Classroom environment, family, and peers are important factors in influencing students' science learning. The primary aim of this study was to examine the effects of three environmental factors related to science learning (motivating science class, family models, and peer models) on students' approaches to learning science (deep approach and…

Students' conceptions of learning science and their relations with motive for learning may vary as the education level increases. This study aimed to compare the quantitative patterns in students' conceptions of learning science (COLS) and motives for learning science (MLS) across grade levels by adopting two survey instruments. A total of 768…

This paper examines students' engagement in monitoring anomalous results across a 2-year longitudinal study with 9th and 10th graders (14-15 and 15-16 years of age). The context is a set of five inquiry-based laboratory tasks, requiring students to plan and carry out investigations. The study seeks to examine students' interpretation of data, in…

Much has been written and debated on the importance of including moral, character or values education in school curricula. In line with this, teachers' views with regard to values education have often been sought. However, a search into the literature on values in science education has revealed little on this domain. In an attempt to close this…

An exploratory case study involving six grade 9 science teachers was undertaken to probe how teachers' understanding of learners' misconceptions relate to their perceptions about teaching simple circuits. The participants' understanding of documented misconceptions in electricity were explored by means of a questionnaire, while their perceptions…

This study is aimed at exploring ninth-grade Bhutanese students' views of nature of science (NOS). A total of 389 students from middle secondary and higher secondary schools from the eastern, western, southern and central regions of Bhutan took part in this study. To generate a representative population, a stratified random sampling technique was…

This is one of the first studies to examine the "educational entrepreneur" in K-12 public schools and the first to present an instrument designed to measure entrepreneurial thinking among teachers using a type of reasoning, effectual reasoning, which has been proposed in the business literature on entrepreneurs. This study situates…

"Thinking Science" is a 2-year program of professional development for teachers and thinking lessons for students in junior high school science classes. This paper presents research on the effects of "Thinking Science" on students' levels of cognition in Australia. The research is timely, with a general capability focused on…

This study explores the concept of link-making in relation to communicative strategies applied in the teaching and studying of biological evolution. The analysis focused on video recordings of 11 lessons on biological evolution conducted in a Swedish 9th grade class of students aged 15 years. It reveals how the teacher and students connected…

"MyScience" is a primary science education initiative in which being in a community of practice is integral to the learning process. In this initiative, stakeholder groups--primary teachers, primary students and mentors--interact around the "domain" of "investigating scientifically". This paper builds on three earlier…

Futures studies is usually a transdisciplinary study and as such embraces the physical world of the sciences and system sciences and the subjective world of individuals and cultures, as well as the time dimension--past, present and futures. Science education, where student interests, opportunities and challenges often manifest themselves, can…

In this study, we examined how a teacher may make a difference to the way interest develops in a science classroom, especially for students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. We adopted a methodology based on the concept of "taste for science" drawing on the work of John Dewey and Pierre Bourdieu. We investigated through…

Students from middle school to college have difficulties in interpreting and understanding complex systems such as ecological phenomena. Researchers have suggested that students experience difficulties in reconciling the relationships between individuals, populations, and species, as well as the interactions between organisms and their environment…

Internationally, efforts to increase student interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers have been on the rise. It is often the goal of such efforts that increased interest in STEM careers should stimulate economic growth and enhance innovation. Scientific and educational organizations recommend that efforts to…

Despite many years of efforts to communicate new scientific knowledge to the public, surveys continue to suggest that many people remain uninformed about current scientific research (Miller, 2001; Miller, 2004) and fail to recognize how it can be relevant to their lives. There is continued need for investigation on improving methods for engaging…