Background: In the field of science education, the importance of assessment in students' learning process has been recognized. Understanding of how students perceive science assessment and feedback may be an important issue that science education researchers need to pay attention to in order to achieve meaningful learning. Purpose: The purpose of…

Background: In many classrooms, science textbooks remain a significant tool, functioning in some instances as the de facto curriculum and influencing pedagogical practices. Such conventions are more noticeable in the science classrooms of developing countries, like Jamaica, because of a chronic shortage of specialist science teachers and the…

Background: It is a challenging task to teach students who get diagnosed with a specific learning difficulty. Given that they can easily get distracted, they need more support than students without any disability. Accordingly, the use of any instructional technology that could attract their attention might have a positive impact on their learning…

Background: Inquiry-based learning has been widely adopted in educational practice especially in science education. Scaffolding plays an important role in fostering learning in sophisticated inquiry. Meanwhile, it is important not to undermine the open-endedness of inquiry activities and the nature of student-centred learning. Purpose: This study…

Background: In recent years, science curricula (chemistry, physics, biology, earth science, life science, etc.) in many countries have been prepared and applied according to the inquiry-based learning approach. Although the acquisition and application of the inquiry skills are one of the important objectives of the science curriculum, the inquiry…

Background: Several different measures have been proposed to solve persistent validity problems, such as high task-sampling variability, in the assessment of students' expertise in 'doing science'. Such measures include working with a-priori progression models, using standardised item shells and rating manuals, augmenting the number of tasks per…

Background: This article describes the design and the evaluation of a student lab program on the topic of nanoscience and technology (NST), mainly focusing on Nanoscience and its applications. The program was designed for students in grades 8-10 and was part of a larger outreach program of the Collaborative Research Center 'Function by Switching'…

Background: One of the most important goals of science education is to enable students to understand the nature of science (NOS). However, generally regular science teaching in classrooms does not help students improve informed NOS views. Purpose: This study investigated the influence of an explicit reflective conceptual change approach compared…