This study focuses on the relationship between students' use of language resources and their conceptualisation of phenomena in producing scientific explanations in physics. The objectives are to find out if there is a general model that describe the meaning-making process, the extent that this model is applicable to various branches in physics.…

While research on the understanding of physics concepts in individuals with autism remains scarce, the ever-increasing number of these students in inclusive education nowadays makes their systematic education in all fields of learning necessary. For this purpose, an experimental investigation was conducted to compare 19 autistic adolescents with a…

Our world is shaped profoundly by science and technology, which are strongly interrelated. The importance of integrating technology in science teaching is acknowledged by many international science-teaching standards in recent decades. The present study aims at examining how undergraduate students utilize what they have learnt about the physics of…

This paper re-validates middle school students' learning progression of the concept of buoyancy (Gao et al., 2020) by using two-time point data. The previous study developed a four-level learning progression based on data collected at a single time point using cross-sectional design. This single-time-point model of learning progression calls for a…

We use the framework of cognitive resources to investigate how students construct understanding of a complex physics topic, namely, a photovoltaic cell. By observing students as they learn about how a solar cell functions, we identified over 60 distinct resources that learners may activate while thinking about photovoltaic cells. We classify these…

The aim of the present research was to explore the use of concept maps as an assessment tool. The research question posed was: can concept maps be used to quantitatively assess the learning of a physics topic in an engineering course? This paper describes a new approach to quantifying concept maps. The research was preceded by a pilot project that…

The aim of this study is to explore how tertiary science students' use of metaphors in their popular science article writing may influence their understanding of subject matter. For this purpose, six popular articles written by students in physics or geology were analysed by means of a close textual analysis and a metaphor analysis. In addition,…

This study aimed to assess the impact of problem-based learning (PBL) on students' achievement in mechanical waves among secondary schools in South Western Uganda. Four hundred and nineteen students (419) from 19 schools were involved in this study. A quasi-experimental research method was employed through Solomon's four-group design. Form six…

The present study contributes to the understanding of physics students' representational competence by examining specific bodily practices (e.g. gestures, enactment) of students' interaction and constructions of representations in relation to a digital learning environment. We present and analyse video data of upper-secondary school students'…

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of three different software simulations for studying Ohm's law and connecting resistors on students' academic performance. A total of 168 eighth-grade pupils were divided into three groups. The first group used the software containing the simulation with an already created electrical circuit, an…

In common with many other countries, the Iranian science curriculum does not introduce primary children to atoms and molecules but instead leaves the teaching of these concepts until high school. This paper challenges this practice and describes the changes in elementary Iranian children's understanding of atoms and molecules following a 10-h…

The modern Einsteinian conception of space, time, matter and radiation represents a radical paradigm shift compared with the traditional Newtonian physics that underpins most primary and secondary school science. It is increasingly recognised that school education should encompass this modern paradigm to allow a seamless progression of learning…

Learning analytics, referring to the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of data about learners and their contexts in order to optimize learning and the environments in which it occurs, is proving to be a powerful approach for understanding and improving science learning. However, few studies focused on leveraging learning analytics…

We present and analyze video data of upper secondary school students' engagement with a computer-supported collaborative learning environment that enables them to explore astronomical phenomena (Keplerian motion). The students' activities have an immersive and exploratory character, as students engage in open-ended inquiry and interact physically…

This study investigated the effect of the metacognitive instruction in which students' epistemic cognitions were explicitly addressed, on tenth-grade students' conceptual understandings regarding force and motion. The participants of the study included 107 (49 female, 58 male) tenth-grade students at two public high schools. A quasi-experimental…