This study investigates the role of environmental insight--defined as students' prior knowledge--and the use of a virtual reality laboratory in exploring celestial bodies and solar system content integrated with Qur'anic science, with a focus on their effects on students' argumentation abilities. The research employs a quasi-experimental design,…

The use of investigations in science teaching is both common and commonly advocated for in science education literature. We suggest that the use of investigations should differ depending on the complexity of the subject matter. That complexity can vary depending on both the nature of the information and students' expertise levels. The present…

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…

This inquiry sought to investigate the opportunities and potential challenges of engaging in a self-study approach as a strategy for enhancing professional growth during my teaching of the topic of evolutionary genetics to 24 twelfth-grade students. I had, for many years, experienced pedagogical deficits and shortcomings when teaching evolutionary…

The purpose of this study is to test the relationship between seventh-grade students' personal epistemology for science, subjective task value, and science self-efficacy, with prior achievement serving as a moderator. The mediating role of subjective task value is proposed in the prediction of the relationship between personal epistemology for…

In order to investigate students' misunderstandings of potential wells and tunneling, a conceptual knowledge test was administered to Dutch secondary school students after they were taught about quantum mechanics. A frequency analysis of responses to the multiple choice questions (n = 98) and coding of the responses to the open-ended questions and…

The purpose of this study was to examine the views of secondary school science teachers regarding the inclusion of socio-scientific issues (SSI) in the curriculum, and the factors that may facilitate or impede their inclusion. A survey administered to 130 science teachers of different background and experiences. The findings revealed that science…

Both attitude and previous experiences play a large role in shaping a student's approach to and achievement in a given subject. Similarly, students' enjoyment of their learning experiences is an important factor in determining their retention in their course of choice. Here, we explore the attitudes toward the study of chemistry amongst a cohort…

A detailed characteristic of teaching and learning approaches used within the new concept of Learning by Being (LBB) is given. The evolution of educational paradigms from Learning by Doing (LBD) and Learning by Understanding (LBU) toward LBB is analyzed. The basic idea of LBB is students' ownership on cognitive goals, or the assumption of learning…

In this secondary-level lesson, students will generate and prioritize questions about the novel coronavirus and evaluate scientific and/or technical information from multiple authoritative sources, assessing the evidence and usefulness of each source for answering their prioritized questions. This lesson consists of three segments: (1) connecting…

Many studies investigate the effects of block vs. traditional class scheduling on the students' success in high-school science classes. However, it is rare for studies to investigate the interactive effect of class scheduling and students' average performance on the students' success. We investigated how block (B) vs. single (S) class scheduling,…

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact a specific socio-scientific inquiry (SSI) unit has on student achievement and attitudes over the course of two years with two different implementations of the unit. Specifically, this study addressed the following research question: What impact does participation in an SSI unit have on student…

It has recently been suggested that pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has a concept-specific nature, beyond the topic-specific level of PCK. This paper reports a case study of three pre-service teachers' reported PCK about three fundamental concepts within the topic of electrostatics, namely electrostatic force, electric field and electric field…

Mathematics is of major importance in science subjects. Unfortunately, students struggle with applying mathematics in science subjects, especially physics. In this qualitative study we demonstrate that transfer of algebraic skills from mathematics in physics class can be improved by using pre-knowledge effectively. We designed shift-problems…

In this explorative study, a diagnostic test on diffusion and osmosis (DTDO) was developed and used to assess pre-degree students' conceptual understanding and application of diffusion and osmosis in biology. The 25-item DTDO is a two-tier test--adapted from Odom and Barrow's (1995) Diffusion Osmosis Diagnostic Test (DODT)--developed and validated…