The development and application of a framework that captures main characteristics of learning in nature--the Field Trip in Natural Environments (FiNE) framework--is the main outcome of this study that followed up 22 daily field trips of 4-6th grade students to nature parks. The theoretical and practical framework, which was developed based on the…

This study investigated the relationship among 68 high school students' scientific epistemological beliefs (SEBs), cognitive structures regarding nuclear power usage, and their informal reasoning regarding this issue. Moreover, the ability of students' SEBs as well as their cognitive structures for predicting their informal reasoning regarding…

This study focussed on secondary school (11-18 years) pre-service teachers' (n = 73) knowledge of and attitudes towards risks associated with alpha, beta, and gamma radiations. A multi-method approach was used with physics, chemistry, biology, and history graduates undertaking the one-year initial teacher training, Post Graduate Certificate in…

This article reports on the construction process of inclusion/exclusion for high school chemistry students in two schools in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais State, Brazil. We examined the interactional accomplishment of inclusion/exclusion of four students, two from a private school and two from a public school. The aim of this article…

This paper considers how the school science curriculum can be conceptualised in order to address the contingent and complex nature of environmental and sustainability-related knowledge and understanding. A special concern lies in the development of research perspectives and tools for investigating ways, in which teachers are faced with complex and…

The phrase "knowledge creation" refers to the practices by which a community advances its collective knowledge. Experience with a model of knowledge creation could help students to learn about the nature of science. This research examined how much progress a teacher and 16 Primary Five (Grade 4) students in the International…

This study aimed to elucidate college freshmen science students, secondary science teachers, and scientists' perceptions of "scientific" argument; to compare participants' perceptions with Stephen Toulmin's analytical framework of argument; and to characterize the criteria that participants deployed when assessing the "quality"…

This study investigated three questions: (1) What are Lebanese secondary school (Grade 9-12) biology teachers' and university biology professors' positions regarding biological evolution?, (2) How do participants' religious affiliations relate to their positions about evolutionary science?, and (3) What are participants' positions regarding…

This paper examines the experiences reported by scientists and graduate students regarding the experiences that first engaged them in science. The interviews analysed for this paper come from Project Crossover, a mixed-methods study of the transition from graduate student to PhD scientist in the fields of chemistry and physics. This analysis…

In this article, we investigate how mentoring relationships founded on inquiry as stance can work to emphasize the conditions that promote the development of teachers of science as inquiry. Drawing on data collected through semi-structured interviews, we have developed two narrative case studies based on the two mentoring relationships that exist…

The assumption that scientific knowledge would bring an end to religious belief has challenged many scholars, particularly since such a belief persists even among those devoted to scientific activities. In this paper the occurrence and nature of religious belief in groups of life scientists working in the UK and Brazil is discussed in the context…

Two reasons are suggested for studying the degree of conceptual integration in student thinking. The linking of new material to existing knowledge is an important aspect of meaningful learning. It is also argued that conceptual coherence is a characteristic of scientific knowledge and a criterion used in evaluating new theories. Appreciating this…

This evaluation used a change transition model to explore the processes of development of a three-phase professional programme devised by two teams of researchers to support teachers' expertise in six domains of science teaching. The full programme operated over two years. Interviews with developers at the end of each phase (21 interviews) and…

A programme of professional development was designed consisting of 20 hours of workshops plus in-school activities. The implementation of new pedagogy was supported by teachers bringing examples of their work in the classroom to the workshops for discussion and reflection. The purpose of this study is to explore factors that influenced what…

This case study investigated the implementation of an inquiry-based curricular unit that was designed to promote student discourse and debate on aspects related to the nature of science, using a socioscientific issue of genetically modified foods. Two high school science classrooms participated in the study that took place over seven consecutive…