This study examines the attitudes of Israeli preschool teachers towards the teaching of science and technology (S&T) in preschools in general, and towards the Israeli Ministry of Education's S&T program in particular. It assesses the connection between the teachers' attitudes and their implementation of the program and examines the…

There is a decline in recent years in the number of students studying chemistry in higher education. Many studies have been conducted on elementary and high school students' choice with fewer focusing on the factors that influence undergraduate students to choose to major in chemistry. Research also indicates that belonging to a minority group…

Understanding the nature of science and scientific inquiry constitute foundation stones in scientific education in general and in scientific literacy in particular. Therefore, students must develop informed perceptions regarding science inquiry in order to be scientifically literate. The current study's purpose was to examine students' perceptions…

Mechanistic explanations, aiming to disclose details of entities and their activities, employ the act of unpacking which, inherently and paradoxically, produces explanatory gaps--pieces of undisclosed, undetailed mechanistic information. These gaps, termed explanatory black boxes, are often perceived as counterproductive to the teaching of…

The challenge of climate change means that school education is more important than ever in preparing young people for an uncertain future. The focus of this research is climate change education and its status in the compulsory middle school years (approximately years 7-10) across six countries (Australia, Israel, Finland, Indonesia, Canada and…

Circus art excites amazes and delights. Most of circus genres are based on the principles of classical physics. Dialogic discussions are known as an instrument to identify conceptual barriers (misconceptions) and facilitate their further revision. The present study integrates the three worlds: physics education, dialogic teaching and circus art;…

This case study examined the characteristics of classroom discourse during physics lessons in two single-sex high school classes--a boys' vs. a girls' class. All lessons were taught by the same teacher and covered the same topics. For each class, six lessons were recorded, transcribed, and coded and the characteristics of the discussion were…

Circular motion is embedded in many circus tricks, and is also one of the most challenging topics for both students and teachers. Previous studies have identified several misconceptions about circular motion, and especially about the forces that act upon a rotating object. A commonly used demonstration of circular motion laws by physics teachers…

Evolution is a fundamental part of biology and thus it is essential that biology preservice teachers understand and accept it. The relationship between knowledge and acceptance of evolution, and specifically human evolution, has not been fully investigated in Israel. We sought to learn about that relationship amongst Israeli Jewish religious…

Student question generation is a constructive strategy that enriches learning, yet is hardly practiced in higher education. The study described here presents a potential model for integrating student question generation into an education setting. In all, 133 students generated questions in groups, answered and assessed the questions of their…

The rise of digital technologies since the second half of the 20th century has transformed every aspect of our lives and has had an ongoing effect even on one of the most conservative fields, education, including chemistry education. During the COVID-19 pandemic, chemistry teachers around the world were forced to teach remotely. This situation…

Teaching quantum physics (QP) to high school (HS) students is gaining momentum, necessitating the exploration of various effective methods. Specifically, the research on quantitative teaching methods is still in its early stages. Understanding the power of Dirac notation (DN) in teaching is crucial for grasping the complexities of QP, as it…

Young children are familiar with astronomical phenomena from everyday life, such as the movement of the celestial bodies or the shift from day to night. The present study examines the extent to which kindergarten students understand abstract concepts related to celestial bodies and processes (such as gravity and time), and whether they change…

Informal learning environments can be a fun and effective means of introducing visitors to a variety of topics in evolution. Our study examined 120 sixth-grade students' conceptualisation of evolutionary ideas following three evolution-themed "Science Days" at 'Nature Campus'--an informal learning environment in Central Israel comprised…

Sound is one of the most commonly used physical phenomena that most of us use without considering its nature. Moreover, students often face difficulties in understanding acoustic phenomena, the most frequent one of which is the substance-based view of sound instead of a process of pressure and density differences. The current study introduces…