This study investigates if a force-based teaching approach, based on quantum mechanical principles and developed in a lesson study, would enhance the understanding of chemical bonding among upper secondary school students. The teaching approach was based on research on the teaching and learning of chemical bonding. The study included first-year…

Biochemistry is believed to be a difficult subject to understand for most life science and medical students. This article explains an experience with a flowchart-based teaching approach that is applicable to different kinds of biochemistry courses (basic, medical, and clinical) for undergraduate and postgraduate students. After preparing the…

A main goal of academic courses is to help students acquire knowledge and skills that they can transfer to multiple contexts. In this article, we (i) examine students' responses to test question templates (TQTs), a framework intended to facilitate transfer, and (ii) determine whether similar transfer-promoting strategies are commonly embedded in…

Designing and analyzing lesson plans is a ubiquitous practice in teacher education, and yet we know little about how preservice teachers (PSTs) notice elements of their lesson plans that afford opportunities for supporting equitable student sensemaking. We investigate how the use of a tool, a framework for supporting equitable sensemaking, guided…

The purpose of this study was to, first, examine the potential of lesson plans (LPs) of preservice science teachers (PSTs, N = 631) as a source for gathering rich data on their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and, second, qualitatively describe PSTs' reasons for the level of data richness in their LPs on PCK. PSTs' handwritten LPs were…

While recent research has examined students' and teachers' understanding of models and modeling, few studies have focused on how teacher educators can support preservice elementary science teachers in envisioning enriched learning processes and outcomes for their students while engaging in modeling practices. Informed by reflective practices…

Developing student capacity for the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce requires not only better preparation in specific content and skills but also better preparation in understanding the goals that STEM fields can afford. In particular, stereotypic views that STEM fields lack communal opportunities to work with and help…

To effectively address socioscientific issues (SSI), science teachers need to obtain a certain level of pedagogical content knowledge for SSI teaching (SSI-PCK). In this study, therefore, pre-service science teachers (PSTs) were provided an SSI teacher education program (SSI-TEP) based on the SSI-PCK framework and their development and challenges…

Using technology in the learning and teaching process enables students to learn effectively and meaningfully. Augmented reality, one of the applications used in education, can meet students' needs in the learning process. Especially in science lessons, augmented reality enables students to understand the nature of science. It is important to have…

Literature suggests the transfer of understanding the nature of science to instructional practice requires preservice teachers to value teaching about the nature of science. Despite decades of research developing preservice teachers' views of nature of science, there is still a disconnect between their understanding and instructional practice.…

Limited research examines the critical intersection between science and special education (SPED), particularly on the nature of science (NOS) in science methods courses. This study addresses this gap by investigating 10 preservice SPED teachers' NOS understanding, NOS implications for SPED, and the integration of NOS into their lesson plans in a…

Higher-order thinking and metacognition are closely related and are part of learning to develop competence. The goal of this research was to determine the practice of teaching biology that develops metacognition and evaluate whether teachers require specific professional training for this purpose or if broader cognitive-focused training can also…

The ICT-based learning model has been a catalyst in the field of modern education to teach higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). However, a few studies promoted technology-based HOTS learning to advance pre-service teachers' ability in devising HOTS-based lesson plans. This study aimed to examine how the HOTS-Link mobile learning application…

Teachers often struggle to implement inquiry-based science teaching. To support them, IndagApp--a 3D educational app that offers curriculum-aligned, inquiry-based lesson plans--was designed. The app is rooted in the inquiry phases recommended in best-practices literature, which arguably align with most international standards. This study describes…

The purpose of this study was on understanding and interpreting five minoritised pre-service teachers' past educational experiences that impacted their first-time science microteaching experiences in a science teaching methods course. The study is unique because it illuminates and contributes to the literature on the importance of minoritised…