With the increasing demand for evidence-based research on teacher effectiveness and improving student achievement, more impact studies are being conducted to examine the effectiveness of professional development (PD) interventions. Cluster randomized trials (CRTs) are often carried out to assess PD interventions that aim to improve both teacher…

This longitudinal impact study examined the effects of a leadership development program for district-based teams of educators leading science education reform efforts. Propensity score matching was used to construct a comparison group of demographically similar districts who received either none or extant leadership development programming.…

This study investigated the impact of 'assessment for learning' on learner performance in Life Science. Simple random sampling was used to select four schools from the King Cetshwayo District of KwaZulu Natal Province, South Africa, to participate in the study. A quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest comparison group design was used, involving four…

A prominent feature of education in the United States is the widespread endorsement of an "achievement narrative," which links individual motivation and effort to academic achievement. In mathematics and science domains, this narrative is often coupled with one that special intelligence is required for people to do math and science. We…

Recent evidence points to the early elementary grades as a pivotal point for the development of science learning trajectories and achievement gaps. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, this study estimates the degree to which time spent on science and the breadth of science topics/skills covered predict science achievement in…

This article describes a quasi-experimental study conducted in two Organic Chemistry I classrooms at a diverse, urban, public university. The treatment group received an exam wrapper intervention, a series of four written exercises administered throughout the semester designed to enhance students' academic self-regulation by promoting…

To equalize access to science learning across genders and demographic groups, access to the disciplinary language of science is one place to start. The language of science is highly challenging and specialized, and difficulties acquiring this language contribute to disparities in science achievement across diverse student groups. This study used a…

This study, drawing on data from the third cycle of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and employing three-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) as an analytic strategy, examined the relations of inquiry-based science teaching to science achievement and dispositions toward science among 170,474 15-year-old students from…

The 21st century student learns and communicates in the virtual world. In order to meet the individual instructional needs of the students, virtual science laboratories should be researched to accomplish the goal. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a virtual chemistry laboratory in enhancing students' conceptual understanding as a…

This study examines the existing literature on information and communication technology and establishes that although there is a strong potential for these resources to generate improved student science concepts outcomes, many teachers fail to recognize that potential. The study then presents qualitative data acquired from teacher questionnaires,…

In learning of students, cognitive and affective skills and interaction of these skills are very significant. Intellectual risk taking (IRT) and test anxiety inventory (TAI) fall between these cognitive and affective skills. In this research, in addition to the relation between the skills of secondary school students, whether their class level and…

Acid-base chemistry is a foundational topic that is taught in courses across the chemistry curriculum. Students often have difficulty distinguishing between the different theories of acid-base chemistry--Brønsted-Lowry and Lewis acid-base chemistry--and applying these two definitions correctly in unfamiliar scenarios. To help students learn these…

Research in the past ten years has shown that there has been a lack of professionals to fill the jobs available in science. One possible reason for the lack of participation in science fields lies in students' beliefs in their ability to do science, or science self-efficacy, which is linked to interest and achievement. Their perceptions of science…

Participation in the science workforce is low, and this can be partially attributed to low retention rates of undergraduate students who initially declare a science major. Low retention rates are further exacerbated for under-represented minority (URM) and first-generation (FG) college students pursuing science, and the existence of achievement…

Virtual reality (VR) has a high potential to facilitate education. However, the design of many VR learning applications was criticized for lacking the guidance of explicit and appropriate learning theories. To advance the use of VR in effective instruction, this study proposed a model that extended the cognitive-affective theory of learning with…