The term 'Plant Blindness' describes people tending to overlook plants, even though they have an enormous importance for life on earth, especially because of their ability to photosynthesise. Many attempts have been made to counteract plant blindness in biology education. However, so far there is no comprehensive tool to assess the degree of plant…

This brief examines Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) science achievement of the 20% highest and the 20% lowest performing fourth and eighth graders in 11 countries. To do so, the authors compare achievement distributions across countries, using measures of relative equality within countries. Such an examination…

This follow-up study presents a design-based research (DBR) setting implemented over a three-year project called 'eKidZ - Teach Your Parents Well' which uses research-based learning and follows the four phases of DBR. In an iterative cycle, 20 teenagers aged 14-16 took on the role of researchers and investigated intergenerational learning and the…

Background: Key to optimizing Computational Thinking (CT) instruction is a precise understanding of the underlying cognitive skills. Román-González et al. (2017) reported unique contributions of spatial abilities and reasoning, whereas arithmetic was not significantly related to CT. Disentangling the influence of spatial and numerical skills on CT…

Information literacy--i.e. obtaining, evaluating and using information--is a key element of scientific literacy. However, students are frequently equipped with poor information literacy skills--even at university level--as information literacy is often not explicitly taught in schools. Little is known about students' information skills in science…

The quality of learning processes is mainly determined by the extent to which students' conceptions are addressed and thus conceptual change is triggered. Colour phenomena are a topic within initial instruction of optics which is challenging. A physically adequate concept of white light is crucial for being able to grasp the processes underlying…

Recent educational research emphasises the importance of analysing talk and gestures to come to an understanding about students' conceptual learning. Gestures are perceived as complex hand movements being equivalent to other language modes. They can convey experienceable as well as abstract concepts. As well as technical language, gestures…

TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) is an international assessment of mathematics and science at the fourth and eighth grades that has been conducted every four years since 1995, with the most recent assessment in 2011. PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) is an international assessment of reading…

Using 3 waves of the TIMSS data, this study investigates the relationship between 8th-graders' mathematics and science achievement and their self-perceptions on these 2 subjects. For within-country data, there is generally a positive relationship between students' achievement and the following 3 measures of their self-perception: how much they…