This article focuses on the impact of a professional play that we developed in order to introduce elementary learners of an urban school to the research of a scientist working at a local university. The play was written in a way that might increase student understandings of the nature of science, scientific inquiry, the identity of scientists, and…

Research on scientific reasoning plays an essential role at the intersection of cognitive development and science education. As only few paper-pencil-tests exist to assess scientific reasoning abilities of elementary school children, the goal of the current study was the development of a new reliable and valid instrument. We focused on the…

A major component of literacy is "vocabulary," or the words employed by a language or in a field of knowledge. Understanding novel words and concepts is important for young students as they are confronted with a great deal of new terminology in the passages they read, especially in content areas such as science. Science is a discipline that relies…

Children enjoy making movies but can it help them to understand science? In this article, the authors discuss how creating stop-frame animations of salt dissolving can deepen children's understanding of this process. (Contains 1 figure.)

For some time the Association for Science Education (ASE) has been aware that it would be useful to have some resources available to get children talking and thinking about issues related to health, sport and fitness. Some of the questions about pulse, breathing rate and so on are pretty obvious to everyone, and there is a risk of these being…

Can questions sent to Open-Educational-Resource (OER) websites such as Ask-An-Expert serve as indicators for students' interest in science? This issue was examined using an online questionnaire which included an equal number of questions about the topics "space" and "nutrition" randomly selected from three different sources: a…

This study delves into the different roles that elementary science teachers play in the classroom to orchestrate science learning opportunities for students. Examining the classroom practices of three elementary science teachers in Singapore, we found that teachers shuttle between four key roles in enabling student learning in science. Teachers…

This study aimed to determine the effects of using the local and mother languages on primary students' academic performance in science, which is officially taught in English. Using the official language, English, and the two local languages--Filipino, the national and official language, and Bicol, the mother language of the respondents--science…

Space has fascinated and intrigued humans of all ages since time immemorial, and continues to do so today. The natural curiosity is engaged when looking up into the sky, notice patterns among celestial objects such as the Sun, Moon, and stars, and wonder. Scientific understanding of those patterns has progressed immensely over the span of human…

Opportunities to generate model-based explanations are crucial for elementary students, yet are rarely foregrounded in elementary science learning environments despite evidence that early learners can reason from models when provided with scaffolding. We used a quasi-experimental research design to investigate the comparative impact of a scaffold…

The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) on the academic achievement, attitudes, and engagement of fifth-grade science students. Participants were from two science classes (N = 42). The experimental group received IBL instruction, while the control group received traditional instruction. Pretests and…

Everyone enjoys seeing the cloudy white fog generated when solid carbon dioxide (dry ice) is placed in water. Have you ever wondered what physical and chemical processes occur to produce this fog? When asked this question, many chemical educators suggest that the fog is produced when atmospheric water vapor condenses on cold carbon dioxide gas…

Career and educational opportunities in food science and food safety are underrecognized by K-12 students and educators. Additionally, misperceptions regarding nature of science understanding persist in K-12 students despite being emphasized as an important component of science education for over 100 y. In an effort to increase awareness…

Despite the abundance of research in Modeling-based Learning (MbL) in science education, to date there is only limited research on MbL practices among K-6 novice modelers. More specifically, there is no information on how young/novice modelers' modeling enactments look so that researchers and educators have an idea of what should be expected from…

Although classroom inquiry is the primary pedagogy of science education, it has often been difficult to implement within conventional classroom cultures. This study turned to the alternatively structured Montessori learning environment to better understand the ways in which it fosters the essential elements of classroom inquiry, as defined by…