Learning progressions (LPs) are considered to have great potential to improve pedagogical practices. However, even with LPs, teachers may still be unaware of the barriers that keep students from progressing; many are struggling with essential pedagogical strategies to support students' progression. This study thus proposed an educative LP (ELP), a…

Quantum physics forms the basis for exciting new technologies, including quantum computers, quantum encryption, and quantum entanglement. The advancement of science and technology highlights the importance of mastering quantum physics and its applications, not only at the college level but also as early as high school. In this multiple case study,…

Across science disciplines, light is a common tool for measuring, characterizing, and catalysing molecules and molecular processes. Despite the ubiquity of light-based tools, little research has been done to investigate how students understand light and light-matter interactions (LMI). This topic is typically first introduced in first-year…

The structure and definition of professional knowledge is a continuing focus of science education research. In 2012, a pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) summit was held and it suggested a model of professional knowledge and skill including PCK, which was later often called the Consensus Model (Gess-Newsome, 2015. A model of teacher professional…

Troubleshooting activities require students to diagnose teacher-crafted erroneous examples by detecting and explaining the conceptual errors driving them. In a previous study, the author tested whether diagnosing erroneous examples and then scoring them using a rubric that contained the related worked examples, a step-by-step strategy to solve a…

This study investigates the modelling conceptualisation of secondary school students in two situations related to particle dynamics: pendulum's motion and horizontal motion. We performed in-depth clinical interviews with secondary school students (N = 10). Participants' ideas about properties which are not 'given' in empirical observations were…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the advance organiser model (AOM) on students' academic achievement in learning work and energy. The design of the study was quasi-experimental pretest-posttest nonequivalent control groups. The total population of the study was 139 students of three sections in Endabaguna…

In this study, an analysis of the structure of scientific explanations included in physics textbooks of upper secondary schools in Greece was completed. In scientific explanations for specific phenomena found in the sample textbooks, the "explanandum" is a logical consequence of the "explanans," which in all cases include at…

Great teaching is characterised by the specific actions a teacher takes in the classroom to bring about learning. In the context of model-based teaching (MBT), teachers' difficulty in working with students' models that are not scientifically consistent is troubling. To address this problem, the aim of this study is to identify the pedagogical…

Narrative in science learning has become an important field of inquiry. Most applications of narrative are extrinsic to science--such as when they are used for creating affect and context. Where they are intrinsic, they are often limited to special cases and uses. To extend the reach of narrative in science, a hypothesis of narrative framing of…

This article analyzes the relationship between pupils' level of understanding of the analogies proposed in class while working with a model of chemical change and their competence at constructing a coherent verbal discourse of that model in both its macroscopic and submicroscopic representations. The study participants were 35 pupils in their 3rd…

Understanding the nature of models and engaging in modeling practice have been emphasized in science education. However, few studies discuss the relationships between students' views of scientific models and their ability to develop those models. Hence, this study explores the relationship between students' views of scientific models and their…

In 2006 in England an innovative suite of science qualifications for 14-16-year-olds called Twenty-First Century Science (21CS) was introduced. These qualifications have a strong focus on developing scientific literacy in all students whilst simultaneously providing preparation for the study of post-compulsory science for a smaller proportion of…

This study sought to identify specific types of discussion-based strategies that two successful high school physics teachers using a model-based approach utilized in attempting to foster students' construction of explanatory models for scientific concepts. We found evidence that, in addition to previously documented dialogical strategies that…

Energy is an abstract science concept, so the ways that we think and talk about energy rely heavily on ontological metaphors: metaphors for what kind of thing energy is. Two commonly used ontological metaphors for energy are "energy as a substance" and "energy as a vertical location." Our previous work has demonstrated that…