Data produced by psychometric instruments are often used to inform understanding about a certain population's knowledge of ideas or perspectives about specific topics. Concept inventories are an example of psychometric instruments used to probe students' content knowledge within a defined framework. Concept inventories have been used as…

In 1879, in the midst of the debate between English and continental scientists about the nature of cathode rays, William Crookes conducted an experiment in which a small mill or "paddle wheel" was pushed along tracks inside a cathode ray tube (CRT) (similar to that shown in Fig. 1) when connected to a high-voltage induction coil. Crookes…

A teacher's orientation toward science teaching has been proposed as very influential to a teacher's pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and teaching practice. Experienced teachers' orientation toward science teaching and its connections to their practice has not been well explored. Focusing on a unit about the periodic table, this study provides…

Students' declining science interest in middle school is often attributed to psychological factors like shifts of motivational values, decrease in self-efficacy, or doubts about the utility of schooling in general. This paper adds to accounts of the middle school science problem through an ethnographic, longitudinal case study of three…

This article presents the design of an immersive simulation and inquiry activity for technology-enhanced classrooms. Using a co-design method, researchers worked with a high school biology teacher to create a rainforest simulation, distributed across several large displays in the room to immerse students in the environment. The authors created and…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate prospective biology teachers' conceptions of teaching biology and identify how these conceptions revealed their strategies for helping their future students' learning of biology. The study utilized drawings, narratives and interviews to investigate the nature of the prospective biology…

Inquiry provides both the impetus and experience that helps students acquire problem solving and lifelong learning skills. Teachers on the Strategies for Assessment of Inquiry Learning in Science Project (SAILS) strengthened their inquiry pedagogy, through focusing on seeking assessment evidence for formative action. This paper reports on both the…

This paper describes the multiple school and school science experiences of eight Latina students of Central American descent in a tracked, urbanized, middle school setting. Framed by a sociocultural perspective, I describe how eight seventh and eighth grade Latino girls interacted with school science. Implications for the concept "science for…

As advanced placement (AP) teachers strive to implement the changes outlined in the AP chemistry redesign, they will have the opportunity to reflect on and evaluate their current practices. For many AP teachers, the new focus on conceptual understanding, reasoning, inquiry, and critical thinking over memorization and algorithmic problem solving…

This article introduces the "Data First" approach and shows how the observation and analysis of scientific data can be used as a scaffold to build conceptual understanding in chemistry through inductive reasoning. The "Data First" approach emulates the scientific process by changing the order by which we introduce data. Rather…

This study aimed to develop an instrument, named the inquiry-based laboratory classroom environment instrument (ILEI), for assessing senior high-school science students' preferred and perceived laboratory environment. A total of 262 second-year students, from a senior-high school in Taiwan, were recruited for this study. Four stages were included…

Many educational researchers have investigated how best to support conceptual learning in science education. In this study, the aim was to design learning materials using Physlets, small computer simulations, and to evaluate the effectiveness of these materials in supporting conceptual learning in secondary school physics. Students were taught in…

Various sequences for teaching genetics have been proposed. Three seventh-grade biology textbooks in Taiwan share similar key knowledge assemblages but have different knowledge arrangements. To investigate the influence of knowledge arrangements on student understanding of genetics, we compared students' reading comprehension of the three texts…

The behavior of animals is an intrinsically fascinating topic for students from a wide array of backgrounds. We describe a learning experience using animal behavior that we created for middle school students as part of a graduate-student outreach program, Graduate Partners in Science Education, at Arizona State University in collaboration with a…

With science teachers facing comprehensive curriculum reform that will shape science education for decades to come, high school department chairs represent a critical resource for instructional leadership and teacher support. While the historical literature on the department chair indicates that chairs are in prime positions to provide…