The use of the valence-shell electron-pair repulsion (VSEPR) model is essential for understanding aspects of bonding, molecular dipoles, inorganic complex ions, isomerization and stereochemistry, the lock-and-key mechanism for enzyme activity, and many other ideas. This paper describes how different approaches can be used to help students learn…

The Australian Curriculum (n.d.) describes chemistry as having three interrelated strands, Science Inquiry Skills, Science as a Human Endeavour and Science Understanding. It also states "... the three strands of the Australian Curriculum: Science should be taught in an integrated way". This article will explore a model for integrating…

This paper explores strategies for teachers to work with science conceptions, both those consistent and those inconsistent with western science understanding. It emphasises the value of teachers checking their own and their students' prior understanding of concepts to be learnt. A past approach of educators has been to replace old beliefs with new…

The concept of specificity of enzyme action can potentially be abstract for some students as they fail to appreciate how the three-dimensional configuration of enzymes and the active sites confer perfect fit for specific substrates. In science text books, the specificity of enzyme-substrate binding is typically likened to the action of a lock and…

This paper outlines a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) learning experience for children in the early years of school. It builds on STEM education in early childhood with a shared purpose, "to help children to explore and make sense of their world using childrelevant and appropriate contexts" (Preston, 2018 p. 137).…

This paper is a response to Hoban and Neilsen's (2010) Five Rs model for understanding how learners engage with slowmation. An alternative model (the Learning MMAEPER Model) that builds on the 5Rs model is explained in terms of its use in secondary science preservice teacher education. To probe into the surface and deep learning that can occur…

This article describes a developmental sequence for students' understandings about conductivity. From written responses, a number of levels of understanding were identified and holistic descriptions of the increasingly complex way students explain conductivity are presented. Identifying distinct differences in student work samples is consistent…