Research in teacher education repeatedly suggests that the background and underlying beliefs held by pre-service teachers about teaching and assessment act to shape their interpretations of ideas, powerfully influencing their praxis and their developing teacher identity. This paper explores how a young New Zealand secondary science teacher, raised…

Teachers make a difference for the outcome of their students in science classrooms. One focus in this context lies on teachers' professional knowledge. We describe this knowledge according to three domains, namely (1) content knowledge (CK), (2) pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and (3) curricular knowledge (CuK). We hypothesise a positive…

This dissertation presents three interrelated studies examining opportunities for student learning through contributory citizen science (CS), where students collect and contribute data to help generate new scientific knowledge. I draw on sociocultural perspectives of learning to analyze three cases where teachers integrated CS into school science,…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the use of 3-D printed models as an instructional tool in a middle school science classroom for students with visual impairments and compare their use to traditional tactile graphics for aiding conceptual understanding of geoscience concepts. Specifically, this study examined if the students'…

In Kenyan secondary schools, form two is an important class for all students. The students choose relevant subjects to study in form three and four. Physics is compulsory at form one and two but optional thereafter. Performance in the subject at the end of the secondary school is usually dismal. Majority of students lack motivation for most…

Smart Glasses such as Google Glass are mobile computers combining classical Head-Mounted Displays (HMD) with several sensors. Therefore, contact-free, sensor-based experiments can be linked with relating, near-eye presented multiple representations. We will present a first approach on how Smart Glasses can be used as an experimental tool for…

The paper reports on a study aimed at investigating perceived gender differences in performance in science at secondary school level, as well as beliefs on possible underlying causes for these differences. The study is situated within the interpretivist paradigm and uses a typology of factors drawn from the Educational Effectiveness Research model…

Visualizing the chemical structure and dynamics of particles has been challenging for many students; therefore, various visualizations and tools have been used in chemistry education. For science educators, it has been important to understand how students visualize and represent particular phenomena--i.e., their mental models-- to design more…

This article describes the model for The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky where Kentucky's young people can extend their learning through university classes, global experiences, and research.

The objective of this study was to examine the relationship of formative tests to early learning ability of students in the science learning style. This research used an experimental method with a 2 x 2 factorial design. The participants comprised all the students in class VII of the Islamic Junior High School State of Kolaka, a total of 343…

This article describes the development and validation of an instrument that can be used for content analysis of inquiry-based tasks. According to the theories of educational evaluation and qualities of inquiry, four essential functions that inquiry-based tasks should serve are defined: (1) assisting in the construction of understandings about…

When the "Journal of Biological Education" was first published in 1967, biology was still very much the Cinderella of the three school sciences in many countries. Most selective secondary school biology courses readily betrayed their origins as an unconvincing coalition of botany and zoology. In the non-selective secondary modern…

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 objective of this study is to reveal the effect of the use of smart board in the biology class at the tenth grade of the secondary education on the academic achievements of students. The study used the quasi-experimental model with pre-test and post-test control groups and semi-structured interviews were made with the students. The study group…

Inquiry-based science teaching (IBST) is promoted without any clear definition of the teaching strategies that are expected. The paper portrays the variety of the nature and development of teacher professional knowledge and practice regarding inquiry-based science teaching. It proposes and tests a model built upon six dimensions that represent the…