A literature-based survey gathered 331 final-year preservice teachers' perceptions of their mentoring in primary science education from nine Australian universities. Data were analysed within five factors proposed for mentoring (i.e., Personal Attributes, System Requirements, Pedagogical Knowledge, Modelling, and Feedback). Results indicated that…

This study investigated how individuals' construction of explanations--a way of ascertaining how well an individual understands a concept--develops from an interactive simulation. Specifically, the purpose was to investigate the effect of interactive computer simulations or science textbook assignments on the nature and quality of postgraduate…

This paper is about a longitudinal study to investigate how student-teachers developed understanding of some key ecological concepts during a teacher education programme. Another aim was to interpret the student-teachers' intentions in respect of the programme and to examine how these intentions influenced their learning. A group of students were…

Given the progressive loss of influence for the school relative to television in youngsters' everyday lives, this article describes the procedure and the results of including cartoons in the physics curriculum in secondary education. Work was carried out intensively with a small group of pupils and sporadically with a larger group. In the first…

Constructivist and conceptual change perspectives on learning have given rise to a number of models of constructivist classroom teaching. Motivation has been recognized as an important factor in the construction of knowledge and the process of conceptual change, so one could expect that motivation strategies would be integral components of…

A Korean science teachers' discursive practises were examined with a view to identifying pedagogical roles performed through his talk. Data came from the video recordings of classroom sessions where students presented their science projects and exchanged questions and answers during the presentations. Transcripts were developed and analysed in a…

This paper reports on the use of out-of-school everyday contexts in Namibian science classrooms. This use is portrayed against the backdrop of an explicit educational philosophy of learner-centred teaching. Data were collected through audio-taped teacher-learner interactions and non-participant field notes in 29 junior and senior science classes…

This research focused on the concept of "force" ("CHI-KA-RA" in Japanese) in Newtonian mechanics. The primary objective was to develop a tool, based on metaphor, to interpret student thinking in learning scientific topics. The study provides an example of using the tool to trace the process of mutual changes in thinking during a dialog among…

The purpose of this paper is to report our findings from a qualitative study intended to develop our understandings of: what high-poverty urban children understand and believe about food and food systems; and how such children transform and use that knowledge in their everyday lives (i.e. how do they express their scientific literacies including…

This paper critically examines the model of practical assessment discussed by Bennett and Kennedy (2001), and considers it in the light of recent changes in the assessment of science courses in the Republic of Ireland. The model is discussed in detail and the empirical results are re-evaluated. The discussion has wider relevance for the…

This paper re-centres the discussion of student learning in physics to focus on context. In order to do so, a theoretically motivated understanding of context is developed. Given a well-defined notion of context, data from a novel university class in electricity and magnetism are analysed to demonstrate the central and inextricable role of context…

This article reports on a phenomenographic-based study of the expectations of teaching among undergraduate physics students. Data are drawn from a range of course-contexts at each of two quite different universities--one South African and one Swedish--and five qualitatively different expectations of physics teaching are identified and exemplified.…

This paper addresses student-teachers' ability to "read nature" in a woodland habitat before and after a 10-week ecology course. "Reading nature" is our definition of the ability to observe, describe and explain basic ecology in the field. Data consists of field-based pre-course and post-course interviews followed up by metacognitive interviews…

This study examines the effectiveness of a new constructivist curriculum model (Powerful Ideas in Physical Science) in improving prospective teachers' understanding of science concepts, in fostering a learning environment supporting conceptual understanding, and in promoting positive attitudes toward learning and teaching science and chemistry in…

The School of Physics at the University of Sydney has introduced voluntary workshop tutorials in large first-year courses. The tutorials are based on informal cooperative groupings with structured worksheets and short hands-on activities. In this study we explore the relationship between attendance at the workshop tutorials and student performance…