The importance of models and modeling in science education is well-recognized, yet there exists significant polysemy among these terms within the literature. This ambiguity often leads to confusion, particularly regarding whether modeling represents an expected student performance, an instructional strategy to promote such performance, or both.…

The Framework for K-12 Science Education set an ambitious goal of broadening participation in science learning for all students. Meeting this vision will involve supporting teachers in making meaningful connections with the cultural and linguistic resources their students bring to school; in essence, developing pedagogies that frame these…

Recent reforms in K-12 science education call for curricular materials that are designed to be "coherent for students." This form of coherence arises when the classroom community sees their science work as addressing their questions and problems. In enactment, the teacher sometimes has to improvise from the planned trajectory of the…

Game-based learning (GBL) may address the unique characteristics of a single subject such as chemistry. Previous systematic reviews on the effects of GBL have yielded contradictory results concerning cognitive and motivational outcomes. This meta-analysis aims to: (a) estimate the overall effect size of GBL in chemistry education on cognitive,…

Research in science education confirms the importance of self-efficacy in students' persistence and success in the sciences. The current study examined the role of science self-efficacy in nonspecialist, arts and communication-oriented students encountering science in a general education context. Participants (N = 275) completed a beginning- and…

Although pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has become widely recognized as an essential part of the knowledge base for teaching, empirical evidence demonstrating a connection between PCK and teaching practice or student learning outcomes is mixed. In response, we argue for further attention to the measurement of dynamic (spontaneous or flexible,…

This study reports on an innovative version of adaptive primary literature (APL) that we call Science Behind the Scenes used during a summer professional development (PD) program. Classroom teachers read and discussed papers from the primary literature, and created translations of these papers relevant to their own classroom needs. We randomly…

This research studied a group of three preservice elementary teachers creating a narrated stop-motion animation (Slowmation) from start to finish in 3?hours to explain the challenging concept of "phases of the moon" to elementary school children. The research questions investigated the preservice teachers' learning before and after the…

The present article discusses the design and impact of computer-based visualization tools for supporting student learning and representational competence in science. Specifically, learning outcomes and student representation use are compared between eight secondary classrooms utilizing The Connected Chemistry Curriculum and eight secondary…

In recent years, research on students' scientific argumentation has progressed to a recognition of nascent resources: Students can and do argue when they experience the need and possibility of persuading others who may hold competing views. Our purpose in this article is to contribute to this progress by applying the perspective of framing to the…

This research examines science-simulation software available for grades 6-12 science courses. The study presented, funded by the National Science Foundation, had two objectives: a literature synthesis and a product review. The literature synthesis examines research findings on grade 6-12 student learning gains and losses using virtual laboratories…

Assessing the credibility of evidence in complex, socio-scientific problems is of paramount importance. However, there is little discussion in the science education literature on this topic and on how students can be supported in developing such skills. In this article, we describe an instructional design framework, which we call the Credibility…

This article reviews current scholarship about how to promote change in instructional practices used in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. The review is based on 191 conceptual and empirical journal articles published between 1995 and 2008. Four broad categories of change strategies were developed to…

The purpose of this study was to identify a possible interaction between the cognitive style of the students and the instructional sequence of the materials and their combined effect on achievement. Findings indicate that interaction of cognitive style and instructional sequence is not significant in the ANCOVA. (Author/MA)

Investigated the influence that changing the form of the learning cycle's exploration/expansion phases had on the content understandings developed by students and their attitudes toward the learning procedures used. The naturalistic data presented show that students believed learning physics is enhanced by the regular-form learning cycle (which…