Inquiry-based course experiences provide a scalable and equitable way to engage students in research. In this study, we describe how we introduced inquiry-based experiences to ten lower-division and upper-division courses across the biology curriculum at a regionally comprehensive public university serving the diverse population in a major…

This article introduces a flexible and easy-to-implement open-ended scientific inquiry activity called the Paper Towels Challenge. After experimentally determining which of three unbranded paper towels is the most absorbent, students discuss their results and methods. The teacher facilitates the discussion of epistemological issues. This activity…

This study aims to investigate the effects of an integrated Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) unit designed around the issue of sulfide mining on middle school students' socioscientific reasoning competencies (i.e., complexity, perspective taking, inquiry, skepticism, affordances of science). More specifically, students'…

Background: Scientific inquiry is a widely accepted methodology to promote science process skills. In inquiry activities, students develop their understanding by addressing questions, performing scientific research and interpreting results derived from their research. Developing these science skills to perform scientific inquiries is considered a…

This study examined pre-service primary teachers' (PPTs) initial NOSI conceptions and their evolution after the immersion in a specific teaching module focused on inquiry and NOSI. The participants were 40 PPTs attending a science education course during a semester. The study consisted of a pre-test/post-test design approach framed qualitative…

The study explored the impact of peer critiquing on preservice teachers' understanding of the nature of science, scientific inquiry, and argumentation in an undergraduate science content course. The aim was to investigate innovative teaching strategies that enhance preservice teachers' comprehension of these key aspects. This study showcased…

Seventeen years after the end of the Liberian civil war, which is partly blamed for the waning of the standard of education, the country is still grappling with providing a competency-based science educational experience that will enhance the science inquiry process skills of its youth. In this paper we used the constructivist theoretical…

The research that studies the improvement of elementary school students' science knowledge and the development of elementary students' abilities to use the scientific and engineering practices is restricted. The purpose of this research is to study the effects of an instructional intervention on the knowledge of the students of elementary school…

Undergraduate biology education has changed over the past decade, incorporating an iterative and evidence-based approach. Many educational assessments have confirmed the effectiveness of integrating authentic research and open-ended inquiry into introductory biology courses, demonstrating a significant positive impact on students' learning and…

Virtual labs provide space for students to iteratively test, observe, and revise their understanding so as to improve their scientific literacy. However, one of the challenges that students face is that they need to think and act like scientists so as to be sensitively alert to methodological flaws and various sources of error. This study thus…

Developing and communicating evidence-based explanations are regarded as essential skills in 21st-century learning. These skills are central to the process of scientific argumentation. Hence, teachers must adhere to a student-centered pedagogy that cultivates students' understanding and argumentation skills. This study investigated the effects of…

This study aimed to develop, implement, and evaluate argumentation-based inquiry teaching practices to train qualified science teachers. In this context, first, practices in argument-based inquiry were developed to have highly qualified individuals with cognitive flexibility; the ability to look at happening from divergent perspectives and…

This article introduces a science game which can be used for innovative teaching and as an assessment tool. The Shadow Races Game is designed for first and second grade students to learn the phenomenon of shadow through inquiry-based activities and questions that require the children to apply inferences from those activities. In this amusing board…

This study aims to determine the effects of activities based on the Prediction-Observation-Explanation [POE] strategy on sixth grade students' understanding of the particulate nature of matter. The study was carried out with a sixth grade group consisting of 41 students from a middle school in an eastern city. Three activities were carried out…

This paper explores students' ability to analyse and interpret empirical data as inadequate data analysis skills and understandings may contribute to the renowned disappointing outcomes of practical work in secondary school physics. Selected competences, derived from a collection of leading curricula, are explored through interviews and practical…