In science education, the improvement in students' ability to construct arguments at the primary school level has been reported. Although these studies have identified difficulties in arguments written by primary school students, they do not indicate areas that require improvement in teaching methods. This study aims to explore the possibility of…

Environmental content is becoming increasingly important in schools, but teachers may have difficulty grasping accurate knowledge. This study investigated how student teachers construct a conceptual understanding of biodiversity loss in an online environment. Sixty-five first-semester primary student teachers at a Finnish university were given the…

The aim of the present study was to develop the epistemological beliefs of eighth grade students through writing-to-learn (WTL) activities. A one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research design was utilized in the study. The sample group consisted of a total of 18 eighth grade students, attending a secondary school in the rural part of…

This systematic review of 46 published articles investigates the constructs employed and the meanings assigned to writing in writing-to-learn assignments given to students in science courses. Using components of assignments associated with the greatest learning gains--meaning making, clear expectations, interactive writing processes, and…

The elementary grades provide a rich context for literacy and science learning. Reading, writing, and talk support students' conceptual understanding of and engagement with science. The authors provide theoretical and research evidence to support the teaching of five instructional strategies that can facilitate literacy and science learning in…

This study explores one teacher's instructional method for teaching life sciences using argumentation and argumentative writing rather than simple templates for writing claims and evidence. The microethnographic discourse analytic case study reported here included the teacher and 26 "advanced" eighth-grade students in a suburban middle…

The purpose of this research is to determine the impact of using multimodal representation modes in the writing practices done by the fifth grade students on their scientific process skills. A combined research method which had both quantitative and qualitative characteristics was used in the research and the groups were chosen as control and…

As an instructional framework, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can guide science teachers to purposefully apply evidence-based instructional practices to increase engagement and learning of students with disabilities (Israel, Ribuffo, and Smith 2014; Marino et al. 2014; Ok et al. 2016). This article describes how to use the Universal Design…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of sustained practice with argumentation on the quality of students' written arguments. Participants consisted of 37 students; 22 males and 15 females enrolled in a 6th grade middle school classroom. Students completed six argumentation tasks but only four of them were considered for data…

"Proceedings of International Conference on Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology" includes full papers presented at the International Conference on Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology (ICEMST) which took place on April 1-4, 2021 in Antalya, Turkey. The aim of the conference is to offer opportunities to share your…

In consideration of the potential of drawing and writing as assessment and learning tools, we explored how early primary students used these modes to communicate their science understandings. The context for this study was a curricular unit that incorporated multiple modes of representation in both the presentation of information and production of…

This study investigated the hypothesis that prompting students to self-assess their interest and understanding of science concepts and activities would increase their motivation in science classes. Students were randomly assigned to an experimental condition that wrote self-assessments of their competence and interest in science lessons or a…

Every teacher knows the challenge of trying to engage reluctant readers and struggling writers--students whose typical response to a writing prompt is a few sentence fragments scribbled on a sheet of paper followed by an elaborate shrug of the shoulders. The best way to engage less confident readers and writers is to give them something powerful…

One challenge of teaching science is getting students to communicate as scientists do. Scientists employ many different forms of communication as they develop and pass on information to others. Unfortunately, in many classrooms, student communication about science concepts is limited to filling in information on worksheets, finishing…

This quasi-experimental study examined effects of a 12-week, teacher-delivered, morphologically focused intervention on writing outcomes for fifth-grade U.S. students. In order to help students gain control over the morphologically complex words that typify academic writing, the intervention called students' attention to the morphological…