The present article aimed at understanding those unvoiced biases pre-service teachers may have that conflicts with their integration of nature of science in their science lessons. Three senior pre-service science teachers' views on NOS with regard to their decision making on critical incidents and their reflections about how they…

We explored adaptations to an elementary science methods course to determine how varied contexts could improve elementary preservice teachers' conceptions of NOS as well as their ideas for teaching NOS to elementary students. The contexts were (a) NOS Theme in which the course focused on the teaching of science through the consistent teaching…

A rich science learning experience not only captures students' attention but also motivates them to investigate and solve problems and investigate how scientists carry out their work. This article describes how secondary science coordinator Patrick Brown's found success teaching students the nature of science by engaging them in…

This study examined the extent to which fifth-grade students participate in online argumentation and the argument patterns they produced about the inquiry-based investigations completed using the Science Writing Heuristic approach in their science classes. One hundred twenty-nine students from five classes of two teachers in a Midwestern public…

The purpose of this study is to investigate pre-service teachers' beliefs and thoughts about using Vee Diagrams or Vee Maps in science education laboratories. The study's sample consists of 54 students (42 girls and 12 boys) from the elementary school education department in the science education division of Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University in…

Kindergartners have an energizing sense of wonder and an insatiable desire to learn about the world around them. For this reason, the study of ecosystems and how organisms interact within their environment is very exciting for these young learners. An appropriate place for young students to start constructing their own understanding of living and…

Learning astronomy involves significant spatial reasoning, such as learning to describe Earth-based phenomena and understanding space-based explanations for those phenomena as well as using the relevant size and scale information to interpret these frames of reference. This study examines daily celestial motion (DCM) as one case of how children…

This study examines elementary teachers reading children's science books aloud to students in the US. Our findings show that science read-aloud semiosis (meaning-making) extends beyond text delivery. In addition to making a written text orally available to students, teachers also deploy different types of gestures (pointing and iconic…

This self-study investigated the tensions that I (Heidi) encountered when teaching elementary preservice teachers how to develop a coherent sequence of five science lessons. Four lesson planning components guided me in developing a series of lessons to support the preservice teachers with this exercise. Employing self-study methodology, data…

Nicky Waller and Chris Baker believe that change can be a good thing and explain how their training has helped others to adjust to the new science curriculum. In September 2013, teachers across England received the definitive version of the new primary curriculum "Leading Change in the Primary Science Curriculum." This course aimed to…

Kathy Schofield explains how the Primary Science Teaching Trust (PSTT) came into being and how it continues to enhance science for primary teachers and children. The Primary Science Teaching Trust provides financial assistance to help improve the learning and teaching of science in the U.K. The Trust was established in April 1997 as an independent…

Contemporary science education policy documents call for curriculum and pedagogy that lead to students' active engagement, over multiple years of school, in scientific practices. This participatory action research study answered the question, "How can we successfully put twenty-three first-grade African American girls attending a gender…

This study aimed to determine the alternative frameworks of elementary school 6th grade students (aged 12-13) regarding the "flower" organ (alternative frameworks) and sources of these alternative frameworks. A total of 158 students from 3 public schools in the province of Bursa participated in the study. In this descriptive and…

Earth's topographic surface forms an interface across which the geodynamic and geomorphic engines interact. This interaction is best observed along crustal margins where topography is created by active faulting and sculpted by geomorphic processes. Crustal deformation manifests as earthquakes at centennial to millennial timescales. Given that…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of the inquiry-based and explicit-reflective laboratory instruction on preservice science teachers' (PSTs) conceptions of the nature of science (NOS) aspects. This study was carried out during the Laboratory Application in Science II course. All 52 preservice elementary science teachers…