The purpose of this study was to investigate upper primary school students' academic development in science courses and to evaluate their views and feelings about self-learning processes through journals. Students in 6th and 7th grade wrote journals twice a week for nine weeks. We evaluated the journals weekly according to the Science Journal…

Group discussions were introduced in an introductory physics course at the National University of Laos. About 200 students discussed two qualitative questions in groups of 3-4 students. This was followed by whole class discussions. We examined this new method and identified problems and possibilities with it. Seven groups were recorded and…

A decline in biology interest has often been claimed but seldom with an empirically substantiation. This study was based on a sample of 3rd and 4th grade pupils within the same geographical area as Lowe's (1987, 1992) previous results from southwest Germany from the year 1983. We used a four-point Likert-type questionnaire to assess interest with…

The purpose of this study was to establish what impact experimental work has on the understanding of scientific concepts, what pupils remember about the experiments they carried out and how they are able to formulate and understand the experiment plan. A sample of 386 pupils aged 13+ participated in the research, of which 162 in the experimental…

This study proposed to investigate the effectiveness of learning activities based on a conceptual change theoretical framework by embedding a peer instruction method with structured inquiry (PISI) on tenth grade students' understanding of force and motion concepts. This teaching method was compared to the existing traditional instruction (TI).…

Dispositions supporting the teaching of science as structured inquiry by four elementary candidates are presented. Candidates were studied during student teaching based on their positive attitudes toward teaching science with reform-based materials in their methods course. Personal learning histories informed their attitudes, values, and beliefs…

This study explores how elementary teachers perceive and use "engaging oral strategies" (i.e., manners of speaking that encourage students to participate and become engaged in science discussions). It is reported that the strategies employed as well as their frequency varied substantially depending upon on the teachers' grade level and…

This study investigated students' scientific epistemological beliefs in relation to socio-economic status (SES) and gender. Data were obtained from 1,152 eight grade Turkish elementary school students using Scientific Epistemological Beliefs instrument. Canonical correlation analysis indicated that students with a working mother and educated…

There have been substantial reform efforts in science education to improve students' understandings of science and its processes and provide continual support for students becoming scientifically literate (American Association for the Advancement of Science in Benchmarks for science literacy, Oxford University Press, New York, 1993; "National…

Many science education standards mandate teaching evolution concepts in the K-8 curriculum. Yet, not all K-8 certified educators embrace the notion of teaching evolution content Factors influencing K-8 teacher engagement with evolution curriculum include evolution familiarity and personal beliefs conflicts. With this in mind, we investigated the…

There is a large body of research that has explored students' misconceptions about science phenomena. Less research, however, has been devoted to identifying teachers' misconceptions, but the results of the few existing studies demonstrate that teachers and students possess similar misconceptions. This study explored the physical science…

Drawing from the Deweyan theory of experience (1934, 1938), the goal of teaching and learning for transformative, aesthetic experience is contrasted against teaching and learning from a cognitive, rational framework. A quasi-experimental design was used to investigate teaching and learning of fifth grade science from each perspective across an…

This study documents the use of the Draw-a-Science-Teacher-Test as diagnostic tool for both preservice teacher beliefs about science teaching and science methods course effectiveness. Direct comparison of pre-course to post-course images from 50 preservice elementary teachers was undertaken using McNemar's test. Results indicated statistically…

Parents are generally less involved in their children's science education (as compared to reading and mathematics) due to low self-efficacy and a lack of home-school communication. This study examined parental interest and attitudes in science as well as the nature of parent-to-child questioning during an interactive home, school, and community…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the development of preservice science teachers' knowledge structures in the domain of oxidation and reduction chemistry. Knowledge structures were elicited through video-recorded semi-structured interviews before and after the unit of instruction, and analyzed using a visual flow map representation.…