Background: Nanotechnology education has become an urgent priority to nurture skilled human resources for the rapidly developing nanotechnology-related industries. The promotion of popular science education focusing on nanotechnology is an ideal approach to bridge the gaps in formal curricula, and to stimulate curiosity about and interest in…

Background: In Bangladesh, a common science curriculum caters for all students at the junior secondary level. Since this curriculum is for all students, its aims are both to build a strong foundation in science while still providing students with the opportunities to use science in everyday life--an aim consistent with the notion of scientific…

Background: Argumentation is accepted by many science educators as a major component of science education. Many studies have investigated students' conceptual understanding and their engagement in argumentative activities. However, studies conducted in the subject of chemistry are very rare. Purpose: The present study aimed to investigate the…

Background: It is widely agreed that more needs to be done to improve participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Despite considerable investment in interventions, it has been difficult to discern their effectiveness and/or impact on participation. Purpose: This paper discusses findings from a six-week pilot STEM…

Background: Many tools have been developed to measure the ability of workers to innovate. However, all of them are based on self-reporting questionnaires, which raises questions about their validity Purpose: The aim was to develop and validate a tool, called Ideas Generation Implementation (IGI), to objectively measure the style and potential of…

Background: Until recently, the affective components of education had long been undervalued. Today, one finds ever more studies on cognitive and affective interrelationships that are lending support to the idea that affect and cognition are best understood when viewed as independent and complementary mental functions. Purpose: The present work…

Background: Interest is assumed to be relevant for students' learning processes. Many studies have investigated students' interest in science; most of them however have not offered differentiated insights into the structure and elements of this interest. Purpose: The aim of this study is to obtain a precise image of secondary school…

Background: Understanding the nature of science (NOS) has been a key objective in teaching sciences for many years. Despite the importance of this goal it is, until this day, a complex challenge that we are far from achieving. Purpose: The study was conducted in order to further the understanding of the NOS amongst preservice teachers. It explores…

Background: Sustainable development (SD) is a complex idea, based on environmental, economic and social dimensions. In line with SD, education for sustainable development (ESD) is an approach to teaching that combines cognitive and affective domains and aims to build empowerment abilities. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to investigate…

Background: Past studies have shown significant associations between students' conceptions of learning science and their science learning self-efficacy. However, in most of the studies, students' science learning self-efficacy has often been measured by a singular scale. Purpose: Extending the findings of these studies, the present study…

Background and purpose: Knowing how students learn physics is a central goal of physics education. The major purpose of this study is to examine the strength of the predictive power of students' epistemic views and conceptions of learning in terms of their approaches to learning in physics. Sample, design and method: A total of 279 Taiwanese high…

Background and purpose: Chemistry examinations can favour the deployment of algorithmic procedures like Le Chatelier's Principle (LCP) rather than reasoning using chemical principles. This study investigated the explanatory resources which high school students use to answer equilibrium problems and whether the marks given for examination answers…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of competitive Student Team Achievement Division (STAD), non-competitive STAD, and traditional learning on chemistry learning and learning perceptions. Sample, design and methods: By adopting the STAD approach, this study examined 144 nursing students at a five-year junior…

Background: According to the Swedish curriculum teachers in all subjects have a responsibility to integrate a holistic perspective of sustainable development (SD) and teach according to an education for sustainable development (ESD) approach. However previous research has shown that teachers from different subjects perceive SD differently.…

Background: This article reports on an evaluation study of a project seeking to develop the use of position-linked datalogging with primary pupils in environmental science contexts. Purpose: The study sought to find out the extent to which the project had developed: (1) participant teachers' confidence in using datalogging as an everyday part of…