The purpose of this study was to investigate bridging inferences and learning when students with low topic knowledge read multiple complementary biology texts. Using a think-aloud protocol, we assessed students' (n = 74) cognitive processes while they read one text about principles of natural selection and three texts about examples of natural…

The creative comparisons prospective chemistry teachers make about "chemistry" and the "chemist" may reflect how they perceive these concepts. In this sense, it seems important to determine which creative comparisons prospective teachers make with respect to these and how these can change after the history of chemistry is…

Data driven pedagogy has been introduced into Australian schools over the last decade to improve student learning outcomes, but are teacher educators preparing preservice teachers to be data literate? We used a survey to investigate ready-to-graduate preservice teachers' beliefs regarding their knowledge and skills in data literacy. Before…

Modern biotechnology has a large and rapidly increasing impact on society. New advances in genetics, stem cells and other areas hold great potential for human health but also presenting socioscientific issues that commonly divide public opinion. While knowledge is necessary to develop informed opinions about biotechnology, they may also be…

This study marries collaborative problem solving and learning study in understanding the onset of a cycle of teacher professional development process within school-based professional learning communities (PLCs). It aimed to explore how a PLC carried out collaborative problem finding--a key process involved in collaborative problem solving--that…

In this qualitative case study, we explored the knowledge and perceptions of service-learning held by a diverse group of 22 international teachers. Through focus group interviews, we found that the majority of participants desired to implement service-learning in their countries, and they supported the idea of mandatory service-learning. The…

There were two primary goals of the research conducted for this dissertation study. Firstly, to fill a gap in the research literature and begin a discussion around secondary pre-service teachers Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) as it pertains to geometry. Although a multitude of studies exist for elementary teachers' MKT, few exist at the…

This qualitative case study examines how five Chinese first graders responded to bilingual English/Chinese picture books and how bilingual books used during an eight-week study session impacted their bilingual and biliteracy development. Reader response and socio-cultural theories were the theoretical perspectives that underpin this study. Four…

This dissertation incorporates three studies that examine how the design of inquiry based science instruction, dynamic visualizations, and guidance for experimentation contribute to physics students' understanding of science. I designed a week-long, technology-enhanced inquiry module on car collisions that logs students' interactions with a…

Both substantive (i.e. factual knowledge, concepts, laws and theories) and procedural knowledge (understanding and applying concepts such as reliability and validity, measurement and calibration, data collection, measurement error, the ability to interpret evidence and the like) are involved in carrying out an open-ended science investigation.…

This study developed an educational online game, Super Delivery, targeting knowledge about saving electricity, and conducted case studies of eight sixth-grade students using this game to explore the factors influencing the effectiveness of students' knowledge acquisition in digital game-based learning (DGBL). This study followed Miles and…