The intervention study presented in this paper explored pre-service science teachers' (PSSTs) understanding of scientific inquiry (SI) and scientific practices (SPs) during a laboratory application in science education course. Thirty-nine secondary school PSSTs, who study in the Science Education Department in a public university in Turkey,…

Research-based learning (RBL) has been discussed in German higher education teaching and learning since the end of 1960s, having found a revival in the 2000s with considerable federal funding which enabled a creation of a variety of RBL-formats at many universities across disciplines. Within this dynamic development, both the Standing Group on RBL…

The diversity of scientific methods has received widespread attention and recognition in recent years. Brandon's Matrix illustrated four categories of scientific methods, which was applied to establish the analytical framework of this study. This paper adopted content analysis to investigate how the diversity of scientific methods is represented…

The diversity of scientific methods has received widespread recognition in recent years. The purpose of this review is to analyze the changes in the representation of laboratory work in Chinese senior high school chemistry textbooks in the past 30 years from the perspective of the diversity of scientific methods. This study was based on Brandon's…

Our past experiences in science teacher education inferred that using scientific practices in science teaching courses and supporting pre-service teachers' efforts to integrate these into their teaching allow them to gain confidence in analysing and interpreting empirical data. However, those efforts sometimes do not provide sufficient help for…

Natural science itself is an experimental science, so practice and experimentation are important and are typical teaching methods of this subject. To make practice and experiment play the highest strengths in teaching and developing the ability to learn about nature - one of the three specific competencies of natural science, the association of…

This article utilizes a framework for classifying different scientific methods suggested by a philosopher of science (Brandon "Synthese," 99, 59-73, 1994) called Brandon's Matrix. It presents findings from teachers who took part in a funded project in England that looked at the nature of scientific methods in science investigations.…

This dissertation asks how to improve science education and science communication, and suggests that digital storytelling techniques can be used to better engage learners in the process of knowledge making. Digital storytelling refers to both the use of high-quality digital media content as learning materials, and also to the use of social…

To obtain a general understanding of science, model use as part of National Education Standards is important for instruction. Model use can be characterized by three aspects: (1) the characteristics of the model, (2) the integration of the model into instruction, and (3) the use of models to foster scientific reasoning. However, there were no…

A significant issue in the teaching, learning and summative assessment of practical science is that the underpinning model of scientific methods is based on a fairly simplistic and linear account that does not represent how scientists actually do practical work. In this paper, we examine how science teachers in England and Wales view scientific…

One of the challenges that science teachers face is the lack of strategy/method to train students in data collection and developing analytical skills, which are pre-requisites to resolve socio-scientific problems and an important element in scientific literacy. In this activity, the SWOT analysis proposed by the Stanford Research Institute in the…

Science teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning are a vital component of teachers' professional competence and are often assumed to impact classroom practice. To date, these beliefs have been predominantly investigated regarding teaching and learning in general or for a particular science subject (e.g., physics). It remains to be determined…

This study evaluated how the process of teaching scientific methodology occurs in technical courses in integrated high schools. The qualitative case study was conducted through documentary analysis (based on regulations and pedagogical projects) and semi-structured interviews with teachers (n=7), coordinators (n=3), and students (n=16) of the…

In many schools following the National Curriculum for England the teaching of science has been overshadowed by the demands of literacy and numeracy, with the focus on statutory testing (SATs) and emphasis on national targets. This has often led to increasing concerns around teachers' subject knowledge, the sapping of teacher confidence and…

Rachel Linfield describes a favorite annual school visit to Wimpole Hall where her year 4 and 5 students (ages 8-10) took part in a living history project. Each summer, dressed as servants from the Georgian era, students would spend the day as apprentice housemaids and butlers. Although the trips to Wimpole Hall were invaluable for developing a…