Teaching chemical bonding using the octet rule as an explanatory principle is problematic in many ways. The aim of this case study is to understand the learning and teaching of chemical bonding using a research-informed teaching model in which chemical bonding is introduced as an electrostatic phenomenon. The study posed two main questions: (i)…

This study explored how students visualise the states and classifications of matter with the use of scientific models. Misconceptions of students in using scientific models were also identified to formulate a teaching framework. To elicit data in the study, a Visual Conception Questionnaire was administered to thirty-four (34), firstyear, general…

Teachers often start their careers in schools with large populations of English language learners (ELLs), whose enrollment in U.S. public schools reached some 4.4 million in 2012 (Kena et al. 2014). To serve these ELLs, new science teachers must develop skills to not only teach the content and language of science but also academic English. Proper…

In this qualitative study the researchers explored children's perceptions of their participation in a science class in which an elementary science curriculum, the Full Option Science System (FOSS), was combined with an innovative teaching model, Real Engagement in Active Problem Solving (REAPS). The children were capable of articulating views…

This study examined the effectiveness of Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI) as an instructional model in a general chemistry laboratory course. The study was conducted over the course of ten experimental sessions with 125 pre-service science teachers. The participants' level of reflective thinking about the ADI activities, changes in their science…

The Peer Enabled Restructured Classroom (PERC) program is a peer-teaching model developed by the Math and Science Partnership in New York City (MSPinNYC) to help underachieving and historically at-risk urban students succeed in math and science courses. Although preliminary success of this program has been substantial, there has not been a…

Preservice elementary teachers face many challenges in learning how to teach science effectively, such as engaging students in science, organizing instruction, and developing a productive learning community. This paper reports on several iterative cycles of design-based research aimed at fostering preservice teachers' principled reasoning around…

Coteaching has been proposed as an apprenticeship model of student teaching that helps candidates maximize their learning through high levels of collaboration with their partnering classroom teachers. Yet, what this collaboration looks like and how it supports candidates is poorly understood. Understanding collaborations between candidates and…

As teachers' knowledge determines to a large extent how they respond to educational innovation, it is necessary for innovators to take this knowledge into account when implementing educational changes. This study aimed at identifying patterns in the content and the structure of science teachers' knowledge, at a point in time when they still had…

The purpose of the study was to investigate secondary students' understanding of the descriptive and predictive nature of teaching models used in representing compounds in introductory organic chemistry. Of interest were the relationships between teaching models, scientific models, and students' mental models and expressed models. The results from…

Describes a teaching model aimed at promoting conceptual change concerning heat and temperature. The model is used with teachers (n=2) and students (n=92) to explore its use as a professional development tool as well as a teaching strategy. Results indicate that the teaching model is effective in changing students' ideas and the approach resulted…

This study examined the effects of a Web site design project on students' motivation and achievement. Tenth-grade biology students worked together in teams on an ecology project that required them to locate relevant information on the Internet, decide which information should be included on their Web site, organize the information into Web pages,…