Current education reform in both the United States and China promotes a reformed inquiry-based approach based on the constructivist learning theory. This study contributes to the research literature by exploring the relationship between reformed science teaching and students' creativity. Chinese education is often criticized for a lack of…

Water is a vital resource for sustainable development. The aim of this research was to develop and evaluate pre-service science teachers' awareness of sustainable water usage. This research was based on a mixed method. The qualitative part of the research was based on a single group pretest-posttest experimental design, and the qualitative data…

With advancing technology, "literacy" evolves to include new forms of literacy made possible by digital technologies. "New literacy" refers to using technology to research, locate, evaluate, synthesize and communication information. The purpose of the study is to develop a framework to guide science teachers' new literacy…

The study explored how to best use scaffolds for supporting students' inquiry practices in computer-supported learning environments. We designed a series of inquiry units assisted with three versions of written inquiry prompts (generic and context-specific); that is, three scaffold-fading conditions: implicit, explicit, and fading. We then…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of the creative inquiry-based science teaching on students' creative science thinking and science inquiry performance. A quasi-experimental design consisting one experimental group (N = 20) and one comparison group (N = 24) with pretest and post-test was conducted. The framework of the…

While many studies focus on why teachers leave the classroom, there remains a need to study why teachers persist in teaching. One area to study is the beliefs of teachers, which may impact persistence in the field. This 5-year mixed-methods study explored whether 35 beginning secondary science teachers' beliefs were related to their persistence in…

Improving K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education has a priority on numerous education reforms in the United States. To that end, developing and sustaining quality programs that focus on integrated STEM education is critical for educators. Successful implementation of any STEM program is related to the curriculum…

It is commonly accepted that Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) has a topic-specific nature. However, its implementation in teacher education programmes has remained generic and tacit. This paper reports on an attempt to improve the quality of PCK in chemistry pre-service teachers in a specified topic--chemical equilibrium. By locating PCK at a…

Electronic tutors able to respond appropriately to a user's input have been shown to be effective in improving learning in a number of contexts. This study extends this research into the context of conceptual change during in-service science teacher workshops. Quantitative data were collected from 1,049 South African grade 12 physical sciences…

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effects that high-stakes tests have on middle school teachers' morale and teachers' efficacy in the state of Mississippi. The participants in this study were teachers in the areas of language arts, mathematics, and science at the middle school level. The researcher used a correlational design,…

A mixed-methods research study was designed to examine teachers' knowledge and confidence for implementing a STEM-based problem-based learning (PBL) unit in their 6-12 grade science and math classrooms. Twenty-one teachers (7 in-service and 13 pre-service) participated in an intensive two-week summer workshop during which they engaged in, and then…

This study investigated the influence of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for teaching macroevolution on non-science majors' knowledge of macroevolution and evolution acceptance. The nature and sources of an experienced faculty member's PCK and instruction as enacted PCK (Park & Oliver, 2008) were examined to consider the influence of these…

The current study assessed and compared university students' perceptions' of a novice and an experienced physics instructor's Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). Two college physics instructors and 116 students voluntarily participated in this study. The research model comprised three workshops, mid-term and final evaluations and instructor…

Teachers' use of inquiry has been studied largely without regard for the disciplines in which teachers practice. As a result, there is no theoretical understanding of the possible role of discipline in shaping teachers' conceptions and enactment of inquiry. In this mixed-methods study, conceptions and enactment of inquiry for 60 National Board…

The purpose of this concurrent, mixed-methods study was to examine the professional empowerment qualities of mid-career (years 4-8), science teachers. I used the construct of professional empowerment as the theoretical frame to explore K-12 mid-career science teachers' career trajectories and consider how they can be supported professionally and…