The aim of this study is to examine the effect of argumentation over current teaching approach on scientific epistemological beliefs and 21st century skills of seventh grade students. This is a quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test control group. The sample of the study was composed of 79 seventh grade students (38 experimental; 41…

The purpose of this study is to test the relationship between seventh-grade students' personal epistemology for science, subjective task value, and science self-efficacy, with prior achievement serving as a moderator. The mediating role of subjective task value is proposed in the prediction of the relationship between personal epistemology for…

The history of science (HOS) has played an important role in science curricula for teaching about science. However, historical information in science textbooks is often de-contextualized, coupled with limited class time and teaching barriers, and thus fails to help students understand the dynamic process of scientific development. This research…

This article describes a workshop to develop students' understanding of how to investigate a cross-disciplinary question that bridges science and history. The question 'Why did the "Titanic" sink?' is interpreted scientifically and then historically to help students to better appreciate the strengths and limitations of each discipline's…

Students' personal epistemologies, or their beliefs about knowledge and knowing, have a substantial impact on learning, affecting their responses to curriculum, strategy selection, and psychosocial variables. Changes in epistemological reasoning occur similarly to other stage-based developmental schemes, with qualitative shifts in worldviews at…

This study aims to investigate the effect of Toulmin argumentation model (TAM), epistemologically enriched Toulmin argumentation model (EETAM), and method suggested in Turkish Science Curricula on the epistemological beliefs of 7th grade students and their views on this effect. In this context, while the students in TAM group learned seventh grade…

The purpose of this study was to examine the epistemological beliefs of middle school students in rural area and their attitudes toward solving mathematical problems according to gender and class level variables. It was also necessary to determine whether the epistemological beliefs of middle school students in rural area had predicted their…

Middle school is a critical time in students' learning of mathematics, something a Learning Management System (LMS) is designed to help parents support. What remains unknown is how parents use an LMS to monitor their children's progress in mathematics. This qualitative case study explored how parents from one midAtlantic middle school with 543…

Middle school is a critical time in students' learning of mathematics, something a Learning Management System (LMS) is designed to help parents support. What remains unknown is how parents use an LMS to monitor their children's progress in mathematics. This qualitative case study explored how parents from one midAtlantic middle school with 543…

Empirical studies have reported difficulties, confusion, and lack of understanding among students at all levels of instruction regarding the issue of weight--gravitation--weighing relationships. This study examined the impact of a new conceptual framework of weight, on a small group of 7th-grade students (N?=?14) in a middle school in Israel. This…

This quantitative causal comparative study looked to see if there was a relationship between childhood obesity and student achievement. Because of the many conflicting results in the research available, it was not known if there was a relationship between childhood obesity and student achievement among inner-city middle school students in a school…

Historical thinking is an integral part of understanding and doing history, as well as a good example of the kind of critical thinking necessary in today's society. This study, conducted in two phases, investigated ways in which students are brought to this higher level of thinking in the social studies classroom. Data collection occurred…

This article is concerned with "commonsense science knowledge", the informally gained knowledge of the natural world that students possess prior to formal instruction in a scientific discipline. Although commonsense science has been the focus of substantial study for more than two decades, there are still profound disagreements about its nature…

We examine how extended engagement in argumentation with peers leads to enhanced metalevel understanding of argumentive discourse. Following such engagement, young adolescents demonstrated enhanced understanding of counterargument and use of evidence as objectives of skilled argumentation, relative to a nonparticipating comparison group. Among the…

This study seeks to establish the relevance of middle school students' naive beliefs about knowledge and learning in science to their achievement motivation in this domain. A predominantly Hispanic and lower-income sample of 459 middle school students (sixth through eighth grades) completed measures of epistemic beliefs along with several measures…