Investigating scientific reasoning comprehensively with large sample sizes is a challenge, especially in young children where there is little evidence showing that paper-and-pencil instruments can be used to reliably measure competencies. The present study with 122 third graders compares three test modalities: an established interview (Science-K…

This study examines Chinese pre-service teachers' (N = 30) views on the nature of science (NOS) and how Chinese culture influences their views. Participants were from two teachers' universities in eastern China. As an exploratory and interpretive study, a scenario-based interview approach was adopted. The results indicated that the participants…

This study employed the interview method to clarify the underlying dimensions of and relationships between students' scientific ontological and epistemic beliefs. Forty Taiwanese high school students were invited to participate in this study. Through content analysis of the participants' interview responses two ontological dimensions including…

The Periodic Table of Elements is central to the study of modern Physics and Chemistry. It is however, considered by teachers as difficult to teach. This paper reports on a case study exploring reflections on teaching periodic table concepts in five secondary schools from South Africa. Qualitative methodology of interviews and document analysis…

In the present article, the context-dependency of student reasoning is studied in a context of optics. We investigated introductory students' explanations about the behavior of light when different light sources, namely a small light bulb and a laser, were used in otherwise identical task assignments. The data was gathered with the aid of pretest…

The study explored the changes in pre-service science teachers' understanding of the nature of science and their opinions about the nature of science, science teaching and argumentation after their participation in explicit nature of science (NOS) and socioscientific argumentation processes. The participants were 56 third-grade pre-service science…

Citizen science is a rapidly growing emerging field in science and it is gaining importance in education. Therefore, this study was conducted to document the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of biology teachers who participated in a citizen science project involving observation of wild bees and identification of butterflies. In this paper,…

Students' alternative conceptions of force are one of the most studied topics, important for both science assessment and instruction. Previous studies often described students' alternative conceptions of force with a small number of well-known frameworks by utilizing interviews and paper-pencil tests in their assessments. This study aims to…

Background: This study describes how teachers' nature of science (NOS) views changed throughout an innovative Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program that provided sustained support throughout the process in a collaborative and reflective environment and activities that are consistent with the current curriculum and NOS tenets integrated…

This study investigated the development of Bhutanese students' views of the nature of science (NOS) as they engaged in an explicit and reflective approach. Seven aspects of NOS were integrated into the chemistry content in two learning units titled "matter and its composition" and "study of gas laws" over a time span of 6 weeks…

Internationally in secondary schools, lessons are typically taught by subject specialists, raising the question of how to accommodate teaching which bridges the sciences and humanities. This is the first study to look at how students make sense of the teaching they receive in two subjects (science and religious education [RE]) when one subject's…

Faculties of Education and Science at Monash University have designed a Masters unit to assist pre-service and in-service science teachers in exploring the practices of contemporary science and examine how varied understandings can influence science communication. Teachers are encouraged to explore their current understandings of the Nature of…

Scientific epistemology is important issues in the International science education, of which teachers' views of nature of science and scientific inquiry as the two core topics, become the principal part of research, also have an important influence on the theory and practice of science curriculum. The purpose of this study was to investigate and…

Research on mechanistic thinking in organic chemistry has shown that students attribute little meaning to the electron-pushing (i.e., curved arrow) formalism. At the University of Ottawa, a new curriculum has been developed in which students are taught the electron-pushing formalism prior to instruction on specific reactions--this formalism is…

Understanding the nature of science (NOS) is one of the challenging objectives in science education due, in part, to the complex relationship between religion and science. This study examines how NOS teaching affects the perception of the NOS amongst religious, as compared to secular, students. The participants included 205 religious and secular…