Background: Understanding the properties of sound is difficult for students across all grade levels and even preservice elementary teachers (PSETs). Because of their abstract nature, there are challenges interpreting common features of sound waves. Purpose: The goal of this study is to understand pre-service elementary teachers' (PSETs)…

This quasi-experimental study explored the impact of inquiry-based instruction on students' conceptions of climate change and their perceptions of science learning environment. A total of 68 senior primary school students participated into the study. Data sources included Questionnaire on Global Climate Change and Constructivist Learning…

This dissertation investigates the following research question within an informal games-based learning environment: "How do students construct scientific ideas within a games-based learning environment?" In this study, middle school youth role-played as scientists recruited by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to stop the Raven Virus…

The National Science Foundation-sponsored report "Fostering Learning in the Networked World" called for "a common, open platform to support communities of developers and learners in ways that enable both to take advantage of advances in the learning sciences." We review research on science inquiry learning environments (ILEs)…

The Biology Workbench (BW) is a web-based tool enabling scientists to search a wide array of protein and nucleic acid sequence databases with integrated access to a variety of analysis and modeling tools. The present study examined the development of this scientific tool and its consequent adoption into the context of high school science teaching…

This paper addresses a central need among people who are blind, access to inquiry-based science learning materials, which are addressed by few other learning environments that use assistive technologies. In this study, we investigated ways in which learning environments based on sound mediation can support science learning by blind people. We used…

The goal of the Inquiry Synthesis Project was to synthesize findings from research conducted between 1984 and 2002 to address the research question, "What is the impact of inquiry science instruction on K-12 student outcomes?" The timeframe of 1984 to 2002 was selected to continue a line of synthesis work last completed in 1983 by Bredderman…

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…

This article reports on a study concerning secondary school students' meaning-making of socio-scientific issues in Information and Communication Technology-mediated settings. Our theoretical argument has as its point of departure the analytical distinction between "doing science" and "doing school," as two different forms of…

Contemporary science standards stress the importance of highlighting inquiry in the science classroom as one way of learning key concepts. One critical question that needs to be addressed for a range of instructional practices is how opportunities to learn are conceptualized so that students can engage and learn the critical ideas and practices…

The laboratory-learning environment needs to become more exploratory and undergo a transformation from its traditional confirmatory role in the learning of science. This is necessary to effectively allow students to achieve scientific literacy. The availability of powerful tools for data collection and analysis provides an opportunity for students…

The development of appropriate science learning environments for young children is an urgent and justifiable concern of many. By applying combined features of cooperative learning and informal inquiry to an investigation of shadow formation, researchers were able to observe closely the natural behaviors adopted by twenty-seven students aged 7-9…

This case study characterizes the inscriptional practices demonstrated by seventh graders, particularly their use of data tables and graphs, in an inquiry-based learning environment. Using a naturalistic approach, we collected multiple sources of data during an 8-month instructional unit that emphasized water quality and relevant concepts. The…

PISA (the Programme for International Student Assessment) is a triennial survey of the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds. It is the product of collaboration between participating countries and economies through the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), and draws on leading international expertise to develop valid…

This article explains the apparent failure to communicate between science education researchers, policy makers, and staff at state and district offices of education. Each group is a stakeholder in K-12 education. Policy makers specify courses of action to meet the needs of an educational system, state and district staff work to implement these…