Understanding experimental design (e.g. control of variable strategy or CVS) is foundational for scientific reasoning. Previous research has demonstrated that demonstrations with cognitive conflict (e.g. asking students to evaluate and explain different experimental designs) are effective in promoting children's scientific reasoning, however, the…

Incorporating an evidence-based approach in STEM education using data collection and analysis strategies when learning about science concepts enhances primary students' discipline knowledge and cognitive development. This paper reports on learning activities that use the nature of viscosity and the power of informal statistical inference to build…

This study investigates students' motivation during experimentation in geography lessons by implementing a newly developed experimental kit on soils (GeoBox) in Germany. The study focuses on a first evaluation by means of a one-group pretest/posttest design. Fifth-grade students (N = 166) answered a questionnaire pertaining to regular geography…

The purpose of this research is to improve and evaluate a different approach to develop the lab application skills of the physics pre-service teachers in the courses of Secondary Physics Experimental Design (SPED), School Experience (SE) and Teaching Practices (TP). In this context, action research was used to achieve the purpose of the research.…

The Fowler Diet Cola Test (DCT) was originally developed to assess the scientific process skills of students in science classrooms. The use of the test is generally suggested for gifted students in science. There are considerable number of Scientific Process Skills (SPS) tests that the researchers developed for different student population. The…

Experiments are an important way of working in the geography classroom. They promote and require numerous geographic skills. At the same time, experiments are only used comparatively rarely in geography lessons in Germany. In order to increase the frequency of experiments in the classroom and to better exploit their potential, GeoBoxes have been…

Building on rich training literature, we examined which skills constituting the control-of-variables strategy (CVS) benefit from a comprehensive training, and which develop similarly during content-focused inquiry at ages 10-12. In addition, we examined whether prior knowledge, reasoning abilities, and reading comprehension explain variation in…

Virtual manipulatives running on tablets have been demonstrated to improve students' conceptual understanding in previous studies. However, the differential effects on group interaction during face-to-face collaborative inquiry learning from the support of alternative technology affordances has received little attention. Technology affordances in…

Purpose: A growing trend in instructional improvement efforts is the use of formative assessment informed by research-based developmental trajectories of how students gain deeper understanding of subject matter content over time. This article reports the findings of a large-scale experimental study of an innovative mathematics professional…

In this study, a new model termed as "Flexible Inquiry Based Science Teaching", which is developed using the framework of the inquiry approach is proposed. Science teachers (n=2) who participated in the study were instructed on the inquiry approach and their in-class activity applications were examined. The "electricity module"…

The study explored the possibilities to improve students' argumentation ability concerning factors that affect dissolving, through the implementation of two versions of a teaching scheme, with and without particle theory. The participants (age range 10-11, n = 27) belonged to two fifth-grade classes of a primary school in Northern Greece. Data…

Scientific inquiry requires the replication of results in experimental studies. Recent studies draw a severe picture on the need of replication and the difficulties in replicating already published studies. As replicated confirmation of results is the basis of scientific and medical research, there may be a need to introduce the topic of…

In the present paper, we have examined the impact of explicit linkage between simulated (i.e., virtual) and real (i.e., physical) experimental settings in order to scaffold conceptual understanding, in the case of floating and sinking (F/S) phenomena explanations. This research is part of a research-based curriculum project and has been…

Qualitative research conducted with 237 pupils from Canada, France, and Morocco, between 10 and 12 years of age, on the setting and functioning of simple electric circuits, demonstrates that similar explanatory systems of the students. For this, we had given them a paper and pencil questionnaire of a sixty minutes duration. The first question was…

Given that a user interface interacts with users, a critical factor to be considered in improving the usability of an e-learning user interface is user-friendliness. Affordances enable users to more easily approach and engage in learning tasks because they strengthen positive, activating emotions. However, most studies on affordances limit…