The study examined preservice teachers' development in conceptions of NOS and their argumentation components using an explicit approach that targets NOS and argumentation. Participants were 20 preservice elementary teachers enrolled in a science methods course emphasizing explicit instruction of NOS and argumentation through various hands-on…

Written as a letter to Galileo, an education graduate student narrates from course experiences that deepened her understandings of Galileo and natural and intellectual properties underlying his works. Having taken the Galileo-themed course with Elizabeth Cavicchi at MIT's Edgerton Center in three prior terms, on taking it a fourth time, this…

We assessed the impact of teaching methodological aspects of physics on students' scientistic beliefs and subject interest in physics in a repeated-measurement design with a total of 142 students of upper secondary physics classes. Students gained knowledge of methodological aspects from the pre-test to the post-test and reported reduced…

A partially unusual behaviour was found among 14 sophomore students of civil engineering who took a pre test for a free fall laboratory session, in the context of a general mechanics course. An analysis contemplating mathematics models and physics models consistency was made. In all cases, the students presented evidence favoring a correct free…

Korean students have shown relatively little interest and confidence in learning science, despite being ranked in the top percentile in international evaluations of academic achievement in science such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. Although research indicates a positive relationship between student perceptions of…

Nanotechnology is guided by the assumption that with the ability to shape or re-shape at the molecular level, we could manipulate the physical world. Some speculate that this ability will be the beginning of the next technological revolution. Hence, an aim of secondary science education should be the development of scientifically literate citizens…

It is argued that educational evaluation can productively proceed from an artistic model as well as a scientific one. For such a model two processes are critical. The first of these is called "educational connoisseurship," the second "educational criticism." Educational connoisseurship is that art concerned with the appreciation of any set of…

One goal of science educators is to help students to understand the nature of scientific knowledge and reasoning. Reported are ideas related to what junior high students do, can and should know about the nature of science and the use of technology in imparting such knowledge. The studies reported in this document are designed to probe junior high…