The past century has seen a debate on what characterises a scientifically literate citizen. Originally, scientific literacy implied that a citizen should know the products of science but has grown to incorporate processes of science and aspects of the nature of science. Studies on students' epistemic knowledge are rarer than ones on students'…

From once being synonymous with reading and writing, literacy, as a concept has expanded in the last three decades to today being associated with multiple meaning making forms and competences. Impactful, in this shift, has been the research orientation of New Literacy Studies. Besides academia, the literacy concept has also had a major influence…

The role of epistemic beliefs in science (EBS) and socio-economic status (SES) on mathematics and science test results on both student- and school-level data was investigated via a secondary analysis of Estonian Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 survey data. The effective sample comprised 3991 students (52% girls, 48%…

In response to growing concerns about adolescents' low expectations for science-related careers, this study explores the mechanisms of the ternary associations among science learning experiences, science-related attitudes and beliefs, and science-related career expectations, involving a sample of 9841 15-year-old students from four Chinese…

This study aims to examine the moderating effect of participation in informal science activities on the associations among students' awareness of environmental issues and their attitudes toward science and epistemological beliefs. The data set included 9841 15-year-old students from four Chinese provinces (Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and…

Introduction: Curiosity, the intrinsic motivation to sense, know, and experience the unknown, plays important roles in adolescent achievement and well-being. Theoretical considerations and empirical research suggest the contribution of social relationships in fostering curiosity. However, curiosity is expressed in different forms and contexts.…

Background: The recommendation from national documents and reports to promote inquiry-related science activities has not been supported by recent studies, which have found the overall frequency of inquiry activities to be negatively associated with student learning outcomes. This study was inspired by such conflicting reports and aimed to clarify…

Through the lens of science capital, this research aims to detect the key factors and their main effects in identifying students with science-related career expectations. A machine learning approach (i.e., random forest) was employed to analyze a dataset of 519,334 15-year-old students from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)…

The proliferation of information and divergent viewpoints in the 21st century requires an educated citizenry with the ability to critically evaluate information and make informed decisions. To meet this demand, adaptive epistemic understandings and beliefs about the nature of knowledge are needed, such as believing that scientific knowledge is…

Relationships between students' perceptions and their non-cognitive outcomes (epistemological beliefs, self-efficacy and attitudes to science) were investigated through secondary analysis of data from 14,167 United Arab Emirates students who participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Structural equation modeling…

International large-scale assessments such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) have emerged as important tools for understanding educational systems within Asia and around the world. Although the achievement scales tend to capture the majority of the world's attention the background scales have become important tools in…

Computer-based assessments allow practitioners to collect rich process data by logging students' interactions with assessment tasks. In addition to providing final responses to test questions, computer-based assessments promise to furnish more evidence to support claims about what a student knows and can do through logging process data in log…

The present study aims to determine which analysis technique-Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) or Logistic Regression (LR) Analysis-is better at predicting the science literacy success of the 15-year Turkish students who participated in PISA research carried out in 2015 by using learning time spent on science, test anxiety, environmental…

In recent years, research on students' scientific competencies has generated much discussion. According to the PISA 2015 Assessment and Analytical Framework, both scientific competencies and attitudes towards science -- interest in science, valuing scientific approaches to enquiry (or epistemological beliefs about science), and environmental…

The importance of motivation-related factors in shaping students' academic achievement across a range of areas, including science, has been consistently acknowledged by the existing research literature. In an effort to improve students' science achievement, many education systems put particular emphasis on the enhancement of intrinsic (i.e.…