and reading/writing in elementary school education often sidelines social studies and science, limiting…

The study examined how well Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO)-based formative evaluations might improve students' comprehension in the context of science education, with an emphasis on seismic events like earthquakes. Using a mixed-method research design, the study assesses students' entry understanding, how they advance through…

This collaborative action research project documents the exploration and student learning outcomes of COVID-19 socioscientific issue-based lessons. Analysis of student interviews, surveys, and work, combined with classroom observations, revealed that COVID-19 socioscientific issue-based lessons improved students' conceptual understanding of the…

Background: There is a growing view that 'Big Ideas of science education' are useful for teaching science but there is not much knowledge of how teachers work with them. Purpose: This study explores the conceptualisation and practice of the use of Big Ideas of science education by primary and secondary teachers in Chile. Sample: A total of 63…

Background: Teachers need to make sense of curricular materials and design instruction to ensure students will be positioned to pursue their own arc of inquiry in curriculum enactment. Whole-group discussions are crucial opportunities for curricular sensemaking, yet planning and enactment can be challenging. Methods: We used a single, revelatory…

Interdisciplinary collaborations to help students compose for discipline-specific contexts draw on multiple expertise. Science, technology, education, and mathematics (STEM) programs particularly rely on their writing colleagues because (1) their academic expertise is often not writing and (2) teaching writing often necessitates a redesigning of…

National efforts to reform undergraduate education have highlighted the need to relate abstract concepts in biology to real-world examples, especially for non-majors who may undervalue scientific processes. We therefore decided to introduce a module titled "Climate Change, Sustainable Practices and Plastic Pollution," utilizing such…

This paper describes a three-year, design-based research project to redesign a year-long, project-based advanced placement environmental science course to better support student engagement and the development of environmental citizen identities. In the initial implementation, students' increased understanding of environmental problems…

The main purpose of this research was to develop a guide material in line with learning outcomes of the unit for the 5th Graders titled Solving the Puzzle: Our Body in order to be utilized during out-of-school learning activities by science teachers. There is no guide material developed in our country for science teachers to be used in out-of…

Science education in the US entered a period of reform in 2011 with the development and implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The NGSS have subsequently been adopted in 18 states. School districts within these states are in the process of adjusting science curricula to align with the academic expectations described by the…

Science communication is a diverse and transdisciplinary field and is taught most effectively when the skills involved are tailored to specific educational contexts. Few academic resources exist to guide the teaching of communication with non-scientific audiences for an undergraduate science context. This mixed methods study aimed to explore what…

This paper examines teachers' experiences in responding to a new Chemistry curriculum in the province of Manitoba in Canada informed by a "tetrahedral" orientation (Mahaffy, 2005) as a pedagogical framework for the teaching of Chemistry. This tetrahedral orientation endorses macroscopic, microscopic, symbolic and human element teaching…

This study looked at a life science course that was offered at and taught by education staff of a large informal science institution (ISI) located in the Midwest. The curriculum, materials, and agendas for the course were developed by education staff and complemented a permanent life science exhibition. The researcher developed a content test…

California has embarked on a major new wave of curriculum reform with the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the new English Language Development (ELD) standards, and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The adoption of the CCSS builds a legacy of standards-based education reform in California that began with the…

California has embarked on a major new wave of curriculum reform with the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the new English Language Development (ELD) standards, and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The adoption of the CCSS builds a legacy of standards-based education reform in California that began with the…