This study aimed to explore the relationship between science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of argumentation, epistemological beliefs, and classroom practices. Participants were three urban science teachers who were selected among 12 teachers from a professional development (PD) program focusing on Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI)…

The primary objective of the current project was to convey authentic science to students in out-of-school student laboratories. High school students have diverse and partially wrong concepts of scientists' work. To convey more realistic concepts, we developed videos of scientists working on relevant and up to date scientific topics. These videos,…

This study investigates the impact of a professional development programme for teachers that encourages more cognitively challenging, practical, and interactive science lessons. Using a Randomised Controlled Trial, its impact was measured by pupil learning outcomes. Pupils aged 9-10 at 42 primary (elementary) schools in Oxfordshire (England) were…

Although efforts are being made to bring science closer to secondary school students, science is still mostly perceived within stereotypic frameworks, hindering students' identification with it. In this paper, we claim the role that arts-based approaches can play in science education to break these biased views and understandings and generate a…

Employability is a key issue for students and Higher Education Institutions and a key component of employability is possessing the skills a role requires. In the environmental sciences, fieldwork provides an opportunity for students to develop employability-enhancing technical and transferable skills. However, students can have difficulty…

We first examined the effects of a year-long professional development (PD) programme for elementary science teachers on fifth grade student performance on state-mandated science achievement tests of students from a treatment and a comparison group of teachers in the 2009-2010 academic year. Then, we investigated the longer-term impacts by…

Scientific modelling is a key practice in which K-12 students should engage to begin developing robust conceptual understanding of natural systems, including water. However, little past research has explored primary students' learning about groundwater, engagement in scientific modelling, and/or the ways in which teachers conceptualise and…

It is a common view that developing teachers' competence to restructure or reframe their knowledge and beliefs is inevitably a complex challenge. This paper reports on a research project with the aim to develop science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) through their participation in a learning study. A learning study is a…

School-based curriculum innovations, including those in science education, are usually not adequately evaluated, if at all. Furthermore, current procedures and instruments for programme evaluations are often unable to support evidence-based decision-making. We suggest that adopting fidelity of implementation (FOI) criteria from healthcare research…

This study investigates the impact of collaborative reflections on teachers' inquiry teaching practices and identifies supportive actions relating to their professional development. Three science teachers in the same elementary school worked as a cooperative and collaborative group. They attended workshops and worked collaboratively through…

Our study capitalized on a unique natural experiment rather than a researcher-designed, randomized experiment whereby, thanks to the Australian Government's Digital Education Revolution, half of grade 9 students in 2008 received laptops and half did not. Consequently in late 2011, when these students sat for their grade 12 external examinations…

This study (a) assessed the influence of an integrated nature of science (NOS) instructional intervention on inservice secondary science teachers' understandings, retention of those understandings, and their NOS instructional planning and practices; and (b) examined factors that mediated the translation of teachers' NOS understandings into…

The integrated science education major has been implemented for a decade in China. An investigation was conducted in 2010 to find out students' satisfaction with the programme. Participants included 27 senior students and 25 past students from six normal universities. Results show very low satisfaction. Identified reasons include the fact that the…

In the present study, we test the effectiveness of a teaching intervention aiming at acquainting children aged four to six years with the concept of the sphericity of the earth and the causes of the phenomenon of day and night. The treatment comprised three units of activities that were developed collaboratively by a researcher and early years…

This paper reports on the effectiveness of a professional partnership approach to preparing pre-service primary teachers to teach science. The study involved final year BEd pre-service primary teachers at the University of Tasmania, each working in the class of a volunteer colleague teacher. The programme provided an authentic science teaching…