Background/purpose: Chemistry is one of the five science subfields typically covered in secondary schools in the United Arab Emirates. Chemistry is a branch of science that studies the properties, composition, and structure of substances. Numerous subfields fall under the umbrella of chemistry, including inorganic, organic, analytical, and…

Chemistry labs are often taught using a rote mechanical approach without much explicit scaffolding for academic reflection by the students. Reflection, however, can play an essential role in learning because it is an evidence-based learning process that generates, deepens, critiques, and documents learning. By moving away from traditional teaching…

This study investigates the types of instruction multilingual learners (MLs) experience in the general education classroom in upper-elementary school. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011 (ECLS-K) we examine the types of instructional practices MLs experienced in reading, math, and science in fourth and…

This study explored how using computer simulations helped 7th grade students improve their understanding of chemistry. At my school, many students are below grade-level in reading and math, which can make science more challenging. During a 3-week chemistry unit, I used simulations from Amplify and other online tools. These simulations allowed…

Understanding homeostasis is foundational to biology; yet students often hold persistent misconceptions about its mechanisms and complexity. To address these challenges, we developed a collaborative, card-based board game in which players act as components of the endocrine and physiological systems to help a character named Bill enact homeostasis…

The focus of this response to Arthur Galamba and Brian Matthews's 'Science education against the rise of fascist and authoritarian movements: towards the development of a Pedagogy for Democracy' is to underpin a critical pedagogy that can be used as a counterbalancing force against repressive ideologies within science classrooms. Locating science…

Function diagrams put the focus on physiology and physiological concepts rather than the associated anatomy. Function diagrams could potentially serve as an elaboration tool and memory aid (mnemonic) to improve learning and recall. The function diagram prototype of the gastrointestinal system can aid in the instruction of difficult…

Inert gas manifolds for the handling of air-sensitive materials are commonplace in the inorganic chemistry curriculum as well as in research laboratories specializing in inorganic and organometallic synthesis. Mercury bubblers are ubiquitously implemented for maintaining a positive internal pressure for air-free manifold systems, commonly known as…

In 1981 I published a note on "Balancers" as part of a series of illustrations drawn from 19th-century physics texts. Some months later a wonderful present arrived from a physics teacher in Japan, showing the range of our journal. This was the Horse and Rider Balancer in Fig. 1 that was just like the woodcut in my note. The little…

The aim of this research was to investigate the synergistic effects of peer collaboration and graphic organisers (i.e. mind maps) in Hong Kong science classrooms. Over two hundred Grade Four (i.e. Primary Four) students were assigned to different pedagogical groups, namely, "individualised learning with mind mapping," "collaborative…

Previous studies have documented the promising results from student-constructed representations, including stop-motion animation (SMA), in supporting mechanistic reasoning (MR), which is considered an essential thinking skill in science education. Our current study presents theoretically and empirically how student-constructed SMA contributes to…

This article considers starting with an existing SIMIODE modeling scenario [Winkel, B. (2015). 1-031-CoolIt-ModelingScenario. SIMIODE (Version 2.0). "QUBES Educational Resources." https://doi.org/10.25334/3WG8-EC31] that develops Newton's law of cooling by considering data on the cooling of a beaker of water in a room, and expanding upon…

Inquiry as a strategy for science teaching has become widespread in the classroom and has various applications. But whether teachers are sufficiently trained to carry it out in pre-university classrooms would need to be determined. The objective of this study is to determine the inquiry knowledge of preservice primary teachers and their ability to…

Modelling roles of mathematics in physics has proved to be a difficult task, with previous models of the interplay between the two disciplines mainly focusing on mathematical modelling and problem solving. However, to convey a realistic view of physics as a field of science to our students, we need to do more than train them to become fluent in…

This paper aimed to examine the changes in the representations of nature of science (NOS) in Chinese senior high school chemistry textbooks under the influence of the new curriculum ideas. The study was conducted based on an analytical framework in which the aspects of NOS, the approaches to address NOS, and the content relation of NOS aspects…