Practical work is widely seen as an integral part of school science. Research and teacher guidance have tended to consider practical work in science, rather than in individual science subjects or topics. This study used a questionnaire of selected- and open-response items to probe the views and reasoning of a sample of 43 pre-service teachers in…

Immunology, a complex and rapidly evolving biological field, serves dual educational goals: training healthcare professionals and immunologists as well as promoting immune literacy among laypeople. This study conducted a scoping review of the literature to explore different aspects of immunology education, examining various contexts, levels, and…

The COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges for practical teaching within the sciences. While many instructors adopted innovative alternatives to conventional practicals, many relied on digital approaches that did not give students hands-on experience. In this study we evaluate the use of 'at home' practical kits used in first year physics…

High-stakes assessments prominently influence what is done in secondary school science lessons ('washback' effects). It is therefore important that assessments of knowledge and understanding gained from practical work are constructed to reward and incentivise effective practices in practical work. To do that, they must differentiate between pupils…

This paper examines the affordances of physical objects (e.g. apparatus, models, manipulatives) as they were used by teachers and students to make meaning in coordination with their speech and gestures. Despite the pervasive use of physical objects as material and tactile resources in hands-on investigations or demonstrations, there have been few…

In this study, we focused on students' intrinsic motivation towards practical work, more specifically the strength of predictors for intrinsic motivation. As a research tool, we used a modified Intrinsic Motivation Inventory supplemented by additional questions on attitudes towards physics. The respondents were more than 2000 Czech upper secondary…

In this systematic review, a series of didactic proposals and experiences that have been developed over recent years in formal education are presented with the common purpose of ensuring that students with special educational needs learn science. Initially, only 54 publications on the topic were identified, which underlines the scarce research…

The role of virtual simulations in the evolution of primary school students' mental models about electrostatics is investigated by analysing the answers of two groups of 9-10 years old pupils inside instructional sequences that combine two hands-on activities using balloons and jackets with the same activities using PhET simulations: one group…

This study assessed teachers' understanding about the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI) and whether this understanding was reflected in their students' responses. The data were collected through the 'Views About Scientific Inquiry' (VASI) questionnaire, a reliable tool for assessing understanding about the NOSI. The sample included science…

Primary school science emphasises hands-on interactions, but little is known about how the sensorimotor experiences these interactions provide shape children's science ideas. Early interactions with science need to be engaging as these shape children's developing attitudes towards science and themselves as science learners; however, these…

Interest in educational research can be categorised into situational interest (SI) and individual interest (II); the sequential phases of interest development for learning have long been recognised as triggered SI, maintained SI, emerging II, and well-developed II. This study proposes an interest development model which involves SI and II mentally…

We investigated the impact of inquiry-based learning on the situational interest (SI) of senior high school students in a molecular biology class. In part I of our study we designed an inquiry-based learning class as an experimental workshop in an out-of-school student lab and compared it with the participants' regular biology class. The workshop…

This study examined the roles of gender and STEM major status as predictors of performance in formulating a research question and designing experiment among 70 undergraduate Taiwanese college students participating in inquiry-based learning (IBL). Student participants in this study were involved in discrepant demonstrations of scientific events…

The primary objective of the current project was to convey authentic science to students in out-of-school student laboratories. High school students have diverse and partially wrong concepts of scientists' work. To convey more realistic concepts, we developed videos of scientists working on relevant and up to date scientific topics. These videos,…

Inquiry-based learning can be an effective approach when students are provided with sufficient guidance. However, there is an ongoing debate among practitioners about the nature, type, and level of such guidance. This study investigated the effects on middle school students' (N = 116) conceptual knowledge and inquiry skills acquisition of…