Developing students' understanding of and about science is an important educational goal. Learning the nature of science (NOS) has been recognized as a critical component of science literacy, affecting how students (our future citizens) make informed decisions. Textbooks can be useful teaching materials if the content presented aligns with…

The ability to do inquiry does not necessarily translate to understandings about scientific inquiry or the processes by which scientific knowledge is generated. The study reported in this paper focuses on what students know about scientific inquiry and what impact school science may have on this knowledge. We investigated grade 12 physical and…

Inquiry-based science education has been advocated as a goal in the South African school science curriculum. Despite this goal, the implementation of inquiry in this country has been largely fragmented due to contextual factors that exert an influence on its traction in the classroom. This phenomenologically orientated study reports on the…

Although there is a lot of interest in the development of computational thinking (CT) and the benefits it could have for every student, integrating it into science classrooms may be more difficult than traditional teaching. This can be very challenging for South African science teachers. Thus, there is an increasing need to prepare teachers and…

This study explored five Life Sciences teachers' practices of formative assessment when enacting an inquiry-based pedagogy. The ESRU cycle (teacher "Elicits" a response; the Student responds; the teacher "Recognises" the student's response; and then "Uses" the information collected to support student learning) was…

Learning progressions (LPs) are descriptions of successively more sophisticated ways of thinking about an idea over an extended period of time. The growing interest of researchers in learning progressions is grounded in the potential it holds to align curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Previous review of research on LPs by Duschl et al.…

Textbooks remain an important resource in the hands of science teachers in ensuring that curricular aims and educational reforms are realised in school science. In a publication of the National Research Council (NRC) entitled "A Framework for K-12 Science Education," emphasis is placed on students experiencing inquiry-based practices and…

Linking assessment and curriculum in science education, particularly within the topic of matter and its changes, is often taken for granted. Some of the fundamental elements of the assessment, such as the choice of wording and visual representations, as well as its relation to the curricular sequence, remain understudied. In addition, very few…

The development of 21st century competencies and skills in science teaching and learning is a key strategic imperative. Game-based learning platforms can be used to promote pedagogic innovation in various educational settings. Game-based applications such as Kahoot! have been increasingly used in education to facilitate meaningful enactment of…

The advocacy for writing in science and STEM-related fields through reasoning-based writing, critical thinking and argumentation has been accentuated as a core competence in curriculum documents. In South Africa, the CAPS document for Physical Sciences acknowledged the importance of writing and consequently, call on teachers to engage in teaching…

Education, technology, and economic growth are not only linked but synchronised to achieve holistic global development. An instance is the adoption of online platforms for learning and promoting economic activities during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. However, the lingering question among education stakeholders in Nigeria borders on what…

The purpose of this study was to investigate preservice science teachers' proficiency levels regarding their practical knowledge of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK-P). A sample of 103 third- and fourth-year participants from a South African university were surveyed on their TPACK-P proficiency levels using a 17-item…

The research reported here examined the outcome of using interactive simulation technology (IST) as a guided-inquiry approach to enhance learners' conceptual knowledge of electrostatics in physics. Participants were Grade 11 physical sciences learners (n = 60) and a teacher from a rural school in South Africa. Learners were randomly assigned to an…

Computational thinking (CT) has been described as an essential skill that should be learned by everyone and can, therefore, be included in their skill set. Computational thinking uses essential principles in computer science for solving problems, understanding complex systems, and human behaviour. This way of thinking has significant consequences…