Background: Science educators around the world have recognised that difference in performance exists between male and female students in chemistry and there have been several efforts and interventions through research and workshops to bridge this gap. Purpose: Owing to the current growth of the effects of the use of computer simulations on…

Background: Research on chemistry education has found that students have commonly some difficulties in understanding chemical changes. These difficulties in the learning process have negatively affected students' success. For this reason, it is very important to overcome students' learning difficulties with new materials that prevent the…

Background: Researchers have acknowledged that examining ICT in relation to disciplinary learning outcomes could offer a promising, synergistic research path forward. A number of empirical studies have been done to determine the relationship between ICT-related variables and students' science achievement. However, the mechanism of the…

Aim and background: This study investigated the effects of information and communication technology (ICT) use patterns, moderated by socioeconomic status (SES), on science and mathematics achievements. This investigation aims to address the issue of whether ICT use has 'conditioned' (linear and quadratic) effects on achievements with SES as social…

Background: Being able to think independently is a must for students to construct new knowledge in their minds. Self-explaining is a constructive learning strategy that encourages students to think for themselves and to make inferences that go beyond the given information. The Self-explain--Discuss--Re-explain (SDR) strategy adapted from…

Background: Information Communication Technologies are increasingly present in the African educational system at all educational levels. However, their integration into pedagogical practices to improve the quality of teaching and learning across disciplines remains the exception. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to compare the learning…

Educational standards and instructional frameworks aim to foster students' scientific literacy, especially their conceptual knowledge. Previous research has examined several instructional approaches to foster students' conceptual learning. Reliable and adequate use of technical terms in science instruction is also essential for fostering students'…

Background: In England, there is a growing need to improve the lives of secondary school students who are defined as disadvantaged and to support these students in their attainment and attitudes to secondary school science. Purpose: This paper reports on a project designed to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds by pairing them with…

Purpose: This study investigates how senior science teachers viewed the effects of a Raising Test Scores policy and its implementation on instruction of higher order thinking (HOT), and on teaching thinking to students with low academic achievements. Background: The study was conducted in the context of three concurrent policies advocating: (a)…

Background: Numerous studies have been conducted to investigate the factors related to science achievement. In these studies, the classroom goal structure perceptions, engagement, and self-efficacy of the students have emerged as important factors to be examined in relation to students' science achievement. Purpose: This study examines the…

Background: A substantial review study of concept cartoons reports that few studies have indicated their functions. For this reason, the present study illuminates the extent to which concept cartoon-embedded worksheets (through constructivist context) accomplish these functions in conceptual learning. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to…

Background: Investigating factors contributing to chemistry achievement is important since it enables us to make more concrete instructional decisions related to improving students' chemistry achievement. Purpose: This study aimed to investigate how students' perceptions of learning environment, self-efficacy and gender are related to chemistry…

Background: This exploratory study is part of a larger-scale research project aimed at building theoretical and practical knowledge of complex systems in students and teachers with the goal of improving high school biology learning through professional development and a classroom intervention. Purpose: We propose a model of adaptive expertise to…

Background: There are attempts to integrate learning environment research with motivation and self-regulation research that considers social context influences an individual's motivation, self-regulation and, in turn, academic performance. Purpose: This study explored the relationships among constructivist learning environment perception variables…

Background: This study developed from observations of apparent achievement differences between male and female chemistry performances in a state university entrance examination. Male students performed more strongly than female students, especially in higher scores. Apart from the gender of the students, two other important factors that might…