In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, many education systems around the world have recognized the value of using technology such as virtual laboratories to teach science subjects. This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of using a virtual laboratory on grade eight students in learning about electricity-related topics. A…

Texts and instructional pictures are widely used for facilitating students' understanding of complex content, especially in science subjects. International large-scale assessments repeatedly reveal differences in students' science achievement between countries. Since text-picture material (TPM) plays an essential role in science education, it is…

This book aims to highlight science education in countries along the Belt and Road. It consists of 30 chapters divided into three main parts, namely Arab and African countries, Asian countries and European countries. We invited science education experts from 29 "Belt and Road" countries to introduce the current status of science…

This study aimed at identifying the level of scientific argumentation skills in chemistry subject among Omani Grade 11th students and the effects of their logical thinking skills and gender on this level. The study sample consisted of (400) male and female students selected purposely from one educational region in Oman. The study's instruments…

A range of pedagogical learning theories has been proposed to guide science teachers' classroom teaching. This study presents the results of the development and use of an 18-item Arabic language rating scale survey to assess Omani teachers' (N = 400) views towards the application of selected pedagogical learning theories of potential use in their…

The purpose of this study was to investigate gender differences in Omani 10th-grade students' perception of their science teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) in both realities and as they desired. Two versions of electronic questionnaires consisting of sixteen main items were designed to achieve the aims of this study. These two versions…

This work is aimed to assess the performance of two groups of students from colleges of Science, Education and Engineering on the understanding of electricity and magnetism concepts. To conduct this assessment, the Electricity and Magnetism Conceptual Assessment (EMCA) test was implemented twice as a pre-test and a post-test for two calculus-based…

This study investigated the effect of using activities based on the Montessori approach in science academic achievement of the fourth grade students. A quasi-experimental design was used wherein the students were equally divided into two groups: the experimental and the control group. Both groups consisted of 31 students. To achieve the aim of the…

This edited book explores different international practices in reforming science teacher education programs for STEM education. Incorporating case studies in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, North America and South America, the contributors emphasise the large variety in STEM teacher preparation. Including science-centric versions of STEM…

Some Omani science teachers face a challenge in teaching students to deal with learning materials such as texts and pictures. Based on the need for adequate teaching with text-picture material (TPM), this study aimed at investigating the level of teachers' (N = 886) attitudes and motivational orientations--as aspects of their professional…

Demonstrating higher-order thinking skills is crucial for thriving in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment. In science education, inquiry-based learning has increasingly been recognized as a potent approach to stimulate students' higher-order thinking skills. While prior research has shown evidence of its positive…

When individuals' attention shifts away from the primary tasks they are involved in, their minds start to wander. This mental phenomenon, also known as mind-wandering, can interact with other variables and affect the performance of academic tasks. The current study focuses particularly on the mind-wandering (MW) of Omani students while they were…

This study contributes to the extant literature on instructional technology by investigating the relationships between the social and personal factors and behavioral intention to use virtual reality. Moreover, the current study examined the links between perceived characteristics of virtual reality and attitude and the moderating role that can be…

Middle East studies, and in particular the study of the politics of the Middle East stands at a crossroads pedagogically a decade after the Arab Spring. This study observed an experimental pre- or partial Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) engagement between Political Science students in New Zealand and the Sultanate of Oman to…

Revising standard structured academic programs by incorporating research throughout the curriculum is a modern trend at universities worldwide. There are numerous publications on inquiry-based learning (IBL) in individual courses, but few provide evidence both of success at the program level and of synergy in the teaching--research nexus. Our…