The finding that biodiversity is a concept with different context-specific meanings has implications for its conceptual development when students are required to apply it in a diversity of contexts. An approach that may overcome these implications is that students learn to recontextualise one meaning to another. Since no empirical studies were…

This study investigates the effect of design-based science (DBS) instruction on students' learning of electrical energy and students' metacognitive strategy use in science. Two classes of seventh-grade students participated in the study. DBS instruction was used in the treatment group, while the comparison group was taught the unit with…

SOLO taxonomy models the levels of understanding within a topic; its hierarchal nature can support progression and challenge. Flipped learning is a strategy that uses homework to build background knowledge, thereby maximising the impact of lesson time. Both flipped learning and SOLO taxonomy can be used to support student learning, either combined…

The attainment gap in science may not be as well-documented as the gap in English and maths, but it is just as pervasive. Our research has shown that disadvantaged pupils start to fall behind in science in Key Stage 1; the gap only gets wider throughout primary and secondary school and on to A-level. Helping schools to use evidence and to…

The study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of Predict-Explain-Observe-Explain (PEOE) approach to student's performance in chemistry. This study also determined the correlation of metacognition to student achievement. Specifically, it sought to find out: (1)if there is a significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores…

A critical component of science and math education is reasoning with data. Science textbooks are instructional tools that provide opportunities for learning science content (e.g. facts about force and motion) and process skills (e.g. data recording) that support and augment reasoning with data. In addition, the construction and design of textbooks…

The aim of this study was to develop and validate Science Homework Scale (SHS) which assesses middle-school (grades 6-8) students' perceptions of teachers' homework practices and homework self-regulation in science. Students' perceptions of teachers' homework practices included homework quality and feedback on homework while students' homework…

The role of chemistry in the development of any society cannot be overemphasized. Chemistry students are therefore expected to acquire flexible knowledge and problem solving skills to facilitate the expected development of our modern society. The purpose of this article is to investigate the roles of teachers and student in the development of…

The purpose of this study was to understand how students utilized multiple representations to learn and explain science concepts, in this case the human breathing mechanism. The study was conducted with Grade 11 students in a human biology class. Semistructured interviews and a two-tier diagnostic test were administered to evaluate students'…

Writing-to-learn (WTL) is an effective instructional and learning strategy that centers on the process of organizing and articulating ideas, as opposed to writing-to-communicate, which centers on the finished written product. We describe a WTL model that we have developed and tested with various student groups over several years. With effective…

Fostering interdisciplinary learning in biology will require significant changes in the way one teaches science to K-12 students. The perspective on interdisciplinary biology teaching and learning in this essay is based on the author's experiences as a former research cell biologist, high school science teacher, and developer of secondary science…

This study focuses on elucidating and explaining reasons for the stability of and interrelationships between students' conceptions about "Light Propagation" and "Visibility of Objects" using contextualized questions across 3 years of secondary schooling from Years 7 to 9. In a large-scale quantitative study involving 1,233…

The effectiveness and efficiency of individual versus collaborative learning was investigated as a function of instructional format among 140 high school students in the domain of biology. The instructional format either emphasized worked examples, which needed to be studied or the equivalent problems, which needed to be solved. Because problem…

After the year 1991, great structural reforms were launched in Latvia at all levels of education, including secondary education. Still, there are many reforms that must be implemented in secondary professional education. The objective of our research was to develop a contemporary didactic coverage for teaching chemistry in professional secondary…

A staggered A-B design study was used to evaluate the effects of Self- Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) instruction for quick writing in middle school science across four classrooms. A sixth-grade science teacher delivered all students' writing assessment and SRSD instruction for informative quick writing. Results indicated that performance…