Of great importance for achieving science education reform may be teachers' interest in science and enjoyment of science. This study explores the motivational qualities (rated for "interest," "fun," and "learning" value) of different levels of inquiry of hands-on class activities. The participants, 53 preservice teachers in two sections of a…

The purpose of this study is to provide descriptive portraits of how two elementary teacher candidates incorporated historical photographs when teaching history. In an effort to construct new knowledge in the field of elementary social studies teacher education, an examination into their planning, implementation, and reflection was investigated.…

Introduction: A way to find out how scientific thinking in children develops is to focus on the processes that are involved. As such, scientific thinking can be seen as a particular form of problem solving in which the problem solver selects a strategy from the space of possible experiments that can reveal the cause of an event. Notwithstanding…

The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of Bandura's (1997) theorized sources of self-efficacy on the academic and self-regulatory efficacy beliefs of 3rd-grade elementary school students (N = 395) in France, to examine whether classroom context might explain a significant portion of the variation in self-efficacy, and to assess…

This research investigates the relationship among processing behaviors and their link to comprehending expository discourse. Students who orally read a chapter on geographical formations followed by a retelling. Using Pearson's chi-square and logistic regression, it was found that clauses were recalled whether the clause had been read with no…

In this position paper, we examine the science teaching orientation component of the S. Magnusson, J. Krajcik, and H. Borko (1999) pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) model for science teaching. We trace the origin of the construct in the literature, identifying multiple definitions that have lead to ambiguity. After examining published studies…

The aim of this study is to evaluate the reasoning skills in geometry-related subjects of six 8th Grade students. The study data were obtained at the end of the 2011-2012 spring period in a public elementary school. The study uses a case study with qualitative research techniques to investigate how students use reasoning skills. In this study, six…

Recent years have seen the convergence of two major policy streams in U.S. K-12 education: standards/accountability and teacher quality reforms. Work in these areas has led to the creation of multiple measures of teacher quality, including measures of their instructional alignment to standards/assessments, observational and student survey measures…

This study investigates the efficacy of an integrated science and literacy approach at the upper-elementary level. Teachers in 94 fourth grade classrooms in one Southern state participated. Half of the teachers taught the treatment unit, an integrated science-literacy unit on light and energy designed using a curriculum model that engages students…

In this study, pupils' understanding of chemical change was investigated in relation to two cognitive variables: logical thinking and field-dependence/field-independence. The participants (N = 99) were sixth-grade elementary school pupils (aged 11/12), which were involved in two different tasks related to combustion. The pupils were tested for…

This prospective, mixed-methods study investigated how the nature of joint activities between volunteer mentors and student mentees corresponded to relationship quality and youth outcomes. Focusing on relationships in school-based mentoring programs in low-income urban elementary schools, data were obtained through pre-post assessments,…

Engaging successfully in the modern technological society requires a command of mathematics. Hence, successfully engaging with mathematics has social, economic and political implications. There has been a history over a long period of time of significant numbers of people not forming productive relationships with learning mathematics. Failure in…

Within the field of science education, there remains little agreement as to the definition and characteristics of classroom inquiry. The emerging emphasis on scientific practices in science education reform discourse is underpinned by a need to better articulate the constituent elements of inquiry-based science. While a small number of…

This article presents exploratory research investigating the integration of music and a mathematics lesson as an intervention to promote preservice teachers' attitude and confidence and to extend their beliefs toward teaching mathematics integrated with music. Thirty students were randomly selected from 64 preservice teachers in a southern…

This study describes the development of an instrument to investigate elementary students attitudes toward science. As a result of the instrument development process employed, the finalized instrument consisted of 28-items separated into three dimensions. The instrument was found to exhibit acceptable ranges of internal consistency. Confirmatory…