Chemistry teaching has traditionally been weakly connected to everyday life, technology, society, and history and philosophy of science. This article highlights knowledge areas and perspectives needed by the humanistic (and critical-reflexive) chemistry teacher. Different humanistic approaches in chemistry teaching, from simple contextualization…

According to the National Research Council (NRC 2007), three critical components significantly influence students' science learning: teacher knowledge, teachers' opportunities to learn, and instructional systems. If students' science achievement is strongly correlated with teachers' science competence, and core competencies are central to…

To address the need of scientists and engineers in the United States workforce and ensure that students in higher education become scientifically literate, research and policy has called for improvements in undergraduate education in the sciences. One particular pathway for improving undergraduate education in the science fields is to reform…

An adequate understanding of the nature of science (NOS) is essential for science teachers. The Myths of Science Questionnaire (MOSQ) consisting of 14 items, which comprised both optional and written types of response, was utilized to explore 113 Thai preservice and 101 inservice science teachers' understanding and reasoning about the NOS,…

Reports on a small-scale research project designed to examine the characteristics of good primary science teachers and consider how they became good teachers of science. Reports that the findings question the efficacy of an approach to initial teacher education that focuses on the development of subject knowledge. (CMK)

Understanding what teachers need to be more comfortable and confident in their profession is crucial to the future of effective teachers and scientific literacy in public schools. This study focuses on the experiences of Arizona biology teachers in teaching evolution, using a clinical model of stress to identify sources of pressure, the resulting…