Science education is crucial for students as it fosters critical thinking, problem-solving skills and a deeper understanding of the natural world. The present study explored factors beyond the classroom that impact students' science academic performance (SSAP) at secondary schools. Based on research questions and literature, three hypotheses were…

Women, especially Black and Latina women, are marginalized in physics, including in high school classrooms. Recognition is one of the ways women and girls experience marginalization in physics. This dissertation is comprised of three distinct but related studies examining how students experience recognition in an AP Physics 1 classroom. The first…

Excellence gaps are differences in advanced education outcomes among student groups. This study replicates and extends an earlier study on the prevalence and magnitude of excellence gaps based on student sex and immigrant status using Grade 8 TIMSS data. Data were included for the 12 countries that have participated in each TIMSS administration…

Epistemological beliefs and argumentation are two important themes in science education, but research on the relationship between them is scarce. We treated epistemological beliefs in our study considering the cognitivist view of personal epistemology and included the justification, source, certainty, and development dimensions. We examined…

This study explored the effects of explicit and implicit epistemologically enhanced instructions probing 9th-grade students' personal epistemologies on their physics-related personal epistemology (PPE) and physics achievement in the heat and temperature unit. In the implicit epistemologically enhanced instruction (IEEI), different dimensions of…

Numerous studies in the educational field show the importance of feedback in the teaching process and students' motivation for learning. Although researchers agree that feedback is essential for improved performance, learners often dismiss it, and its effectiveness is diminished because of specific characteristics of feedback itself, teacher, and…

Many science students struggle with using scientific language and making sense of scientific phenomena. Thus, there is an increased interest in science education research and public policy with regard to understanding and promoting scientific language use and sensemaking in science classrooms. However, there is a lack of comparative studies on how…

Science education researchers and curriculum documents have advocated scientific inquiry for more than six decades; however, inconsistent findings concerning its effects on students' learning outcomes have been revealed in recent analyses of large-scale international assessment data (e.g., the Programme for International Student Assessment…

The purpose of this study was to compare virtual school students' learning outcomes with traditional school students' learning outcomes in Texas. The research design was a quantitative study using a retrospective causal-comparative design. The researcher used archival state assessment data to compare the learning outcomes of K-12 virtual school…

This mixed-methods research study aimed to observe the changes in relational conceptual changes and achievement in photosynthesis and cellular respiration in 15 seventh-grade students using the variation theory of learning, a framework for contextual distinctions, and supports the Common Knowledge Construction Model (CKCM) for science education.…

The jigsaw model is a dynamic cooperative learning approach where students become experts on different segments of the material and teach their peers, thereby enhancing engagement accountability, team work, and ultimately improving academic achievement. This study investigated the effectiveness of a cooperative learning strategy on secondary…

This study examines the relationship between eighth-grade students' science achievement scores and their home backgrounds (educational resources and parental level of education) in three participating African countries: Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) data of 2019.…

Research purposes and design: This study aimed to compare the effects of different explicit approaches used in modeling-based instruction on students' understanding of scientific models and modeling (USMM). In Study 1, a self-study approach was compared to a preliminary explicit approach. In Study 2, preliminary explicit approach and embedded…

Persistent concerns exist regarding the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and science achievement, prompting ongoing research into the factors enabling some low-SES students to excel in science despite the odds. This study seeks to identify multiple combinations of individual, family, and school conditions that contribute to…

The goal of STEM education is to integrate the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in a way that facilitates holistic learning. Students are also supported in developing creative solutions to problems using the STEM approach. Other STEM fields are often linked through engineering and engineering design. Throughout this…