Drawing from intersectional feminist scholarship, we communicate how Salina and Marelis, both women of color, teach science for social justice in the face of significant institutional challenges. Theorizing from their experiences and practices, we articulate a feminist praxis for school science, which includes (1) building community and…

Teaching about nature of science (NOS) is considered as an important goal of science education in various countries. Extensive empirical research about how some aspects of NOS can be effectively taught is also available. The most widely adopted conceptualization of NOS is based on a small number of general aspects of NOS, which fall into two…

Science educators are confronted with the challenge to accommodate in their classes an increasing cultural and linguistic diversity that results from globalization. Challenged by the call to work towards valuing and keeping this diversity in the face of the canonical nature of school science discourse, we propose a new way of thinking about and…

Describes the commitments and research that went into the design of a 9-week high school course in evolutionary biology designed to bring students to an understanding of the practice of evolutionary biology by engaging them in developing, elaborating, and using one of the discipline's most important explanatory models. (Contains 39 references.)…

One of the challenges of science education is for students to develop scientific knowledge that is personally meaningful and applicable to real-life issues. This article describes a middle-school science intervention fostering adolescents' critical reasoning in the context of HIV by strengthening their conceptual understanding of HIV biology. The…

Inquiry and scientific inquiry are distinguished in which various connotations associated with the term "inquiry method" are reviewed. Basic competencies to be acquired by students before scientific inquiry can be accomplished are listed; reasons for these prerequisites are given. (CS)

Compared effects of cooperative learning activities (with and without structured controversy) and individualistic learning activities on the achievement and attitudes of fifth graders (N=84) toward wolves. Results show that cooperative-controversy resulted in the highest achievement, greatest motivation to learn about wolves, and more positive…

Explores the nature of explanations used by 20 middle school science teachers utilizing the constant comparative analysis method in analyzing transcripts of classroom discourse. Discusses a subsuming categorical framework for the 10 types of explanations generated, along with examples of each type, namely: analogical, anthropomorphic, functional,…

Discusses the value of studying errors made by students in the process of learning science. Addresses 20 research questions dealing with student learning errors. Attempts to characterize errors made by students and clarify some terms used in error research. (TW)

Reports on a study designed to assess the kinds of learning opportunities students had as they dealt with science content and the problems teachers faced in managing different kinds of assignments. Management strategies associated with these assignments are described and the effects of these strategies are considered. (Author/TW)