The nature of science (NOS) is a primary goal in school science. Most teachers are not well-prepared for teaching NOS, but a sophisticated and in-depth understanding of NOS is necessary for effective teaching. Some authors emphasize the need for teaching NOS in context. Species, a central concept in biology, is proposed in this article as a…

Assessment and evaluation instruments provide teachers the opportunity of shaping education in the beginning, contributing to education during the process and evaluating education at the end of the process. Textbooks, on the other hand, are resources that present the aforementioned contributions to teachers at first hand. Thus, the study aims to…

The magnetic force is one of the concepts in physics that need good mathematical modeling and representation ability to understand. This article presents new learning model to help the student understand this concept with various representation, knowing by doing, and accommodate their mathematics modeling ability. GIMuR model has five phases,…

The goal of this study was to identify and understand the mental models developed by 67 high school biology students as they learn about the human body as a complex system. Using concept maps, it sought to find an external way of representing how students organize their ideas about the human body system in their minds. We conducted a qualitative…

We propose discussions and hands-on activities for GCSE and A-level students, covering a fundamental aspect of nuclear physics: the concept of bonds and the energy released (absorbed) when a bond is created (broken). This is the first of the series of papers named "A teaching guide of nuclear physics", whose main goal is to provide…

The editors of "Science and Children" invite readers to explore the 2016 list of Outstanding Science Trade Books. The list builds upon a 44-year history of identifying the very best science books for children. In the award-winning titles provided in this article, readers will find traditional science content as well as engineering and…

Increasingly, science teachers are expected to devote instruction to technology and engineering, as encouraged by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States 2013). Just as scientific literacy requires understanding the nature of science (NOS), technological literacy must include understanding the philosophy and nature of technology…

A unique demonstration with ball-rolling mechanisms has been developed to illustrate the basic principles of mass analyzers as components of mass spectrometers. Three ball-rolling mechanisms mimicking the currently used mass analyzers (i.e., a quadrupole mass filter, a magnetic sector, and a time-of- flight) have been constructed. Each mechanism…

The aim of this study was to characterise thoroughly the differences between Physics Olympiad competitors' and regular students' successes and approaches in relation to counterintuitive dynamics problems (CDPs) in order to discover some of the differences between skilled problem-solvers and those with fewer such skills. A total of 23 Physics…

In addition to considering sociocultural, political, economic, and ethical factors (to name a few), effectively engaging socioscientific issues (SSI) requires that students understand and apply scientific explanations and the nature of science (NOS). Promoting such understandings can be achieved through immersing students in authentic real-world…

This article proposes an evidence-based and engaging approach to teaching the mechanisms driving the movement of tectonic plates that should lead high school students towards the prevalent theories used in peer-reviewed science journals and taught in universities. The methods presented replace the inaccurate and outdated focus on mantle convection…

Computational thinking (CT) is a way of making sense of the natural world and problem solving with computer science concepts and skills. Although CT and science integrations have been called for in the literature, empirical investigations of such integrations are lacking. Prior work in natural selection education indicates students struggle to…

Researchers, evaluators, and practitioners need tools to distinguish between applications of technology that support, enhance, and transform classroom instruction and those that are ineffective or even deleterious. Here we present a new classroom observation protocol designed specifically to capture the quality of technology use to support science…

There is an increasing emphasis on fundamental particles, including quarks, in the high school physics classroom. However, many teachers might not feel comfortable teaching particle physics because it is a highly abstract and complex topic, and there are few hands-on activities to help teachers bring it into the classroom. In 2010, a…

The student teacher usually learns their trade under the guidance of a mentor during teaching practice. Reflections usually take place after the mentor's observation of the student´s lesson, and take the form of an interview between the two participants. Recently, video recordings have been used advantageously to add an extra dimension to such…