This paper investigates the views of science and scientific activity that can be found in chemistry textbooks and heard from teachers when acid-base reactions are introduced to grade 12 and university chemistry students. First, the main macroscopic and microscopic conceptual models are developed. Second, we attempt to show how the existence of…

This paper presents the results of part of an investigation carried out with fourth-level Spanish secondary education students (15 years old), in which we implemented a teaching unit based on problem-solving methodology as an investigation to teach genetics and human inheritance curricular contents. By solving open problems, the students…

Children love observing seeds change as they germinate and grow into tall healthy plants, but how can teachers make investigating plants an exciting and immediate event? Microscopy might just be the answer. Although most students have seen flowers, not many have looked closely at their various structures or seen their colorful designs only…

The author is surprised every year when fifth-grade students react to the study of biomes as if they've never given any thought to the differences across parts of the world. Sure, they've all heard of the tropical rain forest and the desert, but it seems as though they think the rest of the world is just some undefined area with climate, animals,…

The science notebook is more than a record of data that students collect, facts students learn, and procedures students conduct. It is also a record of students' questions, predictions, claims linked to evidence, conclusions, and reflections--all structured by an investigation leading to an understanding of "big ideas" (not factoids) in science. A…

Assessing students through their Microsoft PowerPoint presentations might be thought to be impossible, a waste of time or a fascination with new technology which will pass sooner or later. However, to make a judgement on such assertions requires examining the strengths and weaknesses of such a form of assessment. Examples within an academic…

Whilst it is acknowledged that there is a case for giving pupils a say in what affects them most--the content and methodology of what and how they learn, such practice is not widespread. This paper discusses the rationale behind giving pupils a genuine say in determining their methods of learning and suggests how this approach is entirely within…

The research examines the range of effects of obtaining Specialist School status in two contrasting mathematics and computing colleges, concentrating on the mathematics department. The positive impact of a wider range of technology was evident in both schools although the inherent pedagogical perspectives within each mathematics department…

Research aimed at developing and validating an instrument to assess secondary school students' perceptions of assessment tasks was conducted. Following a review of literature, a five-scale instrument of 40 items was trialled with a sample of 658 science students in 11 English secondary schools. Based on internal consistency reliability data and…

Teamwork is widely recognised as an important skill both generally and in the context of the computing industry. The majority of approaches to teaching teamwork are "practically" based and in higher education are often designed to run over a number of weeks. We required an approach that would work over a concentrated period of five days…

This article introduces "medium-based" design -- an approach to creating "exploratory learning environments" using the method of "extending a medium". First, the characteristics of exploratory learning environments and medium-based design are described and grounded in related work. Particular attention is given to "extending a medium" --…

This paper reports findings about a curriculum innovation conducted at The University of Hong Kong. A CD-ROM consisting of videos of two lessons by different teachers demonstrating exemplary science teaching was used to elicit conceptions of good science teaching of student-teachers enrolled for the 1-year Postgraduate Diploma in Education at…

The Quality of Working in Groups Instrument (QWIGI) was used in this research to measure students' fluctuating psychological need states as well as their situational interest online. Based on previous research with the QWIGI, it was predicted that the variance in university sophomores' situational interest in each of the five different topics of…

The authors' studies evaluated the discriminative ability of the youth and parent forms of the "Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale--Second Edition" (BERS-2; Epstein, 2004). The BERS-2 is a standardized rating scale system that assesses the emotional and behavioral strengths of children and youth. Separate studies compared the…

Research shows that educational outcomes are no different for pupils in single-grade and multigrade classes. However, little is known about the instructional practices of multigrade teachers. What is known suggests that multigrade teachers tend to employ instructional practices that are not likely to facilitate effective teaching and learning. The…