Citizen Science is emerging as an innovative strategy to engage K-12 students in authentic science practices and relevant, real world phenomena. Citizen science is traditionally an informal science experience, with members of the public choosing to participate in the scientific research process through contributing data or other related efforts.…

Mastery goal structures, which communicate value for developing deeper understanding, are an important classroom support for student motivation and engagement, especially in the context of science learning aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards. Prior research has identified key dimensions of goal structures, but a more nuanced…

Teachers' consideration may affect their intention to implement learner-centred pedagogy. Literature showed that aspects such as task goal, students' characteristics, teachers' ability, learning environment design, and school shape teacher considerations in teaching analysis. However, the interrelationship among these aspects remains largely…

Some students are not mastering the scientific inquiry skills needed to be ready for postsecondary studies. For students to master these skills, science teachers must implement instructional practices that facilitate scientific inquiry. The purpose of this correlation study was to investigate the relationship between professional development and…

Creativity continues to be an important goal for 21st century learning. However, teachers often have difficulties fostering creativity in their classrooms. Current creativity research suggests that the act of making can enhance the teaching of creativity. Hands-on engineering design lessons are ideal contexts for studying this effect. Through…

Educational affordances are worthy of being explored because the affordances of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) provide the pedagogical effects for promoting cognitive acceleration, increasing the self-management of students, facilitating data collection, and presentation in science learning. This study aims to explore educational…

This study investigated how the format of verbal instructions in computer simulations and prior knowledge (PK) affected 8th graders' cognitive load (CL) level and achievement in a multimedia learning environment. Although PK was not found to significantly affect student performance and CL level, instruction format was found to impact both.…

To supplement the summer reading of National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) members, the NSTA Committee on Research in Science Education suggested a list of science education research articles that were published in the journals of NSTA's affiliates in 2012. These articles covered a variety of topics that include learning about…

The purpose of the study was to investigate how web-based technology could be utilized and integrated with real-life scientific materials to stimulate the creativity of secondary school students. One certified science teacher and 31 seventh graders participated in this study. Several real-life experience science sessions integrated with online…

The purpose of this study was to explore a new learning environment instrument which could be used by teaching practitioners and other educators to measure the language learning environment in the secondary science classroom. The science teacher is central in creating science classrooms conductive to the language needs of students and should be…

The purpose of this qualitative exploratory study was to identify factors that influenced prospective and experienced secondary level science teachers' reasoning as they evaluated or selected tasks to formatively assess their students' understanding of scientific concepts. The analysis of the coded written responses revealed two categories of…

This paper describes the Science in the City seminar, an innovative approach to in-service and preservice science teacher development that bridges formal and informal science learning contexts. Drawing upon the tenets of design and evaluation research, the study focuses on the teachers' presentations of evidence of student learning from trips they…

This qualitative case study reports on processes and outcomes of the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded System-Wide Change for All Learners and Educators (SCALE) project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison). It addresses a critical challenge in studying systemic reform in complex organizations: the lack of methodologies that…

A physics teacher describes the learning environment of an independent day school in Oklahoma. Emphasis is directed towards the science and mathematics curriculum and the teacher's responsibilities in teaching and advising the young people. (SA)

In Zimbabwe the need to incorporate indigenous knowledge in science education to reflect local cultural settings cannot be overemphasized. Current policies on science are situated in Western cultural definitions, thus marginalizing indigenous knowledge, which is misconceived as irrational and illogical. This study used qualitative research…