This study, drawing on data from the third cycle of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and employing three-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) as an analytic strategy, examined the relations of inquiry-based science teaching to science achievement and dispositions toward science among 170,474 15-year-old students from…

This paper evaluates the extent to which a gravitational waves based STEM enrichment club impacted upon students' enjoyment of physics and engendered a positive change in their perception of scientists. It also explores the short-term impact upon their academic performance relative to that of their peers. Mixed methods of data collection included…

Vertical amusement rides let your body experience the tickling sensation of feeling light, but also feeling much heavier than as usual, due to velocity changes as you move up and down. Family rides offer different possibilities to visualize the forces that are experienced by your accelerating body. This paper presents a number of different ways to…

Innovative education approaches include citizen science projects that allow students to participate in locally relevant scientific work, connecting content to the real world. Global collaboration provides students with a broader perspective on local issues, allowing students to become more globally aware.

This qualitative, phenomenological study presents the experiences of high-school biology students (n = 233) in an outreach programme titled Students Meet Authentic Science. The core of the programme consists of students' visits to life-science university research laboratories (from here on referred to as labs). The programme was designed according…

The aim of the research is to examine the contribution of applying author-generated dichotomous keys (digital key - DDK and print key - DPK) to the quality and durability of the knowledge of eighth grade students about the "Systematic and classifications of plants (Bryophyta, Pteridophyta, Gymnosperms and Angiosperms)", as compared to…

This Special Issue aims to present evidence about the relationships between content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK); the development of these types of knowledge in novice and experienced secondary science teachers; and how CK, PK and/or PCK impact students' learning. Since Shulman's introduction…

We describe the design rationale and structure of a Methods for Teaching Physics course that was redesigned as a project-based learning (PBL) environment, and the entailed learning process it fostered. The projects consisted of the design and teaching of physics lessons with predefined content and pedagogical focus and were structured as a guided…

Research in the past ten years has shown that there has been a lack of professionals to fill the jobs available in science. One possible reason for the lack of participation in science fields lies in students' beliefs in their ability to do science, or science self-efficacy, which is linked to interest and achievement. Their perceptions of science…

This qualitative study sought to explore Malaysian novice chemistry teachers' experiences in teaching mixed-ability students during their teaching practicum, focusing on their instructional strategies for dealing with those learners in the class. The researchers employed purposive sampling to select 12 trainee teachers to be involved in…

Optical fibres play a very crucial role in today's technologies. Academic courses in optical fibres start at the undergraduate level. Nevertheless, student's curiosity towards optical fibres starts from the school level. In this paper, some fun experiments have been designed for both school and college students, which have some concrete…

This study focuses on how teachers learn to teach a new topic and the role played by their developing content knowledge as they teach. The paper is based on seven high school science teachers' studies on the teaching of semiconductors, at the time a new topic in the curriculum. Analysis of artefacts such as teacher concept maps, video recordings…

This summer, on August 21, 500 million people across North America will experience one of the most beautiful astronomical phenomena: an eclipse of the Sun. It will be a "must teach" moment, when all students will want to know the "what, when, and why" of the event. In addition, many high school science teachers are likely to be…

Marie Ståhl and Anita Hussénius have defined what discourses dominate national tests in chemistry for Grade 9 in Sweden by using feminist, critical didactic perspectives. This response seeks to expand the results in Ståhl and Hussénius's article "Chemistry inside an epistemological community box!--Discursive exclusions and inclusions in the…

This article describes a workshop designed to help students to ascertain the relative difficulty and amenability to scientific investigation of various questions. Group discussions are used to illustrate that some questions do not have a right answer, which is not a normal expectation in science lessons.