While the importance of explicit and reflective NOS instruction is clear in the literature, questions remain about how to enact such instruction. That is, literature is sometimes unclear in defining how to enact explicit and reflective NOS instruction. While some authors recommend using questions (e.g., Clough 2007) to enact effective NOS…

Incorporating design in science programs has been shown to enhance science understanding, practices, and problem-solving skills. However, instructors and students typically struggle with fostering effective communication within a design-based course. With better communication scaffolding, students would learn more content and also become better at…

In biological research, generic questions that are derived from perspectives (ways of looking at and thinking about life processes) help in generating specific questions. In this study, we used perspective-based generic questions as scaffolds to support student teachers in increasing the quality and quantity of their questions about biological…

This article presents a qualitative study of the type and quality of questions formulated by prospective elementary teachers (PETs) when designing scientific inquiry activities, depending on the school science content selected. The data were acquired during teacher training instruction on these aspects with 67 participant PETs. The results showed…

Studies have investigated various aspects of the use of questions in science lessons, but there is still a lack of research that demonstrates how, during peer reflection, teachers learn through identifying and overcoming obstacles to their own questioning in their professional development process. The present study is aimed at analyzing the types…

Student questioning is an important self-regulative strategy and has multiple benefits for teaching and learning science. Teachers, however, need support to align student questioning to curricular goals. This study tests a prototype of a principle-based scenario that supports teachers in guiding effective student questioning. In the scenario, mind…

Fostering and maintaining students' interest in science is an important aspect of improving science learning. The focus of this paper is to listen to and reflect on students' voices regarding the sources of motivation for science subjects among students in community secondary schools with contextual challenges in Tanzania. We conducted a…

The Next-Generation Science Standards (NGSS) challenge primary teachers and students to work and think like scientists and engineers as they strive to understand complex concepts. Teachers and teacher educators can leverage what is already known about inquiry teaching as they plan instruction to help students meet the new standards. This…

Questioning is a central practice in science classrooms. However, not every question translates into a "good" science investigation. Questions that drive science investigations can be provided by many sources including the teacher, the curriculum, or the student. The variations in the source of investigation questions were explored in…

This critical discourse analysis study identifies and describes power relationships in elementary classrooms that support science engagement by providing students time to think, ask questions, and find their voices to talk about subject matter. The first analyses involved identification and description of classroom episodes showing high levels of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the various roles that early elementary teachers adopt when questioning, to scaffold dialogic interaction and students' cognitive responses for argumentative practices over time. Teacher questioning is a pivotal contributing factor that shapes the role teachers play in promoting dialogic interaction in…

With advancements made in mobile technology, increasing emphasis has been paid to how to leverage the affordances of mobile technology to improve science learning and instruction. This paper reports on a science curriculum supported by an inquiry-based framework and mobile technologies. It was developed by teachers and researchers in a multiyear…

This study reports on teaching practices in science classrooms of Indonesian lower secondary schools in rural areas. Using six schools from three districts in the province of Kalimantan Selatan as the sample, this study found that most teaching practices in science classrooms in rural schools were teacher-centred with students copying notes.…

Describes various tools, materials, and experiences used to facilitate critical reflection in teaching prospective science teachers. Tools discussed include portfolios, journals, learning maps, the use of metaphors, and proverbs. Such tool use may provide support to generate science-education reform. (AIM)

Contrasts naive beliefs about the nature of science with science as it appears from sociological and philosophical study, feminist critique, and insights from multicultural education. Pragmatic school science is situated within a framework that questions how we know and the recognition that even high-status knowledge can be challenged. (AIM)