An ability to engage in system thinking is necessary to understand complex problems. While many pre-college students use system modeling tools, there is limited evidence of student reasoning about causal relationships that interact in diverging and converging chains, and how these affect system behavior. A chemistry unit on gas phenomena was…

The work of teaching includes many in-the-moment decisions for teachers to make. In this study, we focused on the decisions prospective teachers made within the elementary context specific to shared teaching practice in mathematics and science instruction -- elicit and use evidence of student thinking. Within a qualitative multisite case study, we…

Success in problem-based learning requires both strong information literacy to search for, evaluate, and use information effectively, and argumentation skills to generate coherent arguments. This study investigated the positive and negative effects of computer-based scaffolding to support high-school credit recovery students' information literacy…

Dealing with student errors is a central feature of instructional quality. Teachers' reactions to a student's error and classmates' errors can be crucial to the success of a lesson. A teacher should respond appropriately in terms of motivational and learning-related issues so that the error can become a learning opportunity for students.…

The world is facing severe global challenges such as climate change, food security, rising migration, social justice, or the current corona crisis. In these times, citizenship education seems more important than ever. How can this citizenship education relate to mathematics and science learning? The research project MaSDiV (Supporting mathematics…

Representations constitute an important part of chemistry knowledge. This paper revisits the notion of the term, symbolic, in the chemistry triangle proposed by Johnstone using the theoretical lens of social semiotics. In doing so, this paper proposes a framework of chemistry learning that highlights representational re-description and…

The role of engineering in science and mathematics education continues to emerge as a contributing factor to improving STEM education. Efforts across different countries include the integration of engineering in K-12 curriculum, after school programs, and inservice teacher professional development. Only recently have science teacher educators…

The present study investigated if the argument-driven inquiry (ADI) model with embedded explicit-reflective teaching of NOSI improved pre-service science teachers' (PSTs) comprehension of the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI). The study employed the qualitative experiment method with 16 PSTs. The PSTs working in small groups conducted seven ADI…

In this qualitative study, the researchers explored the ways in which 21st-century skills (specifically communication and critical thinking) are enhanced by Grade 10 beginner Physical Sciences teachers while teaching Particulate Nature of Matter (PNM) through the implementation of problem-based learning (PBL). The study was conducted in one of the…

Although physical hands-on laboratory experiments are commonly used in schools, virtual laboratory environments are also being used in science classrooms. Their possibilities and impact on students' achievement, conceptual understanding, and inquiry skills have been investigated by other researchers. Yet, it is difficult to find studies about the…

Reading comprehension is an essential skill for learning in general and in science classes. Problems with reading comprehension might hinder students' participation in learning science. Text in science includes specific language features that distinguishes it from narrative text, so should reading instruction be part of teaching science? The…

The history of science (HOS) has played an important role in science curricula for teaching about science. However, historical information in science textbooks is often de-contextualized, coupled with limited class time and teaching barriers, and thus fails to help students understand the dynamic process of scientific development. This research…

High school students learn the basic voltaic and electrolytic cell concepts during their last year prior to entering an undergraduate teacher-education science degree. During the 4 years of university, students complete a sequence of topics designed to build on conceptual understanding presented in previous years. At the end of their degrees,…

This study presents 3 case studies that examine the processes involved in the professional growth of physics teacher-leaders (TLs) in a national network of professional learning communities (PLCs). This program has been operating since 2012, using a "Fan Model" where the TLs participate in a PLC (TL-PLC) led by a team from the Weizmann…

Currently, the physics disciplines are represented by a significantly larger number of professional males, compared to females. Although the problem of underrepresentation of female physicists has several causes, one likely reason is the lower interest that female school students have in physics activities. Several instructional solutions have…