The authors investigated whether the amount of instructional guidance affects science learning and self-efficacy. Sixty 9- and 10-year-old children were randomly assigned to one of the following three instructional conditions: (a) guided instruction consisting of examples and student-generated explanations, (b) direct instruction consisting of a…

Recent research reveals that students' interest in school science begins to decline at an early age. As this lack of interest could result in fewer individuals qualified for scientific careers and a population unprepared to engage with scientific societal issues, it is imperative to investigate ways in which interest in school science can be…

Background: In recent research, affective learning environments and affective support have been receiving increasing attention for their roles in stimulating students' learning outcomes. Despite its raising importance, little is known about affective support in educational contexts in developing countries. Moreover, international student…

The aim of the current study is to identify the attitudes towards the laboratory course and self-efficacy beliefs in the laboratory use of prospective teachers who are attending Gazi University Gazi Education Faculty Primary Education Science Teaching program, and to investigate the relationship between the attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs.…

The explorative study reported here describes youth participants in three animal science-related career development events from 2010. Variables included students' self-efficacy, task value motivation, career interests, and to what extent they utilized resources in preparation. It was concluded that all three groups were self-efficacious,…

This paper describes Ecuadorian in-service teachers and their science teaching practices in public primary schools. We wanted to find out to what extent teachers implement inquiry activities in science teaching, the level of support they provide, and what type of inquiry they implement. Four questionnaires applied to 173 teachers resulted in the…

For more than 50 years, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) has been conducting comparative studies of educational achievement in a number of curriculum areas, including mathematics and science. TIMSS 2011 represents the fifth cycle of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS),…