Despite representations' central role in conveying chemical phenomena, mastering them is not trivial, given the wide variety of different conventions to interpret and use them. Furthermore, instructional approaches and materials may overlook explicit discussion on how students should reason with representations. To gather evidence that could guide…

Students with disabilities (SWD) have consistently been excluded in science in science classrooms. As inquiry-based instruction is the preferred method of science instruction, finding the best ways to teach using inquiry as an inclusive methodology is essential. The Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) is an argument-based inquiry approach that has…

A complex terminology developed around the evolutionary concept of adaptation. One definition of adaptation is synonymous with adaptive evolution and denotes a process of population change driven by natural selection resulting in individuals better able to survive and reproduce in a particular environment (compared to the population before the…

The ideal gas law, "PV = nRT," is one of the simplest physical laws in nature that is introduced to students as early as in high school and first year in college. In this equation, "P" stands for pressure, "V" is the volume, "n" is the amount expressed in mole, "T" is the temperature in Kelvin…

Scientific practices describe behaviors scientists engage in while investigating the natural world. Educators should be aware of different science practice frameworks to better understand their students' progression for learning science practices across the K-20 spectrum. For example, a high school AP instructor would benefit from understanding…

Language is a fundamental tool for learning science. This study highlights the importance of teacher knowledge in utilising language as a tool for knowledge generation in the classrooms. This case study examines elementary teachers' development of declarative, procedural, and epistemic knowledge related to using language, particularly focusing on…

The concept of an atom with an expanded octet, known as hypervalency, has persisted in the general chemistry curriculum, despite abundant theoretical work disputing its veracity. Here, the electronic structure of traditionally hypervalent molecules (H[subscript 2]SO[subscript 3], H[subscript 2]SO[subscript 4], PF[subscript 5], and SF[subscript 6])…

Research on teacher educators' professional learning has gained increasing interest within science education. Curriculum materials have been suggested as a means of supporting "teacher" learning for several decades but have not yet been examined as a potential tool for supporting the learning of "teacher educators." In this…

Learning about the Earth through geoscience education is important in order to make informed decisions about the future of the Earth. The aim of this study is to examine students' conceptual development on geoscience subjects based on inquiry-based learning. 7th grade students participated in this study. The researcher prepared lesson plans and…

The study using quasi experimental design involving 160 pre-university students, randomly assigned into experimental (n=80) and control groups (n=80), revealed science writing heuristics approach improved pre-university students' understanding of energy transfer in ecosystems and ability to produce quality arguments. After controlling the pretest…

Genetics is a core topic in the biology curriculum of many countries. Learning genetics is difficult for multiple reasons, including the need to reason about complex mechanisms--and to link mechanisms--that occur at different time and space scales. Previous research in genetics education explores students' understandings of inheritance patterns or…

The shifting emphases of new national curricula have placed more attention on knowledge generation approaches to learning. Such approaches are centered on the fundamental sense of generative learning where practices and tools for learning become the focus of the learning environment, rather than on the products of learning. This paper, building on…

National standards that centre on the underpinning epistemic practices of the discipline has emphasised the need for teachers to focus much more on knowledge generation approaches to learning. Adopting a complexity perspective, we attempt to understand how teachers shift over time by examining their epistemic orientation to knowledge generation…

This article provides rich insights into the process of data generation for discourse analysis from three separate studies of the video recordings of a single science classroom in action. The central claim is that multimodal transcription can contribute to developments in discourse theory. A three-stage reflective heuristic is developed and used…

This study aims to develop primary-school students' understanding of the scientific practices in the Benzene Ring Heuristic (BRH) and to determine how BRH applications would affect student perceptions about science, scientific knowledge, and scientists. An interpretative qualitative research design was used in the study. The study group consisted…