Research has shown significant relationships between students' epistemological beliefs and their approaches to learning. This study aimed to investigate the relationships between the scientific epistemological beliefs, science learning approaches, and the scientific inquiry skills of undergraduate students who took science courses by expanding the…

A key process in the discipline of science is argumentation, which has recently been receiving more attention in K-12 classrooms. The purpose of this multiple case study was to concurrently examine self-regulated learning processes (SRL) and learning outcomes of three teachers in a professional development (PD) on argumentation in science to…

This study applies the unidimensional Rasch Model assumptions in identifying physics learning difficulties based on students' self-regulation abilities. A total of 126 physics teacher candidates have been observed for one semester. Self-project as a learning strategy has been used. Data were collected using 20 items in rating scales and then…

The Australian Science Teachers Association offers an innovative international professional development program for science teachers called the Science Teachers Exchange -- Japan. The program offers Australian and Japanese teachers an opportunity to travel to the corresponding country, allowing the teachers to grow in their knowledge of the…

Few European countries have developed a broad strategic framework to raise the profile of science in education and wider society. However, a wide range of initiatives have been implemented in many countries. The impact of these various activities is nevertheless difficult to measure. School partnerships with science-related organisations are…

The purpose of this study was to examine the thinking underlying the questions posed by a science teacher to her seventh grade students in an instructional activity called Mind Games, in which hypothetical situations focussed on scientific issues are proposed and explored at least once during each major instructional unit. Mind games are conveyed…

Science teachers tend to focus on schemas rather than underlying structures with greater explanatory power. One such structure is the recognition that the logical statement implication can only be falsified. After instruction with a modified version of the four-card hypothesis testing task, a grup of 48 preservice elementary teachers were…

Discusses some of the benefits of having students work cooperatively toward a shared goal. Suggests that teachers become involved in research in this area and become associated with the National Science Teachers Association's Every Teacher a Researcher (ETR) program. Lists various types of research projects teachers could undertake. (TW)

This book is the result of the accumulated research of five researchers from the United States and Australia on a school in Coastal Australia. The research team shared a constructivist epistemology and interpreted the qualitative and quantitative data collected over a 10-week period in two classrooms from that perspective. Each chapter discusses…

Designed primarily for practicing teachers and for use in pre- and in-service courses in science education, this book focuses on how 10- to 15-year-old children learn science. Findings are analyzed and suggestions are offered for improving the teaching/learning process. Issues are discussed and organized into five major sections. These include:…