This paper highlights specific aspects of high-school students' reasoning while coping with a modeling task of plant growth in a computer-supported educational environment. It is particularly concerned with the modeling levels ('macro-phenomenological' and 'micro-conceptual' level) activated by peers while exploring plant growth and with their…

This article is a contribution to the characterization of teacher-pupil interactions during scientific inquiry. Attention is paid to conclusion phases, as it is at this point in the interaction that a pupil's production is to be accepted or rejected. Sixteen sessions taught by eight teachers in junior high schools and high schools were recorded,…

It is widely recognized that lectures continue to dominate college chemistry instruction, especially in developing countries, and that lectures limit student intellectual engagement. To address this concern, a General Chemistry course in a Philippine university was reconstructed to implement an instructional cycle consisting of three phases: a…

The study is aimed at investigating the effects of four learning methods on students' scientific inquiry skills. The four learning methods are: (a) metacognitive-guided inquiry within asynchronous learning networked technology (MINT); (b) an asynchronous learning network (ALN) with no metacognitive guidance; (c) metacognitive-guided inquiry…

A case study is presented describing the work of three pupils in the upper level of compulsory school. The pupils were learning about the intensified greenhouse effect and the depletion of the ozone layer. In their work, the need for certain domain-specific knowledge becomes apparent; for example, understanding such concepts as photosynthesis,…

In this descriptive study, the science subject matter knowledge of preservice and inservice elementary teachers was examined and compared. Over an eight-year period, answers to 13 science questions, including 10 from the US National Science Foundation's Survey of Public Attitudes Toward and Understanding of Science and Technology, were collected…

In Portugal, the number of students in higher education increased from 80,000 in 1975 to 381,000 in 2000 (a change from 11% to 53% in the age group 18-22), meaning a major change in the diversity of student population with consequences well known and studied in other countries. The teaching of chemistry at the University of Aveiro, for the…

This paper discusses the evaluation of an informal science education project, The Birdhouse Network (TBN) of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. The Elaboration Likelihood Model and the theory of Experiential Education were used as frameworks to analyse the impact of TBN on participants' attitudes toward science and the environment, on their…

The paper reports a study for determining a suitable process for converting traditional surface science courses into case-based learning ones in two universities in Hong Kong. In this preparative study, a set of baseline data was collected on the current level of students' conceptual understanding and also students' perceptions about the…

A brief history is given of approaches that aim at achieving a connectedness of the content of organic chemistry courses to real world issues. Recently, such approaches have relied more and more on online media resources, the tools of the Internet and the World Wide Web. We propose a six-level taxonomy of 'authentic news media-based learning…

In this study, the relationships among students' cognitive/motivational variables, cognitive conflict, and conceptual change were investigated. Subjects were 159 seventh graders in Korea. Tests regarding logical thinking ability, field dependence/independence (FDI), meaningful learning approach, failure tolerance, mastery goal orientation, and…

Among the sciences, the practice of geology is especially visual. To assess the role of spatial ability in learning geology, we designed an experiment using: (1) web-based versions of spatial visualization tests, (2) a geospatial test, and (3) multimedia instructional modules built around QuickTime Virtual Reality movies. Students in control and…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality, evolution, and position of university students' argumentation about organic agriculture over a 4-week argument-critique-argument e-learning experience embedded in a first year university biology course. The participants (N = 43) were classified into three groups based on their…

This article considers the impact of scaffolding on pre-service science teachers' constitution of identities as teachers of inquiry. This scaffolding has consisted of 2 major components, a unit on current electricity which encompasses the inquiry continuum and an open inquiry which is situated in context of classroom practice. Our analysis…

This study explores the effects of the "presence of external representations of a mathematical object" (ERs) on problem solving performance associated with short double-choice problems. The problems were borrowed from secondary school algebra and geometry, and the ERs were either formulas, graphs of functions, or drawings of geometric…