There are some crucial critiques on "scientific inquiry" and "the" Scientific Method in current science education. Recent research literature is replete with arguments against inquiry's legitimacy to be included in science classes, and it has even been abandoned from the Next "Generation Science Standards." Critics of…

Science education reform efforts have emphasized the incorporation of more authentic and meaningful scientific practices into formal learning environments. With this focus on practices, such as scientific modeling, a powerful tool for sense-making and reasoning, comes a need to observe and understand if and how it is actually occurring,…

To promote scientific literacy in school science, students need to learn key concepts in science, along with the nature of scientific knowledge and how it is generated. Ideally, this learning mirrors authentic scientific inquiry through student engagement in three key epistemic practices: flexibility and creativity, knowledge construction, and…

The recent Next Generation Science Standards recommend students have increased opportunities engaging in modeling work scientists do. Science classroom tasks include simple inquiry compared to more complex authentic inquiry that closely resembles authentic science. Science fair participation presents students with the opportunity to engage in…

In an effort to improve student learning, authentic research experiences have been incorporated into introductory laboratory courses as a means to teach students scientific inquiry and engage them in the scientific process. Here, we describe the development and implementation of a novel undergraduate research-based laboratory course for first-year…

Virtual laboratories and simulations have emerged as innovative solutions for science teaching. However, existing resources have various limitations and constraints including cognitive load/mental burden and limited coverage of all necessary steps in scientific inquiry, focusing mainly on the experimental simulation. To bridge this gap and address…

Are you interested in helping your elementary students learn the practices of science, including constructing explanations and engaging in argument from evidence? "Argument-Driven Inquiry in Fifth-Grade Science" will provide you with both the information and instructional materials you need to get started right away. The book is a…

The aim of this article is to examine research on inquiry-based chemistry education in primary and secondary schools to discuss how it is addressed in the research literature. A systematic review was conducted, including 102 articles published between 2000 and 2020. Through inductive analyses, the articles were categorised into four groups: (1)…

This study examines the development of the concept of the ecological niche among 10-11-year-old students and their ability to use this concept to give their opinions on the socially relevant and controversial possibility that wolf populations might be established in the mountains surrounding the school. A total of 21 elementary school students…

Over the past several decades, policymakers, researchers, and practitioners have placed an emphasis on inquiry-based science and mathematics instruction in elementary school. While inquiry-based science and mathematics instruction can support student learning and engagement, teacher preparation programmes have experienced challenges in preparing…

Setting primary science in an everyday context supports learning in a number of ways. Exploring the science associated with everyday people, places and materials helps to access pupils' prior knowledge and experience and thus facilitates a more constructivist and pupil-centred form of pedagogy. This account looks at various examples from the…

Limited access to undergraduate research experiences for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students has led to creation of classroom-based opportunities for students to participate in authentic science. Revising laboratory courses to engage students in the practices of science has been shown to have many benefits for students.…

We investigated the impact of inquiry-based learning on the situational interest (SI) of senior high school students in a molecular biology class. In part I of our study we designed an inquiry-based learning class as an experimental workshop in an out-of-school student lab and compared it with the participants' regular biology class. The workshop…

Background: Continuous calls for reform in science education emphasize the need to provide science experiences in lower-division courses to improve the retention of STEM majors and to develop science literacy and STEM skills for all students. Open or authentic inquiry and undergraduate research are effective science experiences leading to multiple…

The challenges of contemporary society require pupils to make informed decisions and take responsible actions on problems related to science and technology. This work provides guidelines to support teachers in the design of learning scenarios that enable achievement of these goals. Two classroom examples based on contemporary news events explain…