The present study aims to empiricaly demonstrate the viability and benefits of an awareness-based approach to diversify knowledge between potential learning partners. Groups of four learners studied lesson material on biology. After a knowledge test, the groups were to form collaborative learning dyads. Based on the test, a novel knowledge…

The constructivist learning approach is suggested as a means for facilitating students' learning of science and increasing their participation in this learning. Several studies have shown the contribution of this approach to the different aspects of students' learning of science, though little research has examined the contribution of this…

Discipline-based education researchers have a natural laboratory--classrooms, programs, colleges, and universities. Studies that administer treatments to multiple sections, in multiple years, or at multiple institutions are particularly compelling for two reasons: first, the sample sizes increase, and second, the implementation of the treatments…

This study investigated the value of using a scaffolded critique framework to promote two different types of writing--argumentative writing and explanatory writing--with different purposes within an argument-based inquiry approach known as the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach. A quasi-experimental design with sixth and seventh grade…

In recent years, the issue of using bilingual education has come to the public's attention. A widespread belief is that students in bilingual classes achieve a higher competence in the language, but that they lag behind in subject-specific knowledge when compared to fellow students in traditional (i.e. monolingual) classroom settings.…

One aim of school science instruction is to help students become adaptive problem solvers. Though successful at structuring novice problem solving, step-by-step problem-solving frameworks may also constrain students' thinking. This study utilises a paradigm established by Heckler [(2010). Some consequences of prompting novice physics students to…

Many studies dedicated to the teaching and learning of organic chemistry courses have emphasized that high school students have shown significant difficulties in mastering the concepts of this discipline. Therefore, the aim of our study was to help students to overcome these difficulties by applying systemic synthesis questions, [SSynQs], as the…

This study investigates the effects of problem-based learning (PBL) on students' academic achievements in studying "Electrochemistry" within a course on Analytical Chemistry. The research was of a pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design and it was conducted with second year students in the Chemistry Teaching Program at…

"Thinking Science" is a 2-year program of professional development for teachers and thinking lessons for students in junior high school science classes. This paper presents research on the effects of "Thinking Science" on students' levels of cognition in Australia. The research is timely, with a general capability focused on…

This study investigated the effect of drama-based science teaching on students' understanding of scientific concepts and their attitudes towards science learning. The study also aimed to examine if there is an interaction between students' achievement level in science and drama-based instruction. The sample consisted of (87) of 7th grade students…

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of a newly developed modules, Interactive Web-Based Visualization Tools for Gluing Undergraduate Fuel Cell Systems Courses system (IGLU), on learning motivations of engineering students using two samples (n[subscript 1] = 144 and n[subscript 2] = 135) from senior engineering classes. The…

Exemplary for social insects, "Temnothorax" ants allow for various hands-on investigations in biology classes. The aim of this study was to provide a quantitative and qualitative analysis of secondary school students' learning achievement after teaching units with ants lasting between one and six weeks. The questionnaires included…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 5E learning cycle model oriented instruction (LCMI) on 11th-grade students' conceptual understanding of acids and bases concepts and student motivation to learn chemistry. The study, which lasted for 7 weeks, involved two groups: An experimental group (LCMI) and a control group (the…

This study investigates the outcome of designed source-text materials in context-based physics learning using validated test questions in mechanics. Two groups of students received context-based instruction (experimental group) and one group received content-based instruction (control group). These three groups of students are only different with…

The aim of the current study was to investigate students' mind wandering while reading different types of textual narrations (macroscopic and submicroscopic) in chemistry. Another goal was to determine the relationship between mind wandering and students' reading comprehension. The participants were 65 female ninth grade students in Oman. Using a…