In this paper, we analyze the science activities offered at 7th grade in the Turkish science and technology curriculum along with addressing the curriculum's original intent. We refer to several science education researchers' ideas, including Chinn & Malhotra's (Science Education, 86:175--218, 2002) theoretical framework and…

This study presents a small part of a larger study investigating Turkish and German mathematics teachers' and their students' values (Values in Mathematics Teaching in Turkey and Germany). The main focus of the study was school levels of the teachers working at primary and secondary schools. The interactions related to nationality were…

This research study examined the effect of origami-based geometry instruction on spatial visualization, geometry achievement, and geometric reasoning of tenth-grade students in Turkey. The sample ("n" = 184) was chosen from a tenth-grade population of a public high school in Turkey. It was a quasi-experimental pretest/posttest design. A…

Before science can be completely understood, one of the fundamental skills that must be developed is observation. Improving descriptive writing and investigating students' observational skills in the classroom is the purpose of this study. The study was designed to determine if such skills, practiced through modeling activities, serve as a…

We examined the effect of curriculum organization in US high schools where students could freely choose to study mathematics from textbooks that employed one of two types of content organization, an "integrated" approach or a (traditional) "subject-specific" approach. The study involved 2,242 high school students, enrolled in…

Engaging mathematics students with modelling activities helps them learn mathematics meaningfully. This engagement, in the case of model eliciting activities, helps the students elicit mathematical models by interpreting real-world situation in mathematical ways. This is especially true when the students utilize technology to build the models.…

Algebra is the fundamental language of mathematics, and a profound understanding of school algebra is an important prerequisite for further studies in mathematical sciences. The aim of this study is to characterize the algebraic competence of the Norwegian upper secondary school students participating in Trends in International Mathematics and…

In recent decades, research has shown the challenge posed to teachers by science education in informal contexts such as science museums or centres. In addition, there is consensus that in the case of pupils visiting a science centre, learning improves when the visit is connected to the classroom curriculum, so the teachers' involvement in…

Knowledge structure is an important aspect for defining students' competency in biology learning, but how knowledge structure is influenced by the teaching process in naturalistic biology classroom settings has scarcely been empirically investigated. In this study, 49 biology lessons in the teaching unit "blood and circulatory…

In this study, we investigated the impact of teaming school-based instructional coaches with science or mathematics middle school teachers to build a community of practice around inquiry instruction. This professional development model began with a 2-week summer institute and continued with four follow-up sessions during the academic school year…

The benefits of connecting school students with scientists are well documented. This paper reports how New Zealand teachers brought scientists into the classrooms through the use of videos of New Zealand scientists talking about themselves and their research. Two researchers observed lessons in 9 different classrooms in which 23 educational videos…

To investigate relationships between students' quantitative reasoning with fractions and their algebraic reasoning, a clinical interview study was conducted with 18 middle and high school students. The students were interviewed twice, once to explore their quantitative reasoning with fractions and once to explore their solutions of problems…

Constructing explanations and participating in argumentative discourse are seen as essential practices of scientific inquiry. The objective of this study was to explore the elements and origins of pre-service secondary science teachers' alternative conceptions of tidal phenomena based on the elements used in Toulmin's Argument Model…

This paper investigates the factors that influence 15-year-old students' intentions to study physics post-16, when it is no longer compulsory. The analysis is based on the year 10 (age, 15 years) responses of 5,034 students from 137 England schools as learners of physics during the academic year 2008-2009. Factor analyses uncovered a range of…

This study explored learning competency based on the Indonesian National Examination focusing especially on chemistry performance and the circumstances of senior high school students and teachers in rural areas of Simeulue Island, Indonesia. The National Examination total score and chemistry score for students in rural areas were consistently…