Global climate change (GCC) is one of the greatest challenges of our age and a highly significant socio-scientific issue (SSI). Developing secondary students' understanding about the Earth's climate and GCC is critical for empowering future citizens and a key focus of the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States, 2013). In…

This research was carried out to investigate the effect of the 5E learning method and 5E method enriched with REACT strategy on student achievement in science education. The research was carried out with 64 first-year students (30 in the experimental groups, 34 in the control groups) in the Department of Primary Education at a state university in…

A troubleshooting activity was carried out by an e-tutor in two steps. First, students diagnosed a mistaken statement and then compared their diagnosis to a teacher's diagnosis provided by the e-tutor. The mistaken statement involved a widespread tendency to over-generalize Ohm's law. We studied the discourse between pairs of students…

The present study examines the effects of different study tasks on the acquisition of knowledge about acids and bases in a computer-based learning environment. Three different task formats were selected to create three treatment conditions: learning with gap-fill and matching tasks, learning with multiple-choice tasks, and learning only from text…

This article describes in detail a conversation analysis of conceptual change in a computer-supported collaborative learning environment. Conceptual change is an essential learning process in science education that has yet to be fully understood. While many models and theories have been developed over the last three decades, empirical data to…

Geospatial technologies are increasingly being integrated in science classrooms to foster learning. This study examined whether a Web-enhanced science inquiry curriculum supported by geospatial technologies promoted urban middle school students' understanding of energy concepts. The participants included one science teacher and 108 eighth-grade…

We present a simulation tool to aid the study of basic pharmacology principles. By taking advantage of the properties of agent-based modeling, the tool facilitates taking a mechanistic approach to learning basic concepts, in contrast to the traditional empirical methods. Pharmacodynamics is a particular aspect of pharmacology that can benefit from…

This pilot study documents the design and evaluation results of an innovative teaching approach with the use of ICT regarding the optics concepts of light reflection and diffusion, and vision in Greek primary school. First there was a survey of 140 students to ascertain their initial ideas regarding these concepts. On the basis of the results of…

In this study, we examined how students' levels of spatial visualization ability interact with learning physics in a microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) environment. Undergraduate students who had taken an introductory physics course based on MBL tools were pre- and posttested at the beginning and at the end of the semester on spatial…

Many topics in chemistry are difficult for learners to understand, including symmetry. Reasons for this difficulty include its multi-level content, instructional methodologies utilized, and learner variables. This study examined the effect of initial instructional modality and prior knowledge on learning of point group symmetry. Forty-four…

Science instruction is typically highly dependent on visual representations of scientific concepts that are communicated through textbooks, teacher presentations, and computer-based multimedia materials. Little is known about how students with visual impairments access and interpret these types of visually-dependent instructional materials. This…

Results of a HyperCard method for assessing the performance of expert and novice high school chemistry students solving stoichiometric chemistry problems (balancing chemical equations) is reported. MANOVA results indicate significant difference between expert and novice students solving the five stoichiometric chemistry problems using…

Explorer is an interactive environment based on a constructivist epistemology of learning that integrates animated computer models with analytic capabilities for learning science. The system includes graphs, a spreadsheet, scripting, and interactive tools. Two examples involving the dynamics of colliding objects and electric circuits illustrate…