This study aims to evaluate students' ability to process the context information embedded in chemistry problems. To achieve this goal, a diagnostic measurement instrument was developed, comprising 28 short-answer items embedded in seven context-based chemistry tasks. Four hundred and ninety-three ninth-graders took part in the testing in Jiangsu,…

Graphic Organizers are visual and graphic display that illustrates the correlations between facts, terms, and ideas with a learning task. Integrating Graphic Organizers can enhance the efficiency of the teacher's delivery of lessons and students' learning. However, no study had been conducted in using graphic organizers in the process of teaching…

Argumentation as a scientific practice has largely been examined along an epistemic and/or dialogic perspective in science education research. Both perspectives have sidelined the use of real material objects that are indispensable for scientists to construct arguments about the natural world. To address this gap, this article investigates how…

Online metacognitive skills are the real-time awareness of cognition, which can effectively promote science learning and improve performance in solving scientific problems. Therefore, it is important to enhance and diagnose students' online metacognitive skills in science education. This study aimed to evaluate ninth-grade students' online…

Background: Practical work in school science has been ineffective due to students not connecting hands-on to minds-on aspects. With the designation Thinking-Back-and-Forth (TBF)we present a framework with a taxonomy of TBF activities. Purpose: Aim was to gain insight how teachers stimulate and support their students in TBF. Detailed information…

In this research, we have explored the possible differences in students' performance in grade nine chemistry exams that could have been influenced by a different instructional approach in grade eight. We compared two groups of students: one group had received a transmissive propaedeutic approach in grade eight (especially related to the memorising…

This study aims to assess the effect of experiential learning coupled with thinking-based learning (TBL) pedagogy in developing higher-order thinking skills. We utilized OLabs, a virtual lab, as a mode of experiential electronic-learning for the topic "chemical reactions." Online experimental activities, embedded with thinking-based…

Wildland fires have become a regular aspect of life for people living in the western United States. Wildfire smoke is now impacting air quality across the United States. Unprecedented wildfires have swept through Australia, Russia, and Portugal in the last few years. Like other natural disasters, wildland fires can have a devastating impact on…

The microscopic composition of substances is a piece of essential but abstract knowledge in chemistry. Junior high school students may experience difficulty in mental representation when learning micro concepts, which leads to problems such as unsatisfactory academic performance and low learning motivation. Augmented reality (AR) is an optimal…

Alternative teaching methodologies are required for grade-9 students diagnosed with difficulties learning chemistry. This study examines the progress made in learning atomic structure by 11 Spanish Students Diagnosed with Learning Difficulties (SDLD, experimental group), including those with poor academic performance, specific learning…

Teaching Science innovatively has become a key motivation in educational parlance to uplift the academic achievement of the learners. There are numerous teaching strategies and skills developed by educationists, researchers and teachers to teach the subject creatively in the classroom. Thinking Maps is one such teaching strategy that enables the…

In science education, chemistry is a discipline that involves macroscopic matter and microscopic particles. It is difficult for the traditional teaching approach to help learners comprehend abstract chemical knowledge. Researchers have attempted to use Virtual Reality (VR) to help learners realize meaningful knowledge via visualizing the learning…

Students' interest is considered an important learning outcome, but it is also a relevant predictor for student learning, and future vocational choices. According to numerous studies, however, students' interest in STEM fields usually declines during the course of secondary education. From the perspective of science education, it is therefore…

Much of the focus of international comparative studies of students' achievement has been on New Zealand students' falling standards. Using the most recent findings from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and, in particular, Year 9 New Zealand students' performance in specific items, this article suggests that there…

Students' academic performance in chemistry can be the result of a number of cognitive and affective factors. This study explored the influence of the discipline-specific cognitive factors of knowledge structure, cognitive perspectives, and cognitive patterns on grade 9 students' chemistry performance. One instrument measured chemistry academic…